Have you heard the expression You get what you pay for? I have not tested these two beds in particular, but in general know the difference in quality between roomandboard and westelm. They are like day and night. westelm is more like ikea quality, roomandboard is something that you can bring with you for years to come.

i suspect that the R&B version might be a sturdier and better constructed bed.

Once I make a decision on a purchase I stick with it. I would consider it dishonest to return it simply to buy the other bed. But design-wise, although neither is terribly exciting, I like the lower profile of the West elm bed better.

i agree with the 1st two...you do get what you pay for! i'm sure your bed will be study AND gorgeous!

I completely agree with Anusha73. Room&Board has incredibly good customer service and will help you with any problems you might have for the life of the product - I have a few pieces from them and from customer service to the delivery guys (who will assemble your bed for you, put pads on the bottom of the bed to protect wood floors if you need them, etc.) you really receive a high level of care. I like West Elm and for some things and the price point is good but really the quality is so-so. I for one would not like to try and assemble a king-size metal bed myself and worry that if anything were wrong with the bed from West Elm once it arrived I'd have to repackage it and set up shipping for it! Room&Board will pretty much come with a replacement, change it out for you - whatever. Bottom line: if this is a long-term investment purchase for you, go with the Parsons.

I suspect the bed slats on the R&B are constructed differently from the West Elm version. I would be very hesitant to make the switch without actually testing the West Elm bed in person. Poorly constructed slats and mattress frame will shorten the lifespan of the bed.

room and board all the way... I have NEVER had good luck with anything purchased at West Elm that wasn't a textile.

I'd want to see the welded joints on the West Elm bed frame before purchasing. Welded joints on cheap furniture are often not cleaned up well--they look blobby and messy. I've seen the R&B bed above and I know they finish the welds the right way.

I'd also be concerned about the gauge of steel used, in addition to what people above have mentioned. Also, the type of fasteners used in joints that are meant to come apart---if they aren't sufficiently strong and sturdy, they can become loose and make the frame wobble; worse, they can wear out and break.

I have a metal bed from R&B in my guest room and it's fantastic. I bought a cheaper king sized bed for my master bedroom a couple of years ago, and wish I had gone for another metal bed from R&B instead. I'm willing to bet that the one from R&B is much better quality than WE.

Also consider the "greenness" factor. I believe that the R&B bed was made in the USA and that the WE bed is from overseas.

I agree. Room and Board all the way. It's an investment piece, and from the sounds of it, their customer service is really good. We are saving up to purchase a sofa from them in the next couple months, and have considered sucking it up and going with Ikea but the quality is just not the same. West Elm is great, no lie, but the quality is not the same. I would agree with Anusha73 that West Elm is more like Ikea.

Good luck!

Laura
http://www.justalittlebit.net

Technically, I prefer the "look" of the WE bed. However, I know from personal experience that Room and Board products are high quality.

Also, as pointed out by mattab, the R&B bed was made in the USA.

I have the room and board version in my house, and I think the mattress would move around too much on the west elm version without the "foot board" part to keep it "trapped".

I just checked out West Elm's assembly instructions, and instead of metal slats they just have one metal bar that has several little column supports:

http://www.westelm.com/weimgs/ab/images/i/201025/0012/images/pdf/assembly-instructions/english/2x2_metal_bed_set.pdf

The R&B frame has metal slats, with no little columns, which is a much better design. Assuming you can afford the R&B bed (since you already ordered it), it sounds like a much better piece of furniture.

On a side note: Since this is just welded tube steel, I wonder how much it would be to have a local metal shop fabricate this for you?

Definitely stick with Room and Board. We saved up for a leather sofa and a custom media cabinet from them and didn't go out and buy "stand-ins".

I'm telling you...well worth it! The quality and customer service is awesome. These are pieces that we plan on holding onto for years and years and years...

Though I agree that West Elm furniture is not nearly the quality of R&B, I totally disagree that it is the same quality of IKEA. That is ridiculous. IKEA is for a first apartment and I hesitate to buy anything substantial from there, but west elm furniture is constructed much better than that.

Having done several rounds of cheap furniture, I can say that for basic things and furniture that's not for kids, paying more for sturdier construction and better finishes is definitely worth it in the long run.

We have the R&B bed above -- it's definitely built to last a lifetime. I cannot say that about any WE furniture. You DO get what you pay for, after all . . .

Also, I think most Ikea stuff is better made/designed that West Elm. I thought West Elm was so exciting when it first launched, but I feel it's gone nowhere -- CB2 had taken over their niche in my opinion.

This could not come at a better time. I've been looking for beds, and given that the bed I really want from West Elm is going to run about $1,100, I had reservations because I had read from AT readers that West Elm beds were mediocre quality.

