Murphy beds with storage — What the side cabinets are really for
The Wooden Stars is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site, at no extra cost to you.
A Murphy bed with storage is a wall bed sold as one assembly with cabinets beside it, shelves above it, or drawers below it. The bed part is unchanged. What changes is how much wall the whole thing occupies, and that is the number people miss.
The appeal is obvious: a room that gives up a wall to a bed has usually also lost its wardrobe. Putting the storage back into the same unit is the sensible move — as long as you measured for the unit rather than for the bed.
Storage versions come in three shapes: side cabinets (the most common, and the one that adds the most wall), a bridge over the top, and drawers in the base. A queen with side towers typically needs 100 to 120 inches of wall rather than the 60 inches the bed alone would take. Clear floor is unchanged at 80 inches. Side cabinets are usually the best value per inch of storage; a bridge unit adds none. Measure the total assembly width from the listing, never the mattress size.
The three shapes, and what each costs in wall
Side cabinets, or towers
Full-height columns either side of the bed cabinet, usually with shelves behind doors. This is the classic configuration and by far the most common. Each tower is typically 16 to 24 inches wide, so a queen goes from roughly 60 inches of wall to somewhere between 92 and 108, and often more once the trim is counted.
In exchange you get real wardrobe-scale storage and, visually, the bed disappears into what reads as a run of joinery. That second point is worth more than people expect: a lone bed cabinet always looks like a bed cabinet.
A bridge over the top
A shelf or cupboard spanning above the closed bed, tying two towers together or sitting alone. It adds no wall width at all, which is its whole virtue, but it needs ceiling height above the bed’s swing clearance — so it is generally incompatible with a tight ceiling.
Drawers in the base
Less common on wall beds and standard on freestanding cabinet beds. On a wall bed the space under the closed mattress is shallow, so the drawers are shallow: bedding, not clothing.
| Configuration | Extra wall | Extra ceiling | Storage gained |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bed alone | None | None | None |
| One side tower | 16 to 24 in | None | One column of shelves |
| Two side towers | 32 to 48 in | None | Wardrobe-scale |
| Bridge over the top | None | 12 to 18 in | One shallow run |
| Base drawers | None | None | Bedding depth only |
Measure the assembly, not the bed
This is the mistake that gets made, and it is expensive because a wall bed is not returnable in any casual sense once it is fixed to a wall.
A listing for a “queen Murphy bed with storage” will state a queen mattress and, separately, an overall assembly width. The second number is the one your wall has to satisfy. Read it, write it down, and measure the usable wall against it — usable meaning the run with no light switch, no door swing, no radiator and no window reveal inside it.
Two further clearances often go unnoticed:
- Door swing on the towers. A cupboard door at the end of the run needs space to open, and if the run finishes in a corner it may not have it.
- The bed’s own arc. The mattress swings out past the cabinet face as it comes down. Anything permanently in that arc — including a tower door left ajar — is a collision.
Does the storage actually earn its wall?
Worth asking honestly, because the alternative is a bed alone plus a separate wardrobe, and that combination is usually cheaper.
The integrated version wins on three counts: it looks like one designed object rather than two pieces of furniture, the storage is tied into the same fixing run so nothing racks or wobbles, and the proportions are correct by construction. It loses on price and on flexibility — a separate wardrobe can move; a bolted tower cannot.
If the room is genuinely small, work through measuring the room before the bed first. An assembly that needs 110 inches of wall in a 10-foot room leaves you nothing.
What the extra weight does to the fixing
Side towers are not decorative panels. Loaded with clothes and books they are heavy, and they are usually bolted to the wall in their own right as well as to the bed cabinet.
That means more fixing points, more studs to find, and more consequence if one is missed. An assembly spanning 100 inches crosses six or seven studs on 16-inch centres — use them. The bed mechanism’s own load is unchanged, but it now sits in a structure that is also carrying storage, which is precisely why the makers specify the fixings they do.
Material matters more in a storage unit
On a bed cabinet, material is a question about the load points where the mechanism bolts in. On a storage tower it is also a question about shelves.
A shelf spanning 20 inches in thin particleboard will sag under books within a couple of years, and the sag is permanent. Plywood and solid timber hold their line; thicker panel and a supported back edge help. Look for shelf thickness in the specification and for whether the shelves are adjustable — adjustable usually means supported on pins in a drilled column, which also tells you the sides are substantial enough to drill.
The vocabulary on the listing, and what each material means for screws and for edges, is decoded in what engineered wood actually is.
The mattress limit has not gone away
Storage or not, every cabinet states a maximum mattress thickness, because the mattress folds into the case with the bedding on it. Buy the cabinet, read its number, then buy the mattress. It is the most common reason a newly installed bed will not close, and storage units are not exempt.
Before you order
- Stud finder A storage assembly crosses six or seven studs and is bolted at several of them
- Tape measure Total assembly width, not mattress width — plus tower door swing at the ends
- Spirit level Towers out of plumb show immediately against each other
- Furniture anchor straps Useful backup on tall loaded towers, alongside the maker’s fixings
What to buy
If the wall cannot take the full assembly, a bed alone plus a separate wardrobe is the cheaper compromise — start from the queen wall bed. For shelving specifically rather than closed storage, see Murphy beds with shelves, and for the version that adds seating instead, Murphy bed with a couch.
Questions we get asked
How much wall does a Murphy bed with storage need?
A queen with two side towers is typically 92 to 108 inches overall, against about 60 for the bed alone. Always use the assembly width from the listing.
Do side cabinets come with the bed or separately?
Both exist. Matching towers sold as an add-on are common, and buying them later is usually possible — but check the finish batch, because wood-effect panels shift between production runs.
Does storage change how much floor the bed needs?
No. Clear floor is set by the mattress length — 80 inches for a queen — regardless of what is beside the bed.
Can you put a shelf above a Murphy bed?
Yes, if there is height above the bed’s swing clearance. The bed arcs higher than its closed height as it comes down, so measure the swing figure from the listing, not the cabinet height.
Are storage towers strong enough for clothes?
Generally yes, but check shelf thickness and material. Thin particleboard shelves sag permanently under books; plywood and solid timber hold.
Is a Murphy bed with storage worth the extra cost?
When the room has lost its wardrobe to the bed, usually yes — and it looks like joinery rather than two objects. When you already have a wardrobe, a bed alone plus that wardrobe is cheaper and more flexible.
