Duvet and comforter sizes
11 standard bedding sizes with their real dimensions and how far each one hangs over the bed.
A duvet is much wider than the bed
This is the part that surprises people measuring for the first time. A UK double bed is 135 cm wide and a UK double duvet is 200 — 65 cm wider, dropping 32.5 cm down each side. Buying bedding to match the mattress is the most common way to end up with a duvet that is too small.
Every standard size lands between 22 and 40 cm of overhang per side. Below about 25 the cover rides up whenever someone turns over, which is what "the duvet is too small" almost always means in practice: right for the bed, wrong for two people.
The names do not cross the Atlantic
A UK king duvet is 225 cm wide. A US king comforter is 264. That is 39 cm — more than a foot — under one word. The mattresses have the same problem, and it compounds: a British king bed with an American king comforter is swamped, and the reverse leaves the mattress bare on both sides.
United Kingdom
| Size | Centimetres | Inches | Bed width | Overhang each side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 135 × 200 | 53 × 79 | 90 cm | 22.5 cm |
| Double | 200 × 200 | 79 × 79 | 135 cm | 32.5 cm |
| King | 225 × 220 | 89 × 87 | 150 cm | 37.5 cm |
| Super King | 260 × 220 | 102 × 87 | 180 cm | 40.0 cm |
| Emperor | 290 × 235 | 114 × 93 | 200 cm | 45.0 cm |
North America
| Size | Centimetres | Inches | Bed width | Overhang each side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twin | 173 × 224 | 68 × 88 | 97 cm | 38.1 cm |
| Twin XL | 173 × 234 | 68 × 92 | 97 cm | 38.1 cm |
| Full | 206 × 224 | 81 × 88 | 137 cm | 34.3 cm |
| Queen | 224 × 244 | 88 × 96 | 152 cm | 35.6 cm |
| King | 264 × 244 | 104 × 96 | 193 cm | 35.6 cm |
| California King | 264 × 254 | 104 × 100 | 183 cm | 40.6 cm |
Duvet, cover, comforter
The words describe different objects. A duvet is the insert — the filled quilt — and goes inside a duvet cover, which is washed separately; this is the British and continental arrangement. A comforter is the American equivalent sold as one finished quilted piece, usually used with a flat sheet underneath rather than a cover over it. A cover is bought to match the duvet it goes on, never the bed, which is the other common sizing mistake.