Nectar is best known for its mattresses, but it also makes accessories including bed frames. For this review, we tested out the Nectar Platform Bed Frame, the simplest of the range in terms of design, and the cheapest.
Nectar’s original mattress is one of our recommended best mattresses, so we were keen to see how its beds performed. We were really pleased with the level of support and comfort that it provided – in fact, we’ve included it in our round-up of the best bed frames and bases currently on the market.
In our Nectar Platform Bed Frame review, we’ve tested the bed in all the areas you’ll want to know about – from ease of set-up and the quality of the materials, through comfort and support levels to who the bed will and won’t suit. However, if you’re in a rush we’ve put together a review in brief below, which should give you a good general overview. Note, this particular frame is only available in the UK – Nectar US has its own separate range.
Nectar Platform Bed Frame review in brief
- Minimalist design – no bells and whistles
- Very easy to assemble
- Competitively priced
Nectar’s cheapest bed frame may be cheaper than most of its ‘bed in a box’ rivals but punches above its low price tag. While the mattress you put on it will obviously have the most impact on your overnight comfort levels, for its part the Nectar Platform bed frame provides a solid and supportive base. Best of all, it’s extraordinarily simple to put together, with a simple click and lock frame.
It’s suitable for use with any kind of mattress (hybrid, memory foam, innerspring, latex etc.) – you don’t need to pair it with one of this brand’s own beds. Although for the record we do rate Nectar’s beds, as you can read more about in our Nectar Memory Foam mattress review.
Nectar Platform Bed Frame at a glance
Type: Platform Base
Sizes: Single, double, king, super king
Dimensions: Single 103.5 x 207 x 39cm; Double 150 x 207 x 39cm; King 165 x 217 x 39cm; Super King 195 x 217 x 39cm
Materials: Soft touch polyester, black rubberwood legs
Warranty: 2 years
This isn’t a bed base with bells and whistles – what you see is pretty much what you get. There’s a simple grey frame with covered slats and black rubberwood legs. It’s an attractive bed frame that’s bound to appeal to those who like an uncluttered and minimalist bedroom with its quietly elegant feel.
The slats are flat rather than sprung, and housed in one sheet of black webbing material and provide a surprisingly supportive base for your mattress (in fact, one of our testers found switching to this base made a huge difference to their back pain). The slats provided a solid base that allowed our hybrid mattress to work properly, without sinking through any gaps.
Another benefit of the Nectar bed frame is how well the slats promote airflow. This is particularly important if you sleep on a memory foam mattress, as these are notorious for trapping body heat. The frame is also supportive enough to stop a memory foam mattress from sagging, whilst still allowing a sleeper to sink in for decent body contouring.
Nectar doesn’t make any claims about how long it will take you to build the base, but we found it pretty simple to put together. You don’t need any tools apart from the supplied alum key. We tested a double size bed frame and felt that you could, with a little bit of jiggling, put it together yourself. But we found it considerably quicker to put together with a second person on hand – particularly when attaching the sides to the headboard and footboard. These pieces need to be screwed together, so we found that we needed a second person to hold the frame straight whilst it was attached together.
Our reviewers genuinely loved sleeping on the Nectar base. It performed well from the first night, with the well-spaced slats providing ample support for our hybrid mattress. We also found that we stayed cool throughout the night, with the slats also providing good airflow.
Overall we’ve awarded the Nectar Platform Bed Frame 4.5 out of 5. It’s a well-made base that’s extremely comfortable to sleep on and works well with all different bed types. It loses half a point purely because of the lack of headboard, which means you’ve got nothing soft to lean your head against. Of course, for many people this won’t be an issue at all.
Nectar Platform Bed Frame review: Prices
- A double costs £179.50 when on sale
- Nectar regularly offers up to 45% off its entire range
- The price is hard to beat during a sale
The Nectar Platform Bed Frame is Nectar’s entry-level bed base, made in the UK. It’s pretty reasonably priced for a bed base even at full price, with a single starting from £334 (and it’s also one of the few ‘bed in a box’ companies that makes a single size). However, if you can grab a Nectar mattress sale offer you’ll save up to 45% on the Nectar base, which drops the price of a single down to £167. That’s an extremely reasonable price for a good quality basic bed base. You’ll also get free named day delivery.