It's definitely still a concern, though I have yet to see any bed that I like more than the West Elm one (the platinum jute nailhead headboard and bed).

Any thoughts? I know there's the adage "you get what you pay for" but does that hold true in this case? West Elm wants to charge $1,100 (including taxes and shipping) for the bed I like, and R&B is charging about the same amount for a bed as well.

stick with your purchase. i purchased a west elm bed last summer and the first one they sent me wouldn't go together, the pre-drilled holes wern't lined up and nothing me or my father (i had to call in the big guns on this one) did would make work. so i had to send it back and they sent me a new one with the EXACT SAME PROBLEM. it arrived the night before i was going in for foot surgery so i went to homedepot and bought long screws and FORCED it to work. not the prettiest $500 purchase i've ever made. if it wasn't for surgery i would have sent it back. i will NEVER buy from west elm ever again.

Ghunt's link is pretty revealing. Any bed frame without slats usually requires a box spring for proper use. That pretty much explains most of the difference in cost.

West Elm's furniture, from what I've seen in stores, is not very sturdy. It looks good in the catalogs, but I definitely would rank it with ikea too. CB2, on the other hand, has some really nicely made and affordable things.

Keep the R&B bed, without regret. The extra money is going toward more than just the footboard!

I'd say go for the cheaper bed, take the savings as found money, and add it to your 401k invest it or put it in a CD. Then every time you feel bad about your cheaper bed you can look at your compounding interest and get a warm fuzzy glow that will help you sleep better at night! ( I'm SERIOUS)

The West Elm bed will not meet the standard of the Room & Board bed, hands down.

http://thesweetest3.com/

@mskk - What kind of glow should you expect when your cheaper bed breaks and you have to buy a new one?

I totally agree about adding money to your 401k or CDs. But there are two things you shouldn't skimp on with regard to quality: shoes and beds.

I prefer the footboard design and the higher profile of the R&B version. A lower bed with the extended frame like the West Elm is just asking for shin bruises...

I can attest that the Room and Board bed is very very solid. I've owned the R&B parsons bed for about 10 years and it is still as solid as ever. It will definitely outlast me. I also prefer the higher profile which why I purchased the R&B bed. I have no experience with West Elm though, but I do believe you get what you pay for and having been in their store and tried out some of their other furniture (and I use that term loosely) it is not great quality.

Does anyone have experience with the R&B Hoffman bed? I like the design of it a lot.

We own the full sized overlapping squares headboard and bed frame in chocolate from West Elm. It's our son's bed and we paid something like $550 for it including shipping, almost three years ago. I was a little hesistant about buying a bed from West Elm since I'd read some bad reviews about their furniture quality but I have to say I'm converted, at least on the bed we purchased. It's very sturdy and looks as good as new three years on.

Also, if you ever want to sell the bed, you will get more cash for your room & board bed than the west elm model. I say stick with the R&B.

Here's another angle on the "you get what you pay for" argument:
I bought a R&B bed (along with a few other things) about 3 years ago.
Inside delivery for the bed, mattress, other furniture piece--unboxing, hauling up a flight of stairs, assembling--all part of the deal.
I just noticed a wobbly part last week, and I called their customer service to see whether, even at this date, they'd send one of their contracted repair people out to see if they can fix the wobbly part (which became wobbly just because one of the assembly guys did it too fast and I was tired of living with it being wobbly).
The repair person is coming out in a week to look at it and hopefully fix it.
No questions asked!
Not at all sure I'd get the same from West Elm.

I think beyond the financials, decide whether the different profiles make a difference for you. I checked out an upholstered-headboard bed at a West Elm store before I bought my R&B model (which has many horizontal metal slats holding the mattress), and it just did not feel substantial to me. I was lucky enough to be able to drive to a R&B store to check their bed out in person.

Now, did I expect to pay that kind of money? No, but this is clearly furniture that's gonna stay with me for some time to come. (I love my R&B armoire so much that I might ask to be buried in it--probably cheaper than a casket!)

All this rave reviews about R&B, I had to check out this company. I saw a bed that I liked (Campo) bed. Does anyone own one? I like the simplicity design, although I would prefer white for the minimalist look, but the light color wood is beautiful as well. I would love to get some feedback on this one. Here is the link:
http://www.roomandboard.com/rnb/product/detail.do?productGroup=19155&catalog=filter&menuCatalog=room&menuSubcategory=191135
I like the idea of quality over quantity and the fact that it shows where in the U.S. it was made. I enjoy reading everyone's views.

"I'd say go for the cheaper bed, take the savings as found money, and add it to your 401k invest it or put it in a CD."

