The Bilski is a top seller and has a high rating with more than 4,780 reviews. Update: I am now thinking that the majority of these 5-Star reviews might be fake. I will do more investing and report back.
The Bilski bed frame has a claimed poor quality design, up to 6″ gaps in slats for the queen, may fall apart after a month or two, and appears to have hundreds or thousands of fake reviews.
Table 1. Review Highlight Summaries
| Scott’s Rating | Scott’s Thoughts | |
| Overall | 3.1 | I wouldn’t buy it. I see a trend that looks like a huge percentage of the 5-star ratings are fake. I have more work to do and will report back. |
| Assembly time in total minutes of labour | 4.5 | It seems that everyone had an easy time assembling the Biski, which is a first. I always find someone who had difficulty with the assembly of other products. You can take a look at the instruction on Wayfair’s website here. |
| Strong and Sturdy | 3 | Nope |
| Squeak & creak potential | 2 | The design isn’t great and the bolts need to be tightened weekly or monthly. A few cents spent on lock washers would work wonders. |
| Storage underneath | 4.5 | 12″ of clearance and only one leg in the middle of the bed on each side. |
| Slat gaps | 1 | Epic fail here. Most companies don’t warranty foam mattress with gaps between slats more then 3 or 4”. Twin: 5” Full: 4” Queen: 6” (really??? Cheap buggers) King: 4” |
| Mattress movement | 3.5 | Four of 12 slats have anti-slip tape. Should have a few more. |
| Fat and frisky | 2 | At only a 500 lb capacity with a 75 lb mattress does not leave much room for aggressive “wrestling” doughnut lovers. |
| 1-Star ratings | 1 | 1.5% of the reviews really ripped the Bilski to shreads and for once I did not find and bogus reviews. They all seemed perfectly legit, which is concerning. |
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There are better options such as these:
Table 2. Buyer Reviews Analysis and Thoughts
| Rating | Highlights | Scott’s Thoughts |
| 5 | 65 lady assembled it herself in 45 minutes. Used rug grips on top of the bedsheet to prevent the mattress from sliding around. | Great idea about rug grips. Most mattresses move on these cheap platform foundations and this is an easy and cheap fix. |
| 5 | Had a bed frame from IKEA and this is a huge upgrade. Simple instructions Easiest she ever assemble | Makes sense, most IKEA beds are poor quality. |
| 5 | Took 20 minutes to assemble Very sturdy and no squeaks | |
| 5 | This lady bought two and uses memory foam mattresses on them without an issue. | I would like to see what she thinks of it after a year or two of using the memory foam mattresses with the large slat gaps. |
| 3 | 23 no-slip tape strips for the slats missing. Slats have gaps of 5.25” rather than the 3” claimed. | Looking at the instructions it looks like there are only supposed to be tape for four slats. This is too much of a gap. Most mattress companies only warranty their foam mattresses with gaps less than 3 and 4 inches. |
| 5 | A box spring won’t fit upstairs so purchased this platform foundation. The bedroom is also very small so the storage space underneath is very helpful. | There are few tasks as crappy as doing box spring gymnastics up and around stairs. I will never own a box spring ever again. |
| 1 | It fell apart within 4 months and all the support beams bent. | Maintenance. If and when a bed frame starts to fall apart it might be a good idea to tighten the bolts or screws. If you don’t and it falls apart then you are to blame. Most cheap beds need the fasteners tightened every so often. How heavy are you? Or is this a bogus review? Hmmm, you are about 0.01% of the reviews that said it was not strong or sturdy. So who should potential buyers believe? |
| 2 | Heavy lady vigorously attempting to become pregnant with her husband and the center legs are failing after 5 months. Its great, but not for heavy people who wrestle aggressively. Mattress is now sliding around. | I am not sure it is fair to expect a cheap product to perform miracles. It sounds to me that you know the requirements of the bed so perhaps spend a little more money on a product that can handle this situation. If the couple is anywhere near the 500 lb capacity and then add a 75 lb mattress and a couple of hundred pounds of bouncing impact on it… well of course it won’t last. I can see how this design would allow for north to south movement causing flex in the three center legs. This causes flex and stress at the point where the legs attach to the center support beam. A better design is to have the two east to west bottom rails running along the north-west legs. These should be welded to the backside of the legs about 2” off the floor to hopefully prevent smashing toes. So the bottom line don’t buy this if you are in the same situation. Spend more money to get a better product. |
| 5 | Lady was able to carry the package into the house herself. Very happy, only took 40 minutes, arrived two days early and using a box spring. Excellent storage is a bonus. | Many of these metal bed frames are a challenge for small or physically challenged women and men, but this one seems very manageable. |
| 1 | Had it for a month and a weld broke and she could see rust. | Well, that is not good. I know welding quality in China can be incredibly terrible if there isn’t enough QA/QC (Quality Assurance Quality Control). Rust is an issue and likely due to storage in a humid factory or even in a shipping container at a port in salty humid air. |
| 1 | Center leg is crap Loose, falling apart in 1 – 3 months Wayfair claimed that it works with foam mattresses (it does/should not). Slat gaps are too large (for sure!) Support beam bent Support legs wobble | I am going to summarize all the 1 star ratings as they all have similar issues. |
The Good
- Very easy to set up
- Slats are solid metal (I am seeing some reviews that claim they are hollow. I will investigate further)
- Cheap
- You can use a box spring with it
- Lots of space underneath
- Comes with four slats with anti-slip tape
The Bad
- Appears most of the 5-star reviews are fake
- Slat gap is far too great on the twin and queen models (5 and 6″)
- Bolts loosen in a week to a month
- Support beam and center legs fail
- Poor welds
- Not compatible with a headboard or footboard.