Here are the official prices for the Nectar Platform Bed Frame, as well as the price we usually see if for in Nectar’s frequent sales and offers:
- Single: RRP £334 (normally £167)
- Double: RRP £359 (normally £179.50)
- King: RRP £374 (normally £187)
- Super king: RRP £399 (normally £199.50)
As you can see, whether the base is full price or on sale, the Nectar bed base has very little price difference between a single and a super king. So this could be a reasonably priced way to increase the size of your bed, although you would obviously then have to take into account buying a new mattress, sheets, duvet and all that.
How does the Nectar base compare to its traditional competitors, price-wise? Whether on sale or full price, it’s definitely one of the cheaper options on the market. Eve Sleep’s Minimal Bed Frame (opens in new tab) starts at £369 for a single, with Emma’s Platform Bed (opens in new tab) starting at £358 for a single (or £179 in its regular sales). But we do feel that the Nectar base edges it in looks, design and stability.
Nectar Platform Bed Frame review: Design
- Minimalist but appealing design
- Central support feet adjustable for uneven flooring
- No headboard or storage
The Nectar base might be minimalistic, but it looks neat and tidy when it’s assembled. The frame is made from a soft, brushed polyester, the neutral black and grey colour scheme is extremely appealing and the finish is excellent. The slats are flat, but encased in a stretchy black webbing that does give them a little bounce and movement. This casing also means there’s no chance of any splinters.
We were particularly impressed with the way the slats attach to the frame with a continuous strip of Velcro. There’s no time wasted screwing individual slats into the frame – instead you just lay the row of slats over the frame and attach the black webbing with the Velcro. We also liked the adjustable feet on the central support of the base, which mean that you can lower or raise the bed to accommodate an uneven floor (a common problem in many older homes in the UK).
Nectar Platform Bed Frame review: Performance
- Quick and easy to assemble
- Feels sturdy and high quality, although other bases have thicker slats
- Provides a very supportive base to a mattress
We tested a double size Nectar Platform Bed Frame for around three weeks, pairing it with an existing innerspring mattress, as well as briefly testing it with hybrid and memory foam mattresses. This gave us a chance to see how the base performed with some of the most common mattress types. Here’s what we uncovered during our review process.
Setup
Score: 5/5
If, like our main testers, you’re not a fan of having to spend hours putting a bed base together, you should love the Nectar Platform Bed Frame. The base is easy to put together, has clear instructions and there aren’t a ridiculous number of parts. There’s a headboard and footboard, two side rails, four legs, a central support rail and two central support legs, slats encased in a single piece of black webbing and bolts / brackets.
Everything is clearly labelled with letters from A to N – we’d recommend that you get all the components out of the box before you start building. You should also clear space around the bed before you start construction so that you can move freely around it – you don’t want to be fighting for space while you’re constructing your bed.
Once you’ve got everything ready to go, it’s pretty easy to put the bed together. Here’s what it took to build the Nectar base:
- Start by putting the protective pads on the four legs (to protect your flooring), before screwing the legs into the headboard and footboard.
- Attach the headboard to the side rails using the silver brackets and bolts (with washers), then repeat for the footboard
- Attach the central support legs to your central support rail; these can be adjusted once the frame is in place on the floor to adjust for uneven flooring
- Attach the central support rail to your headboard and footboard using the metal hooks provided
- Roll out the slats in their webbing over the frame and attach to the Velcro on the side rails
- Place your mattress on the bed, and it’s ready to sleep on
The second step is where you really need two people – one to screw in the bolts with the provided allen key, while the other holds the sides straight. This is probably the fiddliest bit of the construction, but it’s not massively time consuming.
The Nectar Platform Bed Frame does have screws to attach, so it’s not the simplest bed base to make (that honour belongs to the Simba Sirius Bed Base (opens in new tab)). But it’s straightforward, quick and only requires the supplied allen key.
