Stearns & Foster Mattress Review | Reasons to Buy/NOT Buy (2023)

The ultimate goal when looking for a new mattress is to find one that you want to use for years. When our team first tested a Stearns & Foster mattress, the hand-stitched embroidery, the durable support system and the cozy pillow top, each part of it was worth appreciation. When I learned that you could try these beds out in local shops, that was an added bonus — sometimes you just need to lie down on a bed before throwing your wallet at it.

That particular mattress is now long gone, so this year we decided to see what’s new with the brand. After I reached out, the folks at Stearns & Foster kindly sent us the medium pillow-top version of the Lux Estate, and I’m happy to report that quality-wise, not much has changed. This is one of nicest and most luxurious-looking beds we’ve received in recent years. And when it comes to how the bed feels, it gets better. In this review, I’ll cover everything you should know about this bed, including who our team thinks it’s best for.

First impressions of the Lux Estate mattress

The Stearns & Foster Lux Estate is white-glove delivered for free. The bed showed up full-sized at our office with a delivery team that was ready to set it up and take away our old bed. Being online mattress reviewers, we didn’t quite need all the amenities included in the delivery process and opted to set it up ourselves. All we did was rip off the plastic, place it on our frame and the bed was ready for testing.

Upon our initial tests, it became clear that this is a generally accommodating and comfortable pillow-top mattress. It just feels like a fancy hotel bed or something that you’d find in an upscale Airbnb. The coils on the bottom provide all body types with plenty of support, while the pillow top offers a nice amount of comfort and cushion. This is the type of mattress that you look forward to lying down on after a long day.

Stearns & Foster mattress firmness and feel

What does the Lux Estate mattress feel like?

As it’s a more luxurious style of pillow-top mattress, this bed has a generally comfortable pillow-top feel. It offers a neutral balance of comfort with equal support and pressure relief. It doesn’t feel like a dense memory foam mattress, and it’s not spongy or ultra-springy like a latex foam bed. It has more of a neutral feel that’s also premium and cozy.    

I’d compare the feel of the Stearns & Foster Lux Estate to other more luxurious pillow-top beds like the Saatva Classic or even The WinkBed mattress. These are the types of pillow top beds that practically anyone can sleep on because they’re so accomodating. Getting a bed with a neutral style of mattress feel is always a safe way to go, especially if you’re unsure what feel you’d prefer your next bed to have. If you really want to see how this bed feels for yourself before you buy it, you can check it out at your local retailer.  

How firm is the Lux Estate mattress?

This bed is available in a variety of firmness and comfort choices. Over at CNET Home, We have the PT Medium model, and would place it between a medium and a medium-firm on our scale. This firmness ranking makes the mattress a suitable choice for all sleeper types, with a slight support advantage for primary back and stomach sleepers. 

Firmness is a subjective thing. We rank how firm a bed is based on the size of an average person, but you could find the bed to have a different firmness if you’re much heavier or even on the more petite side. Luckily, you have two other firmness renditions of the bed available with a pillow top. There’s also a standard version of the mattress, which is a bit firmer, but also more affordable — these more luxurious beds can cost a pretty penny.

Stearns & Foster Lux Estate mattress construction

This is a premium pillow top mattress is around 14.5 inches thick and composed of the following materials:

1. On the bottom, you’ve got a thin layer of base foam to serve as the starting point for the mattress.
2. Then you’ve got the bed’s main support system of individually wrapped coils. These are even reinforced along the edges of the bed to provide sleepers with a sturdy perimeter.
3. Next, you’ve got a couple more responsive transition foams. These act as buffers between the support and comfort layers of the mattress.
4. Above that, you’ve got one of the bed’s primary comfort layers, which is a memory foam. Interestingly enough, the brand actually collaborated with Tempur-Pedic to produce this one-of-a-kind foam, which gives the bed ample pressure relief and cushion.
5. On top, the bed is wrapped up in a stretch-knit tencel cover with some additional comfort elements quilted in. It’s quite soft, breathable and balances everything out with neutral, accommodating comfort.

Lux Estate mattress performance

Motion isolation

Good motion isolation is important if you or your partner are easily woken up by the slightest movements at night. Personally, I tend to toss and turn, which can sometimes jostle my fiancé out of her peaceful slumber. In this case, you’ll want a bed that can isolate that motion, so it doesn’t transfer to the other side as much. The Lux Estate performs fine in this regard. There’s no excessive amount of motion that reverberates through the bed, at least based on our tests. If motion isolation is a top priority for your next mattress search, the two of you might have better luck with a memory foam bed — those are the best for this issue. Still, the Lux Estate should deaden a good amount of motion for most couples.

Edge-to-edge support

Since the coils that run along the edges of this mattress are designed to be extra-durable and reinforced, the Lux Estate from Stearns & Foster has superb edge support. When I applied my full weight to the edges, I observed no sagging at all and felt fully supported by the bed’s perimeter — which is saying something, I’m a bigger dude.

