Pillow-top, euro-top or quilted: the three mattress tops and what each means
Look at a mattress from the side and the top few centimetres are built one of three ways. The words, pillow-top, euro-top, quilted, get used loosely in shops, but they describe different constructions with different feels and different lifespans.
Quilted
The cover fabric is stitched to a thin layer of padding, usually polyester wadding or a centimetre of foam, in a diamond or wave pattern. It is the standard finish on most mattresses. The quilting adds a little softness at the surface and a finished look; it is not a comfort layer in its own right. Thick quilting (2 to 3 cm of polyester) softens quickly and holds heat; light quilting over a knitted stretch cover is the better version.
Feel: whatever the comfort layer beneath feels like, slightly softened.
Pillow-top
A separate cushion of soft fillings, wool, cotton, fibre, soft foam or a mix, sewn onto the top of the mattress as its own layer, with a visible seam or gap around the edge where the cushion meets the mattress body. Traditionally a pillow-top is stitched on all round with a slight overhang. It gives a plush, soft surface over whatever support is underneath.
Feel: soft and enveloping on top, with the mattress's own support beneath. The hotel feel. Because the pillow-top is a separate cushion it tends to settle in the first months, which is normal, and it cannot be flipped, so the mattress is one-sided.
Euro-top
The same idea as a pillow-top, a layer of soft fillings on top, but built flush with the edge of the mattress and enclosed in the same border, so there is no visible seam or gap. It looks like a deeper mattress rather than a mattress with a cushion on it. Because the fillings run to the edge and are contained by the border, a euro-top holds its shape at the edges better than a pillow-top and feels slightly firmer at the sides.
Feel: plush, like a pillow-top, with a more solid edge.
Side by side
| Quilted | Pillow-top | Euro-top | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Cover stitched to thin padding | Separate cushion sewn on top | Filled layer built into the border |
| Look | Flat top | Cushion with a seam round it | Deep, seamless |
| Surface feel | Slightly softened | Plush, soft | Plush, firmer edge |
| Edge | As the mattress | Softer at the edge | Firm to the edge |
| Settling | Little | Some in the first months | Some, less at the edge |
| One-sided? | Either | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | Low | Medium to high | Medium to high |
| Found on | Most mattresses | Hotel and traditional premium | Premium hybrids |
Which suits you
- You want the mattress to feel as the comfort layer was designed, without extra softness: light quilting.
- You want plush on top of firm support, the hotel feel, and you sleep near the middle: pillow-top.
- You want plush on top but you sit on the edge or share a bed and sleep near the side: euro-top.
- You are a hot sleeper: whichever it is, ask what the fillings are. Wool and cotton breathe; polyester and memory foam do not.
What to ask
What is in the top: the fillings by name and weight, and whether the soft layer is natural fibre, foam or polyester. "Pillow-top" with polyester wadding inside is a softness that lasts two years; a pillow-top with wool and cotton settles and then stays.
How we do it
Most of our chapters use a lightly quilted knitted stretch cover, so the comfort layer does the work. The Hotel Bed is a true pillow-top: British wool, cotton felt and silk-blend fibre in a separately stitched cushion, hand-finished, over a plush memory layer, latex, micro-springs and 2,000 zoned springs, in a side-stitched border. It is the plush-on-firm build done the traditional way.
The short version
- Quilted: the cover stitched to thin padding. Standard.
- Pillow-top: a separate soft cushion sewn on; plush; soft edge; hotel feel.
- Euro-top: the same fillings built flush inside the border; plush; firmer edge.
- Ask what the fillings are. Natural fibres last; polyester does not.
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