Murphy Bed vs. Cabinet Bed: Which Is Better for a Salem-Area Guest Room?
If you’ve been searching for a Murphy Wall Bed in Salem, Oregon, there’s a good chance you’ve also come across another option: the Cabinet Bed.
Both solve the same basic problem. You want a comfortable place for overnight guests, but you don’t want a bed taking up valuable space when no one is using it.
So which is better?
The answer depends less on the bed itself and more on what you need the room to do when your guests go home.
In this guide, we’ll compare Murphy Wall beds and cabinet beds, look at the rooms where each works best, and explain why seeing both in person at our Brooks showroom can make the decision much easier.
1. Start With the Space You Want Back
A traditional Murphy Wall Bed becomes part of the room. When it’s closed, the mattress and bed frame fold into cabinetry secured to the wall, giving you back most of the room’s usable floor space.
That makes a Murphy bed a particularly good choice when a room has two jobs.
Maybe your Salem home has a spare bedroom you would rather use as an office.
Maybe you want a workout room that can become a guest room when family visits. Or perhaps you’re trying to get more use from the second bedroom in an ADU or smaller home.
Hiddenbed of Oregon offers vertical Murphy beds in several sizes and styles, with options such as side cabinets, a variety of finishes, integrated lighting and desk configurations.
Horizontal Murphy beds can work particularly well in rooms with lower or sloped ceilings, or where you don’t want the open bed to extend as far into the room.
A Cabinet Bed works differently.
Instead of being attached to the wall, it folds into a freestanding cabinet. Hiddenbed’s Cabinet Beds are constructed from real wood materials, such as solid hardwood and furniture-grade plywood—never particle board—and come in a variety of finishes. Most can be set up in about a minute.
That makes a Cabinet Bed an appealing solution when you want a guest bed without making a permanent change to the room. Although a Cabinet Bed occupies less wall space than most Murphy beds, it still needs adequate floor clearance when fully opened.
So the first question is fairly simple:
Do you want the bed integrated into the room—or do you want a compact, freestanding piece of furniture you can place in the room?
Once you answer that, there’s another question that may be even more important:
How are you going to use the room most of the time?
2. Think About What Happens When Nobody Is Sleeping There
If your biggest goal is simply having a comfortable bed available when family visits, a Cabinet Bed may be all you need.
The Murphy Express Cabinet Bed, for example, occupies about 10 square feet of floor space when closed and transforms into a comfortable bed in under a minute. It is available in Twin, Full and Queen sizes and includes a tri-fold gel memory foam mattress.
That can make a Cabinet Bed a practical choice for:
An occasional guest room
A den or family room
A home where wall installation isn’t desirable
A room where you may eventually want to move the bed somewhere else
But suppose the room needs to function as your home office every day.
Now the problem changes.
Instead of merely hiding a guest bed, you may want the furniture itself to perform another job. That’s where one of Hiddenbed’s transforming desk beds becomes worth considering. The desk remains level as it transforms, so you don’t have to clear everything off the work surface each time you need the bed.
Or perhaps you want cabinetry and storage surrounding the bed so the entire wall becomes part of the room’s design. A Murphy Bed gives you considerably more flexibility to create that kind of permanent solution.
Neither approach is automatically better.
A Cabinet Bed often wins for simplicity and flexibility.
A Murphy Bed often wins for integration and customization.
A Desk Bed may win when the room truly needs to do two jobs every day.
There is also a physical tradeoff to consider: a Cabinet Bed generally requires less wall height, but it occupies more floor space when closed than most Murphy beds.
And that leads to the part that is surprisingly difficult to judge online:
What does each option actually feel like in the room?
3. Compare Murphy Beds and Cabinet Beds in Person Near Salem
You can compare dimensions online. You can look at finishes and photographs. You can even read through our Murphy Bed and Cabinet Bed FAQs to learn about construction, installation, mattresses and wall requirements.
But these are pieces of furniture you physically use.
At Hiddenbed of Oregon’s showroom in Brooks, just north of Salem, you can see, touch
and operate different types of wall beds, cabinet beds, desk beds and table beds yourself.
Open a cabinet bed.
Lower a Murphy bed.
See how far each one extends into the room.
Look at the wood finishes up close.
Try the mattresses.
And bring your room measurements and a few photos. Sometimes the solution becomes obvious once we can see what you’re trying to accomplish.
That is especially useful if you live in Salem, Keizer, Woodburn or the surrounding area, because Hiddenbed is located locally in Brooks rather than being an online-only furniture seller. Customers within 50 miles of our Brooks showroom also receive free delivery and setup or installation, as applicable.
Still Deciding Between a Murphy Bed and a Cabinet Bed?
If you’re looking for a space-saving bed solution near Salem or Keizer, you don’t have to make the decision from photographs alone.
Come compare them.
Visit the Hiddenbed of Oregon showroom at 4993 Brooklake Road NE in Brooks. We’re open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with Saturday visits available by appointment.
Bring your measurements, show us what you want the room to do, and we’ll help you compare the options. See our Room Planning Guide to guide you through the process.
Contact Hiddenbed of Oregon to plan your showroom visit or call 503-874-6109.
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