Why Is The Bilski So Popular?
The Bilski bed frame has over 4700 written reviews from customers, who rate it at a 4.7 out of 5. This is a very high rating. This is a large sample size, which means that the average rating is very accurate. The reasons it gets such a high rating is that it has (UPDATE: Likely thousands of fake reviews):
- Minimalist design. There are no bells and whistles. It is purely a steel frame and nothing else. As a result, the design goes well with many different decors.
You can be more flexible with how to decorate your room and aren’t locked into a particular color scheme.
- Easy to set up. It is very easy to set up and comes with step-by-step instructions, and a diagram. You can assemble it in under an hour.
- Price point. At just over US$100 it’s affordable. It gives you a bigger budget for your mattress and bedding.
- Sturdy and durable. It’s made from solid steel. This makes it very strong, and best of all it doesn’t squeak.
The Technical Specifications
Before you buy a bed frame you should know its exact specifications so you can plan out your room. So, I’ve included the measurements, weight capacity, and what materials it is made of.
The Frame
The frame is heavy-duty, and squeak resistant. The slats are made from solid steel and very solid, but the gaps are as far apart as 6″! on the queen frame.
It has 5 additional legs that give it extra stability, except the legs are weak and fail.
There are 24 bolts with 4 nuts and that is a lot of potential squeak points. I would prefer to see more welded connections with a larger shipping package being the trade-off. Specifically, all legs welded to the support beam and rails.
The fastening system is innovative.
I would also like to see a bottom rail installed near the bottom of the legs on the center support beam. This would greatly reduce squeaks, creaks, and failures for north-south movement (think late-night wrestling).
The noise-free tape is a good idea and I think they could have provided a little more.
Bolts continuously become loose. Should have included lock washers. It would solve many of the complaints for the cost of a few cents.
TIP: If you own the Bilski bed frame, or are going to buy it, I highly recommend that you purchase 24 lock washers to help prevent the bolts from loosening.
Slats
The slats are solid metal and 1.5″ wide. There is anti-slip tape on four of the slats with two near the foot and two near the head of the bed. I wish they would just make all of them the same to reduce the potential of the mattress moving.
The gaps are way too large at:
- Twin: 5″
- Full” 4″
- Queen: 6″
- King 4″
Size
There is a 12-inch clearance on the underside of the bed. Giving you lots of room to store stuff.
| Size | Width | Length | Capacity | Weight |
| Twin | 38 | 75 | 250 | 25.6 |
| Full | 53.5 | 75 | 500 | 35.8 |
| Queen | 59.5 | 79.5 | 500 | 39.2 |
| King | 75.5 | 79.5 | 500 | 45.1 |
Storage Underneath
There is 12″ of clearance underneath, but slightly less if you have carpet as thhe legs will sink in slightly.
If the bed is not installed against a wall on one side then there is only one leg in the way of storage. So you can slide lots of containers underneath to the center legs one each side.
Headboard and Footboard
Not compatible.
Quality
Very suspect. Further investigation is ongoing.
Price
Price Per Frame Size
| Size | Price* | Shipping |
| Twin | $104.99 | Free |
| Full | $139.99 | Free |
| Queen | $139.99 | Free |
| King | $155.99 | Free |
*Prices updated August 1, 2020
Conclusion
The Bilski bed frame is best for single or light couples with an innerspring mattress (like this one for only $190!) or a box spring and mattress combination.
Who is it not for:
- Heavy people
- Aggressive “wrestlers”
- Memory foam mattresses
- People expecting a $300 product for half the price
It has a simple design, a low price point, and is very easy to install. It has a large number of reviews and a very high customer rating. So, you can buy this bed with confidence.
Scott’s Final Thought
I wouldn’t buy it. Take a look at our reviews of similar price options such as the Blough, Alwyn, Hanks, and McGovern.
