Tutti Bambini Casa vs Obaby Grace: The House Cot Is Shorter but Stands 170cm Tall

COMPARISON · NURSERY & SLEEP

A cot bed is the one piece of nursery furniture your child will use every single night for around four years, which makes it the purchase most worth getting right. The two beds here both cost under £220, both are rated from birth to roughly age four, and both turn into a toddler bed when the time comes. On paper they look like the same product at two price points. They are not.

The Tutti Bambini Casa is a house-shaped frame with a pitched roof that stands 170cm tall and takes a standard 120 x 60cm cot mattress. The Obaby Grace is a classic panel cot bed that stands 93cm tall and takes the bigger 140 x 70cm cot bed mattress. So the Casa is the shorter bed but the taller piece of furniture, and that one fact decides which of them belongs in your nursery.

The other numbers follow from it. The Casa weighs 39kg once built, close to double the Grace, and it has a sofa mode the Grace can't match. The Grace gives your toddler over a third more room to sprawl, adds teething rails, and costs less. We compared the published specs for both, checked current prices across the retailers we work with, and read through what parents say once these beds are built and slept in. Here's how they really differ, and who each one suits.

Lil' Bubba's verdicts

• Best Overall: Obaby Grace Cot Bed · 8.5/10 - a full-size 140 x 70cm bed with teething rails at half the weight, from £160
• Best for Small Rooms and Statement Nurseries: Tutti Bambini Casa 3 in 1 Mini Cot Bed · 8.0/10 - house frame, sofa mode and a shorter footprint, if your ceiling and stairs allow

Quick comparison

	Tutti Bambini Casa	Obaby Grace
Price (from)	£199	£160
Mattress size	120 x 60cm (sold separately)	140 x 70cm (sold separately)
Assembled size	127 x 65 x 170cm high	144 x 78 x 93cm high
Weight	39kg	About 20kg
Base heights	3 (62.5cm, 48.8cm, 32.5cm)	3
Converts to	Toddler bed, sofa, junior bed	Toddler bed
Teething rails	Not listed	Yes, both long sides
Age range	Birth to about 4 years	Birth to about 4 years
Finishes	Harvest Oak	White, Warm Grey and more
Our rating

How we picked these two

Both sit in the £150 to £250 band where most families end up buying a cot bed, both come from established UK nursery brands, and both are in stock with retailers we work with right now. We chose them because they represent the two directions cot beds have taken: the dependable, plain classic and the design-led house frame that has spread from Scandinavian and Montessori-inspired nurseries. We weighed the published specs, current pricing, conversion options and the themes that come up again and again in parent feedback, then scored each out of 10. Neither brand saw this comparison before it went live.

What to look for in a cot bed

Mattress size first. A cot takes a 120 x 60cm mattress; a full cot bed takes 140 x 70cm. The bigger size costs a little more, but it gives a toddler bed that a child can stay in comfortably until four or five. Whatever you buy, the mattress must fit snugly with no gap big enough to trap a small hand or foot, so always buy the size the frame specifies.

Base heights. Three positions is the norm. The top one saves your back in the newborn weeks; the lowest goes in as soon as your baby can pull up to stand, and it's not optional.

Safety standard. Look for BS EN 716 on any cot sold in the UK. Both beds here meet it.

Teething rails. Plastic covers on the top rails protect both the bed and your baby's gums once chewing starts. Without them, expect tooth marks on the wood.

Conversion. Almost every cot bed becomes a toddler bed. Fewer go further, into a sofa or a junior bed, which can keep the frame useful for longer if you'll use it.

Footprint, height and weight. Measure the wall it will sit against, the ceiling if the room has eaves, and the route up the stairs. A heavy frame is reassuring once built and a nuisance if you move house or switch rooms.

Keep it clear. Safe sleep guidance is simple: a firm, flat mattress, a fitted sheet and nothing else in the cot, and nothing hanging within reach. That matters more with frames that invite decoration.

1. Tutti Bambini Casa 3 in 1 Mini Cot Bed / 10 · Best for small rooms

The Casa is Tutti Bambini's take on the house-frame bed. A pitched roof frame rises above a 120 x 60cm cot, the whole thing finished in a Harvest Oak veneer over MDF and engineered wood. It meets EN716 and BS8509 and is rated from birth to around four years. Tutti Bambini is a family-owned British nursery brand that has been making cots for over 30 years, so this is not a novelty piece from an unknown seller.

