A king size bed in the UK is 150cm wide by 200cm long. In imperial measurements that is 5ft by 6ft 6in, or 60in by 78in. Those figures describe the mattress, which is the part that is standardised across British manufacturing, and they hold true whether you buy a divan base, a slatted frame or an upholstered design.
The finished bed occupies more than that. Add the frame and the external footprint typically comes to between 155cm and 170cm wide and between 205cm and 220cm long, depending on the headboard depth and whether there is a footboard. Height varies more widely still, from a low platform of around 30cm to a divan with a deep mattress standing at 70cm or more to the sleeping surface.
British bed sizes step up in a consistent way, and seeing them together makes the king size easier to judge.
A single is 90cm by 190cm. A small double, often called a three quarter, is 120cm by 190cm. A standard double is 135cm by 190cm. A king size is 150cm by 200cm. A super king is 180cm by 200cm.
Two details matter here. First, the jump from double to king adds 15cm of width, which is meaningful but not dramatic. Second, and more usefully, the king size is also 10cm longer than a double. Anyone over about 6ft finds that extra length more valuable than the width, because a double at 190cm leaves tall sleepers with their feet at the very edge of the mattress.
A king size bed suits a bedroom of roughly 3m by 3.4m or larger without any compromise. It can work in smaller rooms, but something has to give, and it is worth deciding in advance what that will be.
Allow 60cm minimum to walk along each side you use, and 75cm where the route passes a wardrobe or drawer front. Leave 100cm at the foot of the bed if a wardrobe door opens there. If the door to the room swings inwards, check the arc against the corner of the bed, since a door that catches the frame is a daily irritation that no amount of good design fixes.
The honest test is masking tape on the floor. Mark out 165cm by 210cm, which is a realistic external footprint, and walk the room for a day before ordering. Plans on paper flatter a room. Tape does not.
The base you choose changes the size of the bed as much as the mattress does.
A divan base matches the mattress dimensions almost exactly, so a king size divan is close to 150cm wide with no overhang. That makes it the most efficient choice in a tight room, and drawer options within the base recover storage that a small bedroom badly needs.
A frame adds width and length but gives the room shape and character. Wooden frames tend to add the least. Upholstered and leather frames add the most, particularly designs with a padded surround or wings, and they also carry visual weight, which can make a small room feel fuller than the measurements suggest. If you have the floor area for it, the presence is worth having, and the range of modern king size leather beds UK designs shows how much difference the frame style makes to how a bedroom reads.
Storage bases deserve a mention of their own. A king size ottoman lifts on gas struts to reveal the full footprint underneath, which is a considerable volume, and it fits in the same space as a standard base.
UK king size bedding is cut for the 150cm by 200cm mattress. A king duvet is usually 225cm by 220cm, and a king fitted sheet is made for the width and length, with depth as a separate consideration.
Mattress depth is where errors happen. Depths range from about 18cm for a basic foam mattress to 35cm or more for a pocket sprung model with a pillow top. Check the sheet depth you need, and check the headboard height above the mattress line, because a deep mattress can leave a low headboard looking stunted. On a slatted frame, also confirm the slat gap your chosen mattress permits, as foam mattresses generally require closer spacing than sprung ones.
Do not assume international bedding will fit. A US king is wider and shorter. European sizing differs again. Only UK king bedding will sit properly.
Access catches out more buyers than room size does. A king size mattress is a single 150cm by 200cm object, and Victorian and Edwardian staircases were not built with it in mind.
Measure the narrowest point of the route, which is usually a stairwell turn or a landing doorway rather than the door frame itself. Standard internal doors are often around 76cm, so the mattress travels on its side. Pocket sprung mattresses flex very little, which is the real constraint on a half landing. Rolled mattresses are compressed for delivery and solve difficult access almost entirely, so if your stairs are tight, start there rather than with the frame.
Frames arrive flat packed and rarely cause problems. Divan bases usually split into two halves, which also helps, though a solid single piece base will not.
Once the bed takes 150cm of width, everything else in the room has to be chosen with restraint. Slim bedside cabinets of 40cm to 45cm keep the walking route clear. Wall mounted lighting frees the cabinet top entirely. A tall, narrow chest of drawers holds as much as a wide low one while taking half the floor.
Wardrobes need the most thought, since sliding doors need no clearance in front while hinged doors need close to a metre. In a room where the bed has taken most of the floor, a sliding option is often the only workable answer, and the choices within a modern sliding wardrobes UK sale range are worth checking against your remaining wall length before anything else is ordered. If you would rather plan the whole room in one go, matching pieces across a modern bedroom furniture sets UK collection keep the proportions consistent, which matters more in a room dominated by a large bed.
At Furniture in Fashion we would always suggest working out the bed footprint and the walking routes first, then choosing storage to fit what remains. Doing it the other way round is how bedrooms end up with a beautiful wardrobe that cannot be opened.
A king size suits two adults who want room to move without giving up the floor space a super king demands. It suits taller sleepers because of the 200cm length. It suits a main bedroom where the bed is meant to be the focus of the room.
It is less suited to a room under about 3m wide, to a guest room used occasionally, or to a bedroom that also has to work as a dressing area or a workspace. In those cases a double, or a small double in a genuinely narrow room, leaves you with a space that functions properly all day rather than only at night. Whichever size you settle on, the range of beds UK sale options covers each width, so the decision can be made on the room rather than on what happens to be available.
A UK king size mattress is 5ft wide by 6ft 6in long. In centimetres that is 150cm by 200cm.
No. European sizing varies by country and is commonly 160cm or 180cm wide, so mattresses and bedding are not interchangeable with the UK 150cm standard.
Around 3m by 3.4m gives comfortable clearance on both sides and at the foot. Smaller rooms can take one, but expect to compromise on bedside furniture or walking space.
Yes. A king size is 200cm long against 190cm for a UK double, so it gives 10cm more length as well as 15cm more width.
It will cover the mattress but leave very little overhang, so it tends to pull off one side during the night. King size bedding is the sensible match.
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