Build quality
Score: 4/5
It might be cheaper than many other bed bases, but we felt the Nectar Platform Bed Frame was well made and thoughtfully constructed. Unlike many cheaper bed frames, we didn’t have to force any components together to get them to sit flush. Everything fits together well and the necessary holes and attachments are all in the right place.
Whilst a few bits of construction were fiddly, we didn’t feel this was down to build quality – more the fact of simply trying to hold things in the right place to be screwed together. The supplied allen key is small, but you don’t need to exert a lot of pressure to get things attached. The legs screw into the frame and central support rail easily and the threads are smooth and easy to work with.
We loved the simplicity of the rollout slats and Velcro system but do wonder how durable this will be long term. You can’t see the slats in their black webbing but they are made from some sort of hardwood, although they aren’t as thick as some slats we’ve seen. But this part of the bed is well made, so hopefully it’ll still stand the test of time.
Materials
Score: 5/5
There’s nothing particularly luxurious about the Nectar base. The sides, headboard and footboard are made from a soft, brushed polyester and have rubberwood feet. There’s a central wooden rail and the wooden slats are encased in black webbing.
However, all the materials feel nice to the touch and the base looks extremely smart. You can clean the webbing with a sponge and warm soapy water. The sides, headboard and footboard should be vacuumed on a regular basis and any stains can be spot cleaned with a damp cloth.
Comfort and support
Score: 4.5/5
Our main testers loved the Nectar Platform Bed Frame. Impressively, it markedly improved one reviewer’s back pain, with them waking up pain-free after the first night of using it. We think this was down to the base adding extra support beneath our (old) mattress, with the webbing stopping the mattress from sagging between the slats. For such a budget base, the Nectar does an excellent job of providing support and particularly in the lumbar region.
The slats also allow for airflow through the bottom of the mattress, which might help with breathability and temperature regulation in general.
We don’t think the Nectar base would suit heavier-weight sleepers of over 17 stone as the slats and Velcro system probably won’t provide adequate support. And we’re also deducting half a point from our score because of the lack of proper headboard. Yes, this is a budget bed base but it would be nice to have the option to buy a headboard as an add-on.
Nectar Platform Bed Frame review: User reviews
Nectar’s bases are only sold on the brand’s website, but reviews for the brand as a whole can be found on Trustpilot. Unfortunately, these reviews cover the whole Nectar Sleep range, although we were able to filter them down to find some of the Platform Bed Frame reviews.
There aren’t many reviews to go on, but quite a few people love the base, which they’ve almost all combined with a Nectar mattress. There are quite a few comments on how easy it is to get in and out of, whilst others comment on how comfortable the base is.
As with all products, not everyone was enamoured with the base. A few complaints focused on receiving a broken part, or a delivery being delayed. But a couple of reviews suggested that the base was not supportive enough for a heavier weight and some people were unhappy about the lack of a headboard or the ability to fit one.
Should you buy the Nectar Platform Bed Frame?
If you’re on a tighter budget and make sure you wait for a Nectar sale, its base is an absolute steal pricewise. It’s also an extremely smart looking bed base that’s bound to appeal to those looking for a minimalistic and streamlined look in their bedroom.
We like the fact that this base comes in a single size, as well as double, king and super king and thought it was fairly simple to put together. We also liked the fact that you only need to use the included alum key to fit all the parts together.
For such a simple bed, we were pleasantly surprised by how supported we felt and by the improvement in one of our tester’s back pain. It’s also great that the base is suitable to use with a wide variety of mattresses – although there are some that do require a solid base as opposed to slats, so do check before you buy.
The Nectar base only comes with a two-year guarantee and there’s no trial period, but that’s not entirely surprising considering its lower price tag. We only tested the base for three weeks and, while it felt sturdy and reassuringly well-built, we did note that the Velcro / slat system might tire a little over time.
However, we were highly impressed by the Nectar Platform Bed Frame and think that most people will find it extremely comfortable to sleep on. We just wish there was the option to attach a headboard.
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