The trade-off is in the numbers. The footprint is compact at roughly 127 x 65cm, but the roof takes the height to 170cm, and the built bed weighs 39kg. There are three base heights (62.5cm, 48.8cm and 32.5cm) with 16cm of clearance underneath for storage boxes. Take off the removable side panel and it becomes a toddler bed, then a little sofa, then a junior bed. The mattress is sold separately, and because 120 x 60cm is the standard cot size, you'll find plenty of choice and lower prices than for cot bed mattresses. We've seen it from £199 to £219 across our retailers.

What parents love

• Fits where a cot bed won't. At about 17cm shorter than a full-size cot bed, it suits box rooms and shared rooms. One grandparent buying for a new family told us: 'The size is good for their limited space.'
• Feels solid once built. The weight that makes it awkward to carry also makes it feel planted. A parent shared: 'the build quality of this cot is very good and heavy.'
• More lives than a standard cot bed. The sofa mode keeps it in use after the toddler bed stage, and the 32.5cm lowest base makes it easy for a small child to climb in and out on their own.
• It looks lovely. Parents we hear from regularly describe it as cute and cosy, and it photographs beautifully for anyone styling a nursery.

What to know before you buy

• Check your ceiling and your stairs. At 170cm tall and 39kg, it won't sit under sloping eaves and it's a two-person build at minimum. One parent put it best: 'Definitely need two people maybe even a third.' Allow about 45 minutes.
• A smaller toddler bed. The 120 x 60cm sleeping space is fine for a toddler, but a tall three-year-old may feel cramped before the four-year mark.
• The roof frame invites decoration. Bunting and fairy lights look great in photos, but anything hung from the frame must be firmly out of your baby's reach. Teething rails aren't listed in the spec either.

Best for

• Box rooms and smaller second bedrooms
• Parents who want a low, climb-in toddler bed later
• Design-led nurseries where the cot is the centrepiece
• Families who'll keep it in one room for years

2. Obaby Grace Cot Bed / 10 · Best overall

The Grace is the opposite approach: a plain, well-proportioned panel cot bed from a long-standing British nursery brand, and one that keeps turning up on registries for good reason. It takes a 140 x 70cm mattress, measures about 144 x 78cm, stands 93cm tall and weighs around 20kg depending on the finish.

It has three base heights, protective teething rails along both long sides, and two end panels that split down so the sides lift off and it becomes a toddler bed suitable to around four years. Our retailer feeds currently show £160 for Warm Grey and £185 for White, with the mattress sold separately. It's the cheaper bed here and the bigger one to sleep in.

What parents love

• More room for the toddler years. A 140 x 70cm mattress gives over a third more sleeping space than 120 x 60cm, which is the difference between a toddler bed they outgrow and one they stay in happily.
• Straightforward, sturdy build. We hear repeatedly from parents that it's good quality and easy to assemble. One parent told us it's 'a good size sturdy cot'.
• Teething rails as standard. Both long sides are covered, so the top rails survive the chewing months.
• Light enough to move. At around 20kg it can be shifted between rooms or taken apart for a house move without a struggle.

What to know before you buy

• Plain by design. There's no sofa or junior bed mode; once your child is past the toddler bed, its job is done.
• A bigger footprint. At 144 x 78cm it takes up most of a wall in a box room, so measure before you order.
• Air the room after delivery. One parent with the under-drawer version said it 'still really smells of paint two weeks after delivery', and another found one assembly step tight. Build it a week or two before the due date and keep a window open.

Best for

• Nurseries with a full wall to spare
• Parents who want the longest comfortable toddler bed stage
• Budget-conscious families who still want a branded, well-made frame
• Anyone who may move the cot between rooms or houses

How to choose

Choose the Tutti Bambini Casa if floor space is the tightest constraint in your nursery and height isn't. It's the better fit for a box room with a flat ceiling, for parents who love the house-frame look, and for families who'll get real use out of the sofa stage. Measure your ceiling and your stair turn first, line up a second (or third) pair of hands for the build, and keep the roof frame bare.

Choose the Obaby Grace if you have the wall space and want the most bed for the money. It's cheaper, lighter, comes with teething rails and gives a toddler bed with room to grow. For most families with a standard nursery, it's the safer long-term buy, which is why it takes our Best Overall.

Add it to your Nest

Still deciding, or want family to chip in on the mattress? Add either cot bed to your free BubsNest registry and compare prices across retailers in one place. For more nursery picks, browse the rest of our community comparisons.