That won't do you a lick of good as the market continues to go down because of so many unemployed folks here in the US whose old manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas.

Do yourself and your country a favor: Buy American.

i recall seeing lots of complaints about west elm beds & furniture here on AT. can't recall anything but praise for R&B. Here's a link to one discussion of west elm beds & their quality.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/good-questions/-good-questions-what-do-you-think-of-west-elm-beds-029490

room & board all the way. their customer service & quality has won me over for a lifetime. i sometimes (ok, many times) wish their prices were lower but as someone stated above when push comes to shove & you have a problem, room & board goes above & beyond the call of duty every time.

Another proud owner of the R&B Parsons bed here. I actually moved halfway across the world a year and a half ago, and that bed is currently resting in my friend's basement, but I love it so much I'm planning to have it slow shipped over as soon as I get a permanent place. The bottom slats are metal, built to slot into their own predrilled holes along the bottom side rails. No screws to install. Once they're in, that bed is STURDY. WHat's nice to is that they're I believe made by a small steel welding family in MN.

another vote for r&b. you won't regret it!

I've purchased many pieces from R&B, and I must say the customer service was impressive every time.
I've also made a purchase from WE once. I sent it back because the quality was not what I was expecting.
Advice: Only question your bed purchase if you have compared both beds in person.
Side note: the WE bed appears much shorter; if that has any bearing.

For past experience with Room & Board alone, I would stick with the R&B bed. Their customer service is unbelievable. Our story? Two nights after having our wedding gift of bedroom furniture delivered, I spilled nail polish remover over the top of my new mahogany night stand. My mother-in-law called R&B the next morning and they - without hesitation - asked when they could drop off a new nightstand to replace the damaged one. No cost. No hassle. Nothing. Considering the damage was entirely my fault, I'm still in awe at their response.

Worth every penny.

I have a metal West Elm frame from a few years ago. As many people had complained about, the center leg in the middle of the bed featured a design that put the whole central weight of the bed on a piece of plastic, which broke promptly. Not sure if West Elm has since corrected this design flaw but worth considering.

That said, the center leg is never seen and was easily corrected by using a handful of washers to keep an adjustable bolt from stripping. Three years later, the frame still looks and works great.

One more note, unless you spent some time in the military, chances are you will not field dress your bed in the brisk hotel manner that the Room & Board image features. When all is said and done, the bed frame is mostly concealed by a comforter.

We have the R&B Parsons bed and LOVE it. I haven't seen the West Elm option in person, but their furniture doesn't seem to hold up well. And there's something about getting a bed delivered to your house directly from a stockroom in the midwest by two guys with Minnesota accents.

I've the Parsons bed for about 5 years. It is probably the most solid piece in my home. The steel is thick and the welds are perfect. The West Elm bed is held together with nuts and bolts and is powder coated to look like raw steel. Also, the only things touching the floor are the four legs, the west elm bed has the center legs "hidden"underneath the bed. The parsons bed is really easy to assemble/disassemble and requires no tools.

I have several R&B board pieces with welded metal, including a new custom base for a cabinet I bought there on clearance. They are all well-crafted. I also can't say enough about how responsive their customer service is, even for items that have been in service for a while. Top notch all the way.

Go with Room & Board. I have a few Room & Board pieces that I bought second hand and they are in wonderful shape after having years of use. With that being said, I must refute those that say go with R&B because it is made in America. That is not totally true. Several of my pieces from R&B come from China.

I just had the West Elm Bed delivered and have slept on it for two nights.

I greatly preferred the West Elm bed because it does not have a footboard, which the Parsons bed has. At 6'3", my feet hang off the bed when I sleep and I also like to sit at the foot of the bed when dressing. This made all the difference in the world for me. The price helped too.

NO NO NO! Stick with the Room and Board bed. I have had a queen Parsons bed from Room and Board for 15 years now and it is going to last a lifetime. West Elm is just a glorified IKEA and although I have not tested their bed, I can tell you right now it is not the same quality.

I agree about buying American products. When I was a little kid, I used to see those commercials about buying American -- cotton, cars, whatever -- and didn't get it. Fast-forward to the recession, and I totally get it. I'm not a rah-rah "we do everything right" patriot, but I do think we need to take care of our own workers. It's why I love Etsy.

West Elm is not Ikea, because I cannot afford to buy anything in west elm.

West Elm is for a college dorm where as Room and Board is quality furniture for adults. Be happy with your purchase. Also, avoid West Elm bedding. It doesn't last or wash well.

A metal bed from either will probably hold up without any issues. How often does a bed break? Unless you & partner[s? ;-)] combine to weigh 1200 pounds, there's little chance that either metal bed would break.

