How Do I... Choose a Recliner?
Looking for a comfy place to watch TV or flop after Christmas lunch? A recliner's hard to beat – here's what to look for
Georgia Madden
14 December 2018
In this practical series, we ask experts to answer your burning home and garden questions. Here, John Candi, managing director at Ekornes Australia and New Zealand, which supplies Stressless chairs, reveals what to look for and how to recognise quality when selecting a recliner.
What’s trending in recliners?
- Coloured leathers: Including blue, grey, red and earthy shades of taupe and tan.
- Mix and match upholstery: Customers are looking to mix and match leather and fabric across their seating and cushions.
- Enhanced functionality: These are features that boost a recliner’s comfort level, such as a balance-adapt base that provides a gentle rocking motion when you’re seated.
What should I ask in-store?
- Does the recliner support my lower back, neck and shoulders through its full range of motion? This reduces pressure on your body and helps your muscles relax.
- Does my gaze remain horizontal when the chair reclines? This is a sign of good ergonomic support.
- Does the recliner also convert to a sleeping position?
- Can I recline back and forth using only my body weight rather than the chair’s handles or levers?
- Where is the recliner made and what is the warranty on the frame, cushion and leather?
- What’s the weight capacity? Our recliners are tested up to 160 kilograms.
Image by Stressless
What kind of support should reclining chairs offer?
What kind of support should reclining chairs offer?
- Lumbar support: Your lumbar should be supported when sitting in the upright position. As you recline the lumbar support should gradually ease off, allowing you to sink deeper into the chair, so you sit in the recliner rather than on it.
- Neck support: As you recline, the chair’s neck-rest should tilt forward, keeping your neck supported and your eyes horizontal to the ground.
- Adjustable footrest: Your footrest should have an adjustable leg length, allowing your feet to gently rest slightly over the end of the recliner, taking pressure off your achilles.
- Quality foam: This is moulded over the frame of the chair and is as important as the nine springs and steel frame for comfort and durability.
And the main signs of quality to look for?
- A high number of springs in the seat and back cushions (nine is the maximum number of springs for any recliner, including those in the back and seat cushions).
- If it’s upholstered in leather, assess the quality of the leather. Top-grain, fully through-dyed leather is considered the best.
- A beechwood frame (it is stronger than rubber wood, which is sometimes used in recliners).
- A sturdy, quality steel frame.
- The brand’s reputation and longevity in the market.
Image by Stressless
What should I take when I visit a furniture showroom?
What should I take when I visit a furniture showroom?
- A good book! Most furniture is comfortable for short periods of time, but a movie lasts two hours, you can read a book all night and watching the cricket can take five days. Spend as much time seated as you can before purchasing a recliner and make sure you don’t make the mistake of choosing price over value. A $3,000 recliner that lasts 15 years is much better value than a $1,000 recliner that lasts two years.
- Take a colour palette of the room that the recliner will be sitting in, including your pillows, paint and fabric swatches.
Tell us
Is a recliner on your living-room wishlist? Tell us in the Comments below, like this story, and join the conversation.
More
Planning on re-doing your living room? Find furniture and homewares stores near you
Is a recliner on your living-room wishlist? Tell us in the Comments below, like this story, and join the conversation.
More
Planning on re-doing your living room? Find furniture and homewares stores near you
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Absolutely love our stressless recliners. Light and easy to move but so supportive and comfortable. Travelled Australia with them as our seating in our caravan and then moved them into the house we have lived in the past 8 years.
Can I just say, as Designers the one thing you didn't mention and one of the reasons I haven't brought a recliner, is because the actual "affordable" ones are too high when in their normal state of just sitting there? I know when I studied Interior Design, I learnt a lot about the height of any chair, or anything that would take away from the basic flow of a room, making sure that there was a completed look of deceiving the eye to make a room look bigger and similar things like, tiny pictures on massive walls, even worse when they're up close to the ceiling instead of at eye level! So really, everything should flow and the eye should NEVER be drawn to something so out of place but instead, a feature that almost took someone's breath away! That's how I was taught anyway! Thank you for the opportunity to speak!