Sweet dreams will begin with soft sheets. Or, at least, nice sheets mean I sleep better, whether my dreams are peaceful or a hallucination of failed superpowers and the internet. There’s a lot to navigate when buying sheets for your bed, from understanding percale and sateen to thread counts. But the right set of sheets can make your old bed feel like a hotel, or be the perfect match for a brand new mattress. (Because what’s the point of pairing your new mattress with old sheets?)
We tested dozens of options to find the best sheets in nearly every style. However, there’s an endless supply of sheets out there, so we’ll keep updating this guide as we try more. All prices shown are for queen-size sets. Be sure to read our Best Mattresses, Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers, Best Organic Mattresses, and Best Pillows guides for more mattress recommendations.
Updated September 2024: We’ve added new percales and organic picks, along with a few more honorable mentions.
Table of Contents
Linen Sheets
Why buy linen sheets? Linen is a woven fabric made from flax plants. It’s a very breathable material and doesn’t trap heat, so it keeps you cool in the summer months. This is great for people who sleep hot. It’s rougher at first than a plain cotton set, but it should soften the more it’s washed. Linen is usually expensive, but it is also more durable than cotton, so a good sheet set should last longer. Linen sheets aren’t for everyone, but if you love linen clothing, you’ll probably love linen sheets.
Our Favorite Linen Sheets
I’ve slept on a lot of linen (don’t miss my full guide to linen sheets), and Citizenry’s linen set is my Goldilocks sheet. They are light and breathable but still have a nice drape and softness that you don’t often find in brand new linen. It usually takes a bit of work to get to this stage, but Citizenry blankets feel like you’ve already washed and softened them. These sheets are cool enough for warm nights thanks to the great airflow, but not so cool that I can’t use them year-round. They are also Oeko-Tex certified, meaning they have been tested for harmful substances and deemed harmless.
The Citizenry linen sheets are not only fun to sleep on but come in a variety of colors to go with any color scheme your bedroom may have. Sheet set parts (top sheet only, pillowcases, etc.) can be purchased individually if something happens to one of your pieces.
The Softest Linen Ever
These sheets are the softest linens I’ve ever tried—so soft that my husband didn’t even realize I switched out a soft flannel set for them! They are super comfortable to sleep on but still feel like light linen. The Cultiver sheets feel a little silkier (a word I never thought I’d use to describe linen) and drape a little better around my body and on the bed. These sheets are a splurge, but if you want super soft linens, this is the way to go.
The only thing I didn’t like about them was the overflowing lint tray after drying. My husband has noticed that they are “slippery” compared to other sheets we usually sleep on, which adds to the almost silky feel of these sheets. But such softness does not come cheap, and these sheets are a splurge. You can buy pieces individually if you want to work your way up to a complete set, or worry that one piece might be torn apart by your cat (although my cat has never done any damage to them).
Other Great Linen Sheets
- Pottery Barn Belgian Flax Linen Sheet Set for $299: These are my favorite cooling linen sheets, because they have the most breathable weave I’ve ever slept on. Air flow is great with these sheets, keeping me nice and cool. These sheets are a bit thinner than Citizenry’s, but not too soft.
- Quince Linen Bamboo Sheet Set for $150: They’re not 100 percent linen, but I love the combination of bamboo softness and linen breathability they offer. They’re a great choice if you want the benefits of linen but aren’t sure about the roughness or texture of standard linen (or about spending too much!) European Linen Sheets by Quince ($170) is also a good price if you’re looking for an affordable all-linen sheet.
- Brooklinen Washed Linen Core Sheet Set for $319: This is great linen for the price. There are a ton of fun colors to choose from, and Brooklinen often has new options or sales. It’s not the softest or lightest set we’ve tested, but still an all-around solid set.
- The Company Store Legends Hotel Linen Bed Sheet Set for $327: These sheets are surprisingly smooth for a linen sheet; My husband didn’t even think that we were sleeping in linen. They feel as cool as the Pottery Barn set, but The Company Store says they’ll be replacing the line soon, so we’re waiting to see if we like the updated set.
Looking for more linens? Read about every linen range we’ve tested and our shopping advice in our guide to the best linen sheets.
Percale Sheets
Why buy percale sheets? Percale is a type of cotton weave, not a type of fabric. It is also referred to as a plain weave. It looks like how you’d see a classic weave look, with an over-under style like checkerboard. These sheets tend to be crisp, cool, and light, and they make for great cooling sheets. Think hotel sheets or your favorite button-up shirt. They’re a good middle ground if you like to sleep warm but don’t want to splurge for linen and its higher price.
Our Favorite Breathable Percale Sheets
Saatva is known for its mattresses, but you shouldn’t fall asleep shopping for their sheets. (Definitely sleep in them, literally.) Saatva’s percale is especially wonderful because it does a great job of being light and breathable, without being too crunchy or papery. Not only that, but these sheets are still soft to the touch, and my percale-hater husband didn’t even notice that I switched us to a new percale set.
Saatva’s percale only has a 200 thread count, which is part of what keeps it light and breathable—no high thread count to fray in the heat. It’s amazing that these sheets are still soft to the touch with a lighter thread count, too. They are now one of my go-to sets when I need cooling sheets.
The Best Soft Percale Sheets
As a non-percale fan, Pure Parima’s percale sheets are easily my favorite percale to sleep on. They are priced better than sheets from popular brands, but are made with Egyptian Cotton (certified by the Cotton Egypt Association), which gives it a slightly softer feel without losing its crisp, breathable feel. design that makes percale sheets popular. The extra softness got me, a sateen lover, reaching for a percale sheet for the first time, especially on a hot summer night.
Pure Parima sheets also have deep pockets and corner straps that make it easy to secure them in place. Each part of the set has a small tag indicating its size so it’s easy to keep your queen or king set organized versus your child’s twin sheets without having to check where the pillowcase goes. They are also Oeko-Tex certified.
Other Great Percale Sheets
- Brooklinen Percale Core Sheet Set for $179: Brooklinen’s crisp percale sheets are everything you want in classic percale: light, crisp, and breathable. There’s also the organic set ($239), which wears out a bit at first, but after a few washes these sheets feel the same to the touch and sleep.
- Riley Percale Sheet Set for $260: Riley makes beautiful percale sheets, but they’re expensive—a fitted sheet and pillowcase cost $135, and a flat sheet costs an additional $85. We liked their crispness, but Brooklinen is cheaper even in the organic set.
- Parachute Percale Sheet Set for $269: WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu says these sheets feel rough at first but soften the more they are washed. They have held up very well after years of use, even with a dog sleeping in the same bed.
Looking for more percale or cooling options? We have a full guide to cooling sheets with even more picks.
Flannel Sheet
Why buy flannel sheets? Flannel sheets are made of cotton, but the cotton fibers are coated to create a fuzzy texture. Those fluffed-out fibers are also what make flannel so warm and comfortable to sleep on—those layers of cotton retain heat better than other styles of cotton sheets, so you’ll stay warmer warmer to sleep on than other sheet styles. They are great for cooler climates.
Our Favorite Flannel Sheets
The Company Store’s flannel sheets initially surprised me with how pink the cream color looked, especially when placed next to other white sheets. But once I saw that, these sheets felt the softest to the touch compared to the Coyuchi and LL Bean flannels I tried (see below). They are a little stiff at first, but soften with each wash.
They sleep comfortably and are definitely warm—it’s the warmest I’ve slept out of the bunch. If you’re looking for something soft and warm at a reasonable price, these sheets deliver.