You shopped at R&B, not for their prices, but for the brand status and general aesthetics. Just like you can choose Advil or generic ibuprofen. Same thing.

You bought it from R&B, it's yours; next time, do some more research.

Like the 6' 3" bloke, it's nice to be able to dangle the feet, so even if price were equal, I'd have chosen the West Elm model.

Keep the R&B bed. Quality over the long haul is worth every penny. Their furnishings are of the quality that one leaves in their will to heirs. West Elm provides the same aesthetic, however, the products are not intended to last generations.

I cannot believe what design snobs some of the comments sound in here. First of all I have the West Elm all metal bed frame as shown in the picture. Although mine is an older model in brushed metal rather than black. I have had it for 3 years and I have yet to have problems with it. It's sturdy and well made as any high-end metal bed frame with out the high price of Room and Board. It also can accommodate a mattress as a platform bed or with the box spring as a traditional bed. Not to mention the headboard can be set in a lower or higher configuration depending on what the user desires. As a consumer I think it's important to compare products rather than completely selling out on expensive name brand products bar none.

I think you should probably not bother thinking about whether the bed will hold up well enough to be left to your children, and your children's children. For all you know, they will have very different tastes from you. I sure don't want my mother's cherry bedroom set.

(Granted, both these beds are pretty minimal/unoffensive.)

That said, I like knowing how things are constructed, and the more intuitive-yet-clever the better, so the R&B bed has that appeal.

I'm... surprised that west elm beds break/broke often enough for it to be an issue! What are they suddenly doing wrong, vs. traditional bed engineering? Then again, growing up I think I slept on a mattress on a box spring on the carpet, or possibly the box spring was on the metal bit with casters (hollywood bed frame?) on the carpet, so it's not like I actually had much experience with beds. As weird as that sounds. Anyway, if mid-c frank comes back to this thread and feels like it, I'm interested in hearing what/why he thinks about WE vs. IKEA.

West Elm is perfectly fine quality furniture if you're planning to keep it for a few years and you take good care of your stuff. If it lasts longer than a decade, you're better off than MOST major mass produced furniture manufacturers. Yes, R&B may be a bit better quality, but that's an awful lot of money to be saved if you can live with the WE bed. It may be worth canceling your order if you feel that strongly about it, but I'm fairly certain it's not exactly the same bed.

Unlike someone who stated this earlier on, I don't find anything at all dishonest about canceling your order. It's kind of bizarre to call that dishonest; you simply changed your mind. Items are returned every day and you as the customer have every right to find an item you feel more comfortable with.

As for the IKEA thing....well, they've basically made an entire industry out of buyer beware construction, so it's hard to compare their stuff to any reasonably well made furnishings.

Room and Board all the way. I have this bed in our cottage in Michigan. It is a "forever" piece. I really don't have experience with West Elm furniture, so I can't compare them. But the R and B is a quality bed. Hope that helps.

Someone here asked about the Campo bed at Room and Board... did you buy one ultimately, and do you like it?! Thanks :)

West Elm beds are pieces of crapola. I've owned two. Had to get replacement pieces for both of them. The foundation to hold the mattress (sans boxspring) is weak at best and I've had to create my own base from two by fours. I've been drooling over the Parsons bed for months. I think I'm going to finally get one and just junk this WE thing.

Just a quick comment to the reader who has bought 'used' R&B pieces and found the parts were made in China. I spent all the money and bought a new metal bed from R&B. The Webster. None of the parts are made in china. It was made by Bell Manufacturing in MN. I was trying to save money and checked craigslist every few days hoping to find a parsons or perspective in used furniture-by-owner. Only a few real R&B products were ever in the used furniture listings and they were offered at only 200 dollars less than the new pieces. Now there were tons of cheapo R&B beds advertised on craigslist and you could see even in the grainy poor pictures on craigslist that the beds were just crap from Overstock.com. Considering how prized R&B furniture is you might ask them to show you the orginal receipt if you are doing a craigslist deal. There are a lot of less than honest people peddling their used furniture on the web as R&B pieces and you can see they are NOT R&B pieces quite easily. Especially beware of the sellers which clip the photos off of the R&B site commenting in the ad that the photos from R&B just look better (and their bed is almost like this but R&B changed somethign recently ROFL) or that their digital camera phone broke last week. Ultimately, save up your money and head to a Room and Board store, the experience from entering the front doors to sleeping on the Webster the last few days was the best purchase experience I can ever remember.

West elm has great style but the quality of some of their furniture items leaves much to be desired. I purchased a 6 drawer dresser for bedroom and found that hardware provided for assembly was of poor quality. The drawers do not close and recently collapsed after less than a year of use.. The bearings inside drawer gliders even fell out!! We paid around 750 for this item--not impressed!.