Go for the slightly shorter one. It's easier to put things on that without banging your hand into the dresser.

I like a shorter nightstand, but I think it's just a matter of personal preference. No right answer.

I like things unmatched. In my bedroom I have a full- sized Moroccan-inlay dresser on one side of the bed (mine, and it holds all my lotions and potions among other things), and a side-table-height-and-size Chinese elm chest on the other. They are dissimilar in size and height and material, yet they work.

I went through this when trying to find (for about a decade) nightstands I liked to go well with my bed. I finally had some made, of the same species of wood and furniture style as my bed. (I didn't like the nightstands that were in the same line as the bed, as they had too much open space, and I need drawers or a door cubby for additional clothing storage.) I went to a place that had nightstands in their portfolio of wood furniture that they made, and it was instantly apparent to me that, though I liked the nightstands, they need to alter their stock model to make me one a few inches higher, so that the nightstands would be the exact same height as my mattress. This worked out well, as it gave me room for more drawer space underneath the top.

I have never regretted getting nightstands the same height as as the mattress - it is the perfect height for reaching for things. Too high, and I'd risk bumping into the side front corner of the nighstand. Too low, and I'd risk knocking things on the nightstand over. Go to furniture stores that have nightstands displayed next to beds if you aren't sure I'm right and sit on the beds - you'll see instantly which height is most convenient - mattress top height.

My bed is one with a boxspring, and also rather high, though not as high as yours. It is higher with my newish mattress and box spring than it was with the mattress and box spring I originally put on the bed frame when I bought it. Luckily, I didn't spring for made-to-order nightstands until a few years after I had the new mattress and box spring. It will be tricky when I replace the mattress and box spring again, as mattresses are even thicker now. I may have to have a foundation under the mattress that is less high than the mattress to compensate for the higher. And if I decide to go for a futon laid right on a bed frame with slats next time I buy a bed, as I'm thinking of doing, the nightstands will then be too tall. So I'll have to have a guest room to put my old frame in with a mattress and box spring with the matching made-to-order nightstands, and be OK with leaving them to guests.

The point of that last paragraph, because you really don't care about my bed and nightstands, is that if you aren't planning on keeping your bed at the height it is for many years, then don't spend a lot on nightstands, or it will be a waste of money, as you will want your nightstand height to change with your bed height. If you don't want to spend a lot on them now, you can probabably find some at a reasonable hear height to your mattress height (a difference of two to three inches up or down is probably something you can live with, though I'd prefer nightstands too high to too low, especially if you have room to set the nightstands a few inches away from your bed, as I do tend to knock things over).

If you can't find nightstands in the right height, look at small dressers - if you have the room width-wise to put a small dresser on one or both sides of the bed, you get more storage space in the drawers, more space on top for things beside the lamp - a lamp takes up most of the space on top of my nightstands, which are 23 1/2" wide and 19" deep - I like the depth - it doesn't block much of the top of the bed when getting in and out of bed, but I could use wider nightstand tops, if only my room were wide enough to accomodate them. I have just about the width I can comfortably fit in my room with nightstands on either side of a queen bed. But I would love dressers a bit wider as nightstands, if I could fit them. Even one side wider would be nice - if you only have room for a wider one on one side, don't fret, they don't need to match - more interesting decor if they don't, really. Small dressers are often found in 16 - 20 depth, which is good for a nightstand, be they antiques, japanese furniture, mid-century modern (which is often sized smaller than current furniture), or captains' chest dressers, and don't overlook child's furniture, as their dressers can also be smaller and perfect as adult nightstands...living in old apartments, where space in rooms is tight, I always look in the children's furniture section in any store I'm in, as well as in adult, as children's furniture can be sized better for my rooms (though this could be just as true for bedroom sizes in older houses and old and new construction apartments.) And also look on the web - I've found odd size furniture (fairly cheap stuff, but it works in the spaces I have for them) searching online, coming across small furniture on sites that you'd never see in person, including catalog stores (JC Penney, believe it or not), or stores the sell mainly other things (company store, Eddie Bauer). Good luck. You'll know you've found what you want when you find it, though it may take a few years. I gave up and went custom.

My bed is a bit high, too. My bedside tables are Shaker reproduction night stands from a hotel furnishings re-seller. I love their lines, but the tabletop is too low for any normal bedroom lamp, at least for reading in bed. (I have some attractive "crystal" lamps from Home Goods that I really like, but the one on the side of the bed where I read had to be lifted on a wooden box to get close to shining down on my book, and even that isn't quite right. (Something eventually will have to change!)

The moral of my story is you need your furniture to function well as well as look nice. If the furniture you like does the things you want, go for it! But take everything into account! (For years my desk also was my night stand, and that worked great in that space and with that bed...)

Oh, and on finding something "reasonably near" your mattress height in height, as I meant to write (excuse the typos above), be on the lookout for furniture that is not designed for either nightstand or dresser use. I once had a cedar chest on one side of my bed as a nighstand - it was nice and wide, and just the right height, and a chest works to put stuff on top of if you keep stuff in the trunk that you just change out seasonally, rather than try to get at very often. And I can think of other odd antique pieces I've seen, with various original uses, at about that height, that would work well as nightstands. My favorite section of an antique store I've ordered from online (harpgallery) is their small miscellaneous furniture...so much stuff they used to make for varying uses a hundred years ago!

My preference is within couple inches of the top of the mattress either way. This is all purely subjective, so your mileage may vary.

Go with the shorter ones of those two if that style is what your heart is set on. The tall one looks way too tall to be comfortable.

I agree with Textiles - think outside the box for nightstands. I had two matching clunky nightstands for eons that were just an uncomfortable height both practically and visually. I took a tiny table and a flat bench that had awkwardly occupied the entry way and suddenly I had two bed-height nightstands with oodles of room for water glasses, books, lamps, whatever! I normally like matchy matchy, but this mismatched combo was 10 times better.

My tip:

Consider the dimensions of each dresser in relation to your bed and see which one provides better scale and overall visual balance to the room.

How/what you reach for won't matter if the dresser's height is within a few inches of the top of your mattress. The only exception is the bedside lamps: buy ones that are the same height as you when you're sitting up in bed. Or get sconces. If you already have the lamps, adjust the position by stacking them atop books, etc.

As a furniture maker I've always insisted on bedside pedestals that are higher than the bed. Our beds in South Africa average at about 600mm high or thereabouts, so typically we make our pedestals 650mm high minimum and about 700mm standard. Whether practical or not, having shorter pedestals than bed always worries me that the pillows will fall off while I'm sleeping and knock things about!

I prefer slightly taller than the mattress, otherwise I tend to knock things off with the bedclothes. Also I like to be able to see the time on my alarm clock without raising my head off the pillow (yes, I'm that lazy). I have Ikea helmer units (http://www.ikea.com/ie/en/catalog/products/40107872/#/00107874) which have a very small footprint (I was very tight for space) but have enough surface area for a lamp, radio, small alarm clock and glass of water. The drawers have loads of storage space and I use the top one, also easily accessible from my pillow, for small stuff like eye drops and lip balm that otherwise roll off the top never to be found again. It's actually the best bedside locker I've ever had.

There is no "should." Entirely personal preference.

The lower one seems way too low, and you might have issues with getting a tall enough reading lamp or reading your alarm clock. Id go for the taller ones, or boost the short ones up some how

I like the slighter taller look.....less chance of someone moving around in the night and knocking stuff off. Plus you get more storage.