Are Bedding Sizes Between Queen & King Really That Different?

If you just purchased a new king size bed so you could have more room to stretch out in the perfect size bed for your space, you may be wondering if you have to purchase all new sheets and blankets. Could you make use of your queen size sheets and blankets on the new bed to save some money? The king and queen models are exactly the same length, but they differ in width, so you cannot swap fitted sheets between the two. However, if you have blankets and comforters, which always are oversized versus the size of the mattress, you may be able to move them back and forth and still use them somewhat comfortably because their dimensions are similar.

Both king and queen beds measure 80 inches in length. The queen has a 60-inch width, while the king has a 76-inch width. Although the fitted sheet needs to be the exact size for the mattress, the other aspects of the bedding don't necessarily need to fit perfectly. This may help you avoid having to buy extra pairs of sheets for each bed, saving some money.

The 16 extra inches of width with the king mattress may not seem like much, but it has almost 1,300 square inches of extra space versus the queen. This difference can be quite a bit when trying to make smaller blankets or sheets from a queen mattress fit on a king mattress.

Unlike the mattresses and the fitted sheets for king and queen beds, which have a specific size that applies to each of them, comforters and blankets made for these particular beds don't have a specific size to which all manufacturers adhere. They can vary several inches in both width and length, which is helpful when you are trying to share bedding between the two types of mattresses.

To have a queen size label, blankets and comforters typically have widths between 86 and 90 inches and lengths between 90 and 100 inches. For a king size label, they can have widths between 90 and 108 inches and lengths between 86 and 108 inches. Flat sheets for each size of mattress can be even larger than the blankets and comforters.

As you can see, these dimensions are somewhat similar. You certainly could swap the blankets and comforters between these two types of beds, even though they may not fit perfectly. It just depends on how much overhang you want on the sides of the mattresses. The wider king comforter may almost hang down to the floor on the sides of a queen bed, while using a queen blanket on the king mattress may only hang a few inches over the sides. Some people refuse to swap items between the two sizes of mattresses because the excessive or minimal overhang doesn't look quite right on a properly made bed.

It's easier to use a king size comforter or blanket on a queen bed because of the greater size. It may not be quite as comfortable to use the queen comforter on the king bed, because it has a limited amount of width. If you buy an 86-inch-wide queen blanket and use it on the 76-inch-wide king bed, two people sleeping on the mattress may not have quite as much covering as they want.

If two of you are sleeping on the king mattress and if you like to wrap yourselves up in the blanket or comforter while you sleep, having a queen comforter on the king bed may be uncomfortable because you won't have enough extra fabric for the way you like to sleep. However, if one person is using the bed, there should be enough fabric to keep you comfortable with the queen blanket on the king mattress, even if you want to wrap yourself up in the fabric.

On the flip side, if you are sleeping on a queen mattress and you want some extra fabric so you and your sleeping partner can both have plenty of blanket covering to wrap yourselves in, placing a king size flat sheet, blanket, and comforter on the queen mattress will be extremely comfortable. Just understand that it's going to hang over the edges quite a bit after you make the bed.