IKEA Nordberget Mattress Pad im Test

The IKEA Nordberget is a 4.5 cm memory foam mattress pad, and it is the only pad in IKEA’s UK range made from viscoelastic foam rather than standard or high-resilience foam. IKEA lists the filling as polyurethane memory foam at 50 kg per cubic metre, the densest foam among its current toppers, inside a recycled-polyester cover that zips off and machine washes at up to 60°C (IKEA product page).

How it feels

Memory foam softens with body heat and recovers slowly, so the Nordberget lets shoulders and hips settle into it instead of pushing back. That is what makes it the best IKEA pad for a mattress that feels hard under the shoulder. IKEA itself pitches it at people who do not move much in the night, and that is the honest limit: a sleeper who turns often has to work a little harder to roll out of the hollow. We place it at 4 out of 10 on our firmness scale, medium soft.

Heat is the trade-off. IKEA notes that the foam reacts to body heat to feel warmer and responds more slowly in a cool bedroom. A 2018 crossover study in PLOS One (Chiba et al., 30 healthy men, funded by the topper maker airweave) found that core body temperature fell further on a high-rebound fibre topper than on a 3.5 cm memory foam one, reaching a minimum of 36.05°C against 36.35°C in the younger group. It is one small study, but it matches what warm sleepers tend to report about memory foam.

Sizes and prices

The Nordberget comes in all four IKEA UK sizes. IKEA’s double is 135x190 cm and its king 150x200 cm, the British standard rather than the continental 140x200.

There is no sleep trial and IKEA states no guarantee for its mattress pads, unlike its mattresses. Its return policy still applies: a full refund on an unopened pad within 365 days, and a refund to an IKEA refund card for one you have opened and tried, as long as IKEA does not consider it used.

Who it suits

Choose the Nordberget if your mattress is supportive but hard at the shoulder and hip, which typically means a side sleeper on a firm sprung mattress. Skip it if you sleep hot or change position all night. In that case the high-resilience IKEA Nisseholm is the better buy.