If your partner likes to hog the sleeping surface and you’re forced to hug the edges of this bed at night, you shouldn’t have any issues with falling off the Lux Estate.   

Temperature

Though the stretch-knit tencel cover on the Lux Estate is designed to be more breathable than your average mattress cover, we’d still classify it as a temperature-neutral sleeping mattress. To us, this isn’t an active-cooling bed, but it also shouldn’t warm up on you or your partner excessively. The thing to remember about temperature regulation is that it usually depends on other exterior factors rather than the bed itself. If cooling is a concern for you or your partner, you can always check out our Best Cooling Mattress for Hot Sleepers list. 

Durability

This is a premium pillow-top mattress that’s handcrafted in the US, so it should be a durable bed that’ll likely last your relationship for many years to come. The average lifespan for a bed is around seven to 10 years, but I could see this bed easily surpassing that time frame given its high-quality construction. That said, to get the most out of your bed long-term, I always recommend rotating it once every six months. That way, you can avoid lumps in certain areas and the sleeping surface will remain evenly balanced.    

Who is the Stearns & Foster Lux Estate mattress best for?

I highly doubt you’d find this mattress uncomfortable if you lie down on it in your local Mattress Firm, but it still might be the bed of everyone’s dreams. Here’s who we think the Lux Estate is best for.

Sleeping position

I think combination sleepers who like to rotate between all sleeping positions throughout the course of a night will enjoy this option the most. The bed’s medium to medium-firm profile presents sleepers with equal parts pressure relief and support, making it versatile enough to work best for this preference.

If you’re a back or stomach sleeper who prefers something a bit firmer, you’ll likely get even more out of it. Based on our observations, these sleepers tend to prefer firmer beds since they offer more support. If you’re a side sleeper, I highly recommend getting the PT Soft version, since it will offer the most amount of pressure relief for your shoulders and hips at night.

Body type

This is a durable hybrid bed that’s designed to withstand a lot of pressure from night to night. For this reason alone, the Lux Estate should be supportive enough to handle all body types, including much heavier people. If you’re interested in checking out other supportive options, feel free to peruse our list of best beds for heavy people. 

There’s no getting around it, this bed is expensive. However, you would be investing in a more premium, high-class style of pillow-top mattress, and the pricing certainly reflects that. As a brand, Stearns & Foster likes to run nice discounts and promotions on its beds, usually around major holidays. Keep in mind, the standard version is more affordable.   

Trial, shipping and warranty

Stearns & Foster backs its beds with a standard policy set. Its beds ship to you with complimentary white-glove delivery, and once a bed is in your possession, you get a 90-night trial period to try it at home risk-free. If you happen not to like it within that time frame, you can return it, but a small fee will be deducted from your refund. This is due to the costs incurred shipping the mattress to you with that free delivery service. If you decide to keep it, you’re backed by a 10-year warranty. Just be sure to use the right foundation for the bed. Otherwise, you could void your bed’s warranty.

How does Stearns & Foster Lux Estate compare to other mattresses? 

Stearns & Foster vs. Saatva Classic

These are two popular choices in the realm of luxurious online beds. Both have a similar traditional pillow-top feel and arrive at your home with complimentary white-glove delivery. In terms of differences, the Saatva Classic is available in three firmness options, while the Lux Estate from Stearns & Foster technically has four. However the Saatva Classic has a dual-coil construction, and a lumbar support feature. It’s also considerably more affordable after a discount for a queen size. 

Stearns & Foster vs. The WinkBed

Another comparable bed to the Lux Estate would probably be the WinkBed. It’s another popular pillow-top bed with a more luxurious aesthetic. Unlike the Lux Estate, the WinkBed mattress ships to you for completely free in a box. You also get a 120-night trial to test it out at home, free returns within that time frame, and a lifetime warranty if you decide to keep it. Both options are available in four firmness options, and share a similar type of premium mattress feel. If you’re trying to save the most amount of money on your next pillow top bed, though, the WinkBed is the clear winner in this department. 

The final verdict

After all these years, Stearns & Foster continues to impress me. I think the Lux Estate is a great choice for those in the market for a luxurious pillow-top bed with a traditional feel that’s available in a bunch of firmness and comfort options. If you want a mattress that you can try out in a store before you buy, and which shows up with free white-glove delivery, not many options can top it — just so long as you’re aware of the price tag.

You might like the Lux Estate mattress if:

• You want a supportive hybrid mattress
• You want a traditional pillow-top feel
• You want a bed that’s available in a few firmnesses
• You don’t mind spending up for a more luxurious bed

You might not like the Lux Estate mattress if:

• You’re looking for an all-foam mattress
• You prefer the feel of a dense memory foam mattress
• You’re searching for an active-cooling bed
• You’re on a tight budget