I just had to look up the Kluft mattress you're considering and, wow!, does that ever look comfy. I don't have personal experience with latex, but from perusing the threads here I've gathered that the last thing you want is a ready-made mattress with a poly foam core or layer over the latex, due to its propensity for breaking down in a relatively short time and causing hammocking and body depression issues. I think that as long as your mattress is 100% latex, you should be fine. The advantage to purchasing the Flobed type of mattress is that you can change out the layers as they degrade over time, or you can customize the firmness on any given day by switching things around. I don't blame you for not wanting to fuss with various layers...that's pretty much how I feel about latex mattress shopping. I only wish I had the funds to purchase one already configured to suit my needs.

The Kluft model seems to be your preeminent choice and I'm kind of in love with just the description. It seems like it would be a good investment :-) If I were in your position, I would want to know who manufactured the latex layers, and are they made of 100% natural latex, or are they synthetic blends? The blended latex is supposed to be more durable, but I don't know if that's marketing hype or if it's been confirmed by independent scientific testing. The Celsion thing is gimmicky...latex doesn't retain body heat. As far as I'm aware, Dunlop should be longer-lived than Talalay because it's a denser material, though I have seen marketing claims to the contrary (again, has it been tested by an independent source?). It's kind of hard to say for certain which has better longevity because Dunlop latex has been around a lot longer; Talalay is a relatively new manufacturing process.

It would be interesting to know what the ILDs of the latex layers are.

Well, I'm just a newcomer here, so I'm sure someone else will have more/better answers for you! Best of luck in acquiring your perfect mattress :-)

  Okay, I found out the support layers of latex are 44 ILD.  The mattress also has a 2" thick Talalay Celsion tri-zone topper with a 21/27/21 ILD.   Does that sound like a good combo?  It feels good in the store, but I read somewhere on this board to avoid ILD's under 30??  Will the 21/27/21 topper still be supportive enough?

 Thanks!

Hi J...I am a fan of Mr. Kluft. I have had 3 of his Chattam & Wells coil mattresses over the last 15 years or so. He sold the company a few years ago to one of the "S" Mfgs, can't remember which one just now. I can't vouch for the new Chattam line but the old line he had was very good. I currently have his euro luxe Vll which was the top of the line at the time. Stupendous mattress, got that Ahhh feeling of heaven. However, it developed the cursed body impressions and bugged the heck out of me so with the guidance of fellow posters here, I opted for mattress surgery. I posted a cutaway but it has fallen off the board. I will have to get around to reposting it as well as some surgery shots. I basically cut the top cover and thin layer of cotton batting and about 1 1/4 in. of PU foam off the top. I replaced it with a 2 in. latex/mem foam topper, which isn't perfect size wise but it is very comfortable.

My point in telling you all this is that while Mr. Kluft makes great mattresses at great, read expensive, prices, they still get the dreaded body impressions. It is amazing how 1 1/2 inches of PU foam quilted into the cover can feel soooo fab when it is new and bug the crap out of you when it permanently depresses.

I looked up the Rafael on Bloomies site and I was surprised that they didn't have a cutaway photo of his latex models. The description is for 13.5 inch mattress yet they only tell you about the 8 inches of latex...WHAT IS THE OTHER 5.5 in. made up with????? Some wonderful PU foam maybe? If so, you will need to conduct mattress surgery just like me in a few years. I noticed that they have cutaways of all of his coil/latex models, which look wonderful. How come no latex cutaways?

If I were you I would call Bloomies and get a photo of a cutaway or better yet go in and see it for yourself. I would want a picture as well for future reference.

Also, if I were you, my goal, if I knew that I wanted a pure latex mattress would be to make sure that is what I was getting. And that any stuff on top would be separate and replaceable.

Also, fyi take a look at the great mattress morgue shots with this link. Exhibit A of why you need to see what's inside...
http://www.savvyrest.com/mattress-industry-today/mattress-morgue

JoJo