IKEA Fridhult vs Friheten vs Nyhamn vs Älvdalen: Which IKEA Sofa Bed Fits Your Space?

The four sofa beds at a glance

Dimensions are from the product pages for FRIDHULT, ÄLVDALEN, NYHAMN, and FRIHETEN. Ratings are IKEA's own customer ratings on the day we checked; they are a rough signal, not a test result. FRIHETEN also comes as a sleeper sectional with a storage chaise, covered below.

How big is the bed?

A sofa bed's mattress size is the number that decides whether two adults can sleep on it, and it is rarely the size of a standard mattress. Here are the four sleeping surfaces drawn to scale beside a standard full (54 x 75 in) and queen (60 x 80 in).

A useful comparison: a standard full gives each of two sleepers 27 in of width, about the width of a crib mattress, which is why many couples find a full tight for more than a night or two. FRIDHULT's 47 in bed gives each of two sleepers about 23 in, so it is really a bed for one adult or two small children. The other three are full-width beds that suit two adults for short stays.

How much floor it takes when open

Closed width is what people measure, and open depth is what catches them out. The direction a sofa bed opens decides how far it reaches into the room, and so whether you can still get past it to the door.

The walkway figure uses 24 in, the minimum to walk past a bed from our furniture clearance guide. Where IKEA does not publish an open depth, measure the display model or ask in store, and allow a few inches for the frame and cushions.

FRIDHULT: the smallest and cheapest

FRIDHULT is under 50 in wide and 30 in deep, small enough for a home office, a teenager's room, or a studio where a full sofa will not fit. IKEA describes its seat as unfolding to lie on the floor as a sleeping space, which it calls perfect for kids. The seat cushion is high-resilience polyurethane foam of 1.8 lb per cubic foot, and the cover is not removable, so it can only be vacuumed and wiped.

• Good for: occasional guests, children's sleepovers, rooms where the sofa must be small when closed.
• Watch: the bed sits close to the floor and reaches about 82 in from the wall, and at 47 in wide it is narrow for two adults. IKEA's customer rating was the lowest of the four when we checked.

FRIHETEN: the everyday sofa with a real bed

FRIHETEN is the one to choose if the sofa bed is also your main sofa. It is the largest here at 88 5/8 in wide, with a 56 3/4 x 78 3/8 in bed, the closest of the four to a queen. It converts by pulling out the underframe, and it has storage under the seat for bedding. Its 18 1/8 in seat height is the most conventional of the four, which matters if you sit on it every evening.

The sleeper sectional version, at $999 for the 3-seat with storage, adds a chaise with its own storage compartment. It is 90 1/2 in wide and 59 1/2 in deep, with a 55 1/8 x 80 3/8 in bed, and converts when you remove the back cushions and pull out the underframe. If you are weighing a sectional at all, our sofa vs sectional comparison covers how much room a chaise takes.

• Good for: a living room sofa that hosts guests often; storing bedding in the sofa.
• Watch: at over 88 in wide and 41 in deep it needs a long wall; the frame cover is not removable.

NYHAMN: the washable one with a mattress choice

NYHAMN uses a click-clack mechanism: you pull the seat up and fold the back down, and the sofa becomes a 55 1/8 x 78 3/4 in bed. It comes with a foam mattress for $499 or a pocket spring mattress for $549, and IKEA describes its cover as removable and machine washable, which none of the other three offer. It also has storage under the seat.

The trade-off is the seat. At 12 1/4 in high and 28 3/4 in deep, it sits low and deep, more like a lounger than an upright sofa. That suits sprawling and suits a spare room, and it is harder for anyone who finds low seats difficult to get out of. Our comparison of foam vs spring cushions explains what the two mattress options mean for feel and wear.

• Good for: homes with pets or children, where a washable cover matters; guests who will sleep on it often.
• Watch: a very low seat; try it in store if anyone in the household has mobility concerns.

ÄLVDALEN: the mid-priced all-rounder

ÄLVDALEN costs the same as the foam NYHAMN and splits the difference between the others: 76 3/8 in wide, a 53 1/8 x 76 3/8 in bed (about a full), storage under the seat, and a 16 1/2 in seat height. IKEA describes it as easy to fold out, and it gives the clearest open figure of the four: 53 1/8 in deep when folded out. It had the highest IKEA customer rating of the four when we checked.

• Good for: a living room or den where the sofa is used daily and opened occasionally.
• Watch: the bed is about 76 in long, shorter than a standard 80 in queen; tall guests may notice. The frame cover is not removable.

Which one should you buy?

• Less than about 9 ft from the wall to the nearest obstacle?→Skip FRIDHULT; choose one that opens along the wall.
• Pets, children, or frequent spills?→NYHAMN, for the washable cover.
• Two adults sleeping on it for more than a night or two?→FRIHETEN, the widest bed here.
• Wall shorter than about 8 ft?→ÄLVDALEN or NYHAMN, both under 80 in wide.

Before ordering, check the closed sofa against your wall with our sofa size guide, which also has a calculator for getting it through the door, and tape the open footprint on the floor to be sure you can still walk past it.