The queen murphy bed: dimensions, the 8 foot ceiling question, and what it costs
Most murphy beds sold in Utah are queens, because a queen is the bed your guests already sleep on at home and the cabinet still fits a normal bedroom wall. This page has the queen numbers for every style, the honest answer on 8 foot ceilings, and where a queen lands on the 2026 price ladder.
Queen dimensions by style
| Style | Width | Height closed | Depth closed | Reach when open |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical queen wall bed | about 65 in | 87 to 90 in | 16 to 18 in | about 87 in |
| Horizontal queen wall bed | about 87 in | about 67 in | 16 to 18 in | about 65 in |
| Queen with desk | about 65 in plus side cabinets | 87 to 90 in | roughly 36 to 42 in | about 87 in |
| Queen with sofa | about 65 in plus sofa arms | 87 to 90 in | roughly 46 to 48 in | about 87 in |
| Cabinet bed queen | about 64 in | about 40 in | about 22 in | about 80 in |
The mattress is a standard queen, 60 by 80 inches, up to about 11 or 12 inches thick. No box spring. Memory foam and hybrids are fine on a piston mechanism; a very heavy hybrid gets a spring mechanism.
The 8 foot ceiling question
Here is the whole answer. A vertical queen cabinet is 87 to 90 inches tall. A true 8 foot ceiling is 96 inches. That leaves 6 to 9 inches, which is plenty for the cabinet and for the inch or two the crew needs to stand it up against the wall.
The problem is never the 8 foot ceiling. It is what is hanging from it. A 10 inch soffit boxing in a duct along the top of the wall drops the clearance to 86 inches and the vertical queen is out. A dropped tile ceiling in a 1980s basement is usually 7 feet 8 inches, which is 92 inches and still fine, until you find the beam. So the rule is: measure at the wall where the bed will go, floor to the lowest thing above it. If that number is 90 or more, a vertical queen fits. If it is under 90, a horizontal murphy bed queen at 67 inches tall fits with room to spare, and so does a cabinet bed.
In a newer Utah County home with a 9 foot basement none of this matters. In an older Salt Lake or Ogden rambler it is the first thing we check.
Queen wall bed with sofa
The queen is the size that makes a sofa wall bed work. The cabinet is wide enough for a proper three-seat sofa in front of it, and the bed folds down over the sofa without the cushions moving. The closed depth is roughly 46 to 48 inches, so the room needs to be deep enough to lose that against one wall. This is the Park City condo answer, and the Salt Lake living room that doubles as the guest room. How the sofa mechanism works is on the murphy bed with sofa page.
Queen wall bed with desk
A queen murphy bed with desk gives a 65 inch wide desk surface, which is wider than most office desks, and it stays level with everything on it as the bed comes down. The closed depth grows to roughly 36 to 42 inches. If the office is the room's main job and guests are the exception, this is the layout. The home office page has the floor plans.
Cabinet bed queen
The murphy bed cabinet queen that people mean when they search cabinet bed queen is the low chest version: 64 inches wide, 40 inches tall, pulls out to about 80 inches, and nothing attaches to the wall. It is the right queen for a renter, for a room with a plumbing wall, or for a budget of $1,400 to $2,800 in real wood. The trade is a thinner tri-fold mattress. Full comparison on the cabinet bed page.
Queen with side cabinets
Side cabinets 12 to 30 inches wide on each side of a 65 inch queen cabinet make a wall unit 90 to 125 inches wide. In a 12 foot room that is the whole wall and the bed disappears into what looks like built-in cabinetry. See murphy bed with storage for the options.
What a queen costs on the 2026 ladder
- Flat-pack queen, Costco, Wayfair, Home Depot: $400 to $1,500 plus a few hundred to install. Costco's Bestar queens run roughly $950 to $4,800.
- Real-wood cabinet bed queen: $1,400 to $2,800.
- Shipped real-wood queen from a national or St. George builder: $3,700 to $5,100 plus install.
- Custom queen, built and installed locally: $4,400 to $6,500.
- Custom queen with sofa, desk or side cabinets: $6,500 to $10,000.
- Closet-franchise queen wall bed: $5,000 to $10,000 and up.
The cost page explains what moves a queen up or down that list.
Queen or something else?
Go to a full if the ceiling at the wall is 84 to 89 inches and you want vertical, or if the wall is under 65 inches. Go to a king only if the room is a primary bedroom and the wall is 7 feet or wider. Both are on the sizes page. For everyone else, queen.
Send the room to the estimate form with the wall width, the ceiling at the wall and a photo, and we reply the same business day with whether the queen clears.
Questions people ask
What are the dimensions of a queen murphy bed?
Vertical, the cabinet is about 65 inches wide, 87 to 90 inches tall and 16 to 18 inches deep closed, and the open bed reaches about 87 inches from the wall. Horizontal, the cabinet is about 87 inches wide and 67 inches tall, and the open bed reaches about 65 inches.
Does a queen murphy bed fit under an 8 foot ceiling?
Yes, if the ceiling is a true 96 inches at the wall. The cabinet is 87 to 90 inches and needs an inch or two to tip up during install. Soffits, ducts and dropped ceilings along the wall are what break it, which is why the measurement happens at the wall.
How much floor does an open queen need?
About 7 feet 6 inches of clear floor in front of the cabinet, measured from the wall. Add a foot if you want to walk around the end of the bed.
What does a queen murphy bed cost in Utah?
On the 2026 ladder, a custom queen built and installed locally is $4,400 to $6,500. Add a sofa, desk or side cabinets and it is $6,500 to $10,000. Flat-pack queens from Costco or Wayfair are $400 to $1,500 plus install, and a real-wood cabinet bed queen is $1,400 to $2,800.