Who Makes Quality Furniture?

[RetiredGypsy]

The opportunity has come to be able to settle down again (at least for the next few decades), so it's time to start looking for furniture that isn't particle board.

I have no idea who makes furniture that will last a lifetime. I'd appreciate hearing whatever recommendations you have.

 

[splitwdw]

Ronstar does I think. I haven't bought in a while but all of my furniture is Ethan Allen or my husband made. I think someone on this forum bought Amish made furniture maybe try doing a search for "amish" on this site.

 

[Bestwifeever]

A high-end consignment shop will accept only the "good" brands--check one out and see what brands it offers, and go look at those brands in a retail store. It won't be cheap.

 

[Big_Hitter]

I was in post falls two years ago on bidneth and met a guy at the bar that sold custom made furniture to rich people - I don't remember who he worked for tho

 

[Scuba]

Roche Bobois has beautiful furniture if you like modern decor. Definitely not cheap but unique and high quality.

 

[Amethyst]

Henredon makes fine quality furniture, particularly upholstered furniture.

Be careful of Google searches on "solid wood furniture."

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I was in post falls two years ago on bidneth and met a guy at the bar that sold custom made furniture to rich people - I don't remember who he worked for tho

Oh thats a huge help.

 

[Bamaman]

Ethan Allen, Henredon, Hickory White, Sherrill and many others still make great quality furniture. Most of these brands are so expensive that they're now unaffordable new.

You don't say what kind of furniture you're looking for. Upholstery? Bedroom?

Last year, I bought a Hancock & Moore leather hide a bed/couch at an estate sale for $200--in great shape. You cannot touch any H&M sofa for $5,000. I already had a Hancock & Moore leather recliner that matched it. This is indicative of what you can find used if you keep your eyes open.

Our home is decently furnished. My grandfather was a master woodworker, and he made many beds used by our family. Most of our better pieces were inherited from parents and aunt--walnut furniture from the '20's to the '40's I often swap out furniture as I have duplicates--like dining room furniture.

I'd be looking for better quality used furniture often found at estate sales and garage sales.

 

[gerntz]

I'd be looking for dovetailed joints vs. glued/screwed/nailed.

 

[Marita40]

I had my cherry dining room set made by an Amish builder who I contacted online after some research. It is gorgeous and heirloom quality. All things considered, I did not find it "over the top" expensive. I'm now considering a desk commissioned from the same company.

If I were you I'd go to an upscale furniture store in your area and get to know quality vs. cheap with the help of the consultant. A little learning goes a long way.

 

[MRG]

I had my cherry dining room set made by an Amish builder who I contacted online after some research. It is gorgeous and heirloom quality. All things considered, I did not find it "over the top" expensive. I'm now considering a desk commissioned from the same company.

If I were you I'd go to an upscale furniture store in your area and get to know quality vs. cheap with the help of the consultant. A little learning goes a long way.

+1

We did something similar.

My first career in the lumber industry really messed me up. I'm a snob when it comes to furniture. Our living and dining room are custom cherry, bedroom is quarter sawn white oak. Absolutely worth it to us..

 

[JoeWras]

Henredon makes fine quality furniture, particularly upholstered furniture.

Be careful of Google searches on "solid wood furniture."

Can you give a hint? Do you mean if I search for "solid wood furniture", I'll get hits on particle board?

I.E. the company says, "It is very solid, and made of wood with extra strengthening agents." Therefore... "Solid Wood" ?

It is like restaurants who say they serve "Fresh" fish. When pressed, you find out it is "Fresh Frozen", whatever that is!

 

[Cobra9777]

I'm a hobbyist woodworker and have built lots of furniture over the years: desks, beds, bookshelves, dressers, bedside tables, built-in cabinets, lots of picture frames, and even weird stuff like new doorbell covers. I'm not a master woodworker by any stretch of the imagination, but these are all made starting with rough-sawn solid hardwood and/or furniture grade hardwood veneer plywood (oak, maple, cherry, walnut) and should be around long after we're gone. We also buy lots of old stuff (tables, chairs, dressers, buffet) and repair/rebuild/refinish/reupholster to suit our needs. I'm currently converting an old buffet into a bathroom vanity for one of our bathroom remodel projects.

When we do buy, it's usually sort-of Ethan Allen or Broyhill type quality, which we find to be a great value. We just recently ordered a new leather living room set made in the U.S. by Flexsteel (couch, loveseat, chair & ottoman). We saw the couch and chair at a store while we were traveling and really fell in love with it, but didn't buy it. Came home, did a bunch of research, and it seems that Flexsteel is well respected and highly ranked by Consumer Reports. No one locally had the complete set in stock, but there were lots of authorized dealers and online options. So we shopped around, got everyone's best quote, and ordered it from a large dealer in the DFW area.

 

[aja8888]

Hickory Chair Furniture.

When my BIL was Production Manager at the above factory, he had several custom pieces made for us (end tables, cocktail table, love seat, couch, chairs, etc, etc.) According to him, this place makes units for the White House ( I can't confirm that). But what they made was extremely nice, very pricey (even at his dixcount) and will last several lifetimes.

Hickory Chair Furniture Co.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

When we moved into our new house, we needed all new furniture. As I was still in sticker shock from the home expenses, I decided we should look at a discount chain. I sat on one of the dining room chairs. It started creaking, this was not a good sign. An older salesman immediately comes over to me and figures I want the set. I tell him that the chair seems weak. I was about 250 lbs at the time. He tells me that the floor furniture takes a ton of abuse, from the kids all jumping on them. OK, seems reasonable to me. As Im sitting there Im rubbing my fingernail on the table top and the stain is coming off , maybe flaking off. He sits down in a different chair and some children brush past him. He goes hard into his chair. As if in slow motion the chair collapses. I make a feeble attempt to grab him. No dice, he goes down. chair splits up. He bounced up like nothing happened. I tell him yeah the kids are a little crazy in here. I grab a free cup of coffee from the furniture store and we left. We went to a higher end chain store.

 

[travelover]

.......... an Amish builder who I contacted online .........

Was he using a hand cranked computer?

 

[MRG]

Can you give a hint? Do you mean if I search for "solid wood furniture", I'll get hits on particle board?

I.E. the company says, "It is very solid, and made of wood with extra strengthening agents." Therefore... "Solid Wood" ?

It is like restaurants who say they serve "Fresh" fish. When pressed, you find out it is "Fresh Frozen", whatever that is!

That's been my experience.

I've been told all kinds of nonsense about furniture. Many items are "all wood" meaning particle board with veneer covering or veneered plywood.

I'd ask if they used solid 4/4, 5/4,6/4, or 8/4 sawn lumber for the piece.

 

[Newventurer]

Amish table and chairs that we love, quartersawn white oak with cherry finish, beautiful, the kids will fight over it when we are gone. Nothing else we looked at even came close to the quality.

 

[Amethyst]

You will get lots of google hits. Few will turn out to be for actual solid wood. That is all I meant. The level of discernment needed will vary.

I ordered a small "solid wood" cabinet for the powder room cabinet, even though I could see from the photo that it was melamine, and other customers had posted that it was melamine. It was what I needed at a fairly decent price, whereas actual wood cabinets were running in the thousands of dollars. It looks nice and performs well.

I'm surprised people aren't chiming in to say to build your own furniture - that it isn't that hard, etc.

Can you give a hint? Do you mean if I search for "solid wood furniture", I'll get hits on particle board?

I.E. the company says, "It is very solid, and made of wood with extra strengthening agents." Therefore... "Solid Wood" ?

It is like restaurants who say they serve "Fresh" fish. When pressed, you find out it is "Fresh Frozen", whatever that is!

 

[Beldar]

I'm not sure what types of furniture the OP is looking for, style, wood(s), finish, etc.

Over the decades we have acquired some rather nice vintage "period" furniture that is solid wood, no laminates / particle board. Mostly Arts & Crafts, Chippendale, Duncan Fife, Empire, etc. Of course, being one time dealers in Antiques helped.

Depending on where you live, these "built to last" pieces can be found at estate sale and auctions. There is nothing wrong, nor a hassle, in cleaning and restoring finishes on these pieces if they are worn. If you like a particular style or styles you can find the individual pieces that will suit your room.

In my experience, I've found furniture stores to be extremely overpriced and devoid of style. And, as others have pointed out, the discount chains are exactly that.. hotel or college dorm quality.

Just one POV.

_B

 

[MBAustin]

I'll add my voice to the Amish furniture if you're looking for wood pieces - I bought a beautiful maple table and chairs 7 years ago and love sitting down there every day for meals. Our family room furniture is leather - Stressless chair and Palliser sofa. If you like modern-ish furniture, a Scandinavian-type store will have a number of brands and most are excellent quality. Of course, none of this is cheap.

 

[Marita40]

Was he using a hand cranked computer?

No travellover. The Amish in many places pool their resources and hire managers that sell their individually made goods online. I used DutchCrafters, who then farmed out my request to a particular Amish family who specialized in the Craftsman style I requested.

 

[JoeWras]

Thanks! This is good to know. My parents first ran into this in the 70s when they had "photo finish" furniture unsuspectingly sold to them.

In any case, good advice. I like the question about 4/4, 5/4, etc. I suspect the answer may be "what's that?"

We're not planning any purchases right now. I think I may build my own headboard for a bed. That should be pretty straightforward and a nice little project.

That's been my experience.

I've been told all kinds of nonsense about furniture. Many items are "all wood" meaning particle board with veneer covering or veneered plywood.

I'd ask if they used solid 4/4, 5/4,6/4, or 8/4 sawn lumber for the piece.

You will get lots of google hits. Few will turn out to be for actual solid wood. That is all I meant. The level of discernment needed will vary.

I ordered a small "solid wood" cabinet for the powder room cabinet, even though I could see from the photo that it was melamine, and other customers had posted that it was melamine. It was what I needed at a fairly decent price, whereas actual wood cabinets were running in the thousands of dollars. It looks nice and performs well.

I'm surprised people aren't chiming in to say to build your own furniture - that it isn't that hard, etc.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Amish table and chairs that we love, quartersawn white oak with cherry finish, beautiful, the kids will fight over it when we are gone. Nothing else we looked at even came close to the quality.

Lol, Thats a different thread, unequal inheritances.

 

[zinger1457]

I'm also sold on Amish built furniture. I picked up an Amish built solid cherry wood bedroom set earlier this year, the quality was exceptional and reasonably priced. Normally you don't deal directly with the Amish builders but deal with a company that represents several Amish manufacturers, I used www.realamish.com. Definitely request wood and stain samples before making any purchase.