Reclining furniture, in general, has been a dominating furniture purchases, especially since Covid! When we had to stay home, people found out that the furniture they had was uncomfortable, and many times broken! Going out and getting new pieces was on many people’s list! And, to top the list was reclining furniture. With all the uncertainty in the world, getting comfortable in our own home gave more security!
Reclining furniture sold out quickly, and if you ordered, it took even longer! At one point, our American manufacturer was over 500,000 pieces behind! They were working, but getting the parts like mechanisms and fabrics were so oversold, it was taking them months to get enough to manufacture what was on order!
I would say reclining chairs were still dominate, but to allow for more reclining seats in a room, sofas were very popular as well! There are a couple of things to consider if you are thinking of having reclining in your room.
Is your room used for entertaining or for relaxation and tv watching?
Is the seating of this piece comfortable to all who will use it?
Is style important to the looks of your space?
Will a sofa accommodate the space you have compared to chairs?
These are each important factors to consider when putting a room together!
Reclining furniture is typically larger and taller. Because it is designed for laying back, it usually does not allow a person to sit up straight which is usually more the way a room used for company would sit. Also, the styles that are offered in regular furniture can be varied, such as curved forms, wood accents like legs and variable cushion supports and spring construction. Because reclining mechanisms are in the reclining seats, generally the seat cushion is attached to the frame so it moves with the mechanism.
A regular sofa will typically have loose seat cushions that can be moved to multiple positions as well as flipped for extending wear. The inside foam can be gotten in softer firmer, and even extra firm densities. Many American manufacturers of reclining furniture do offer lots of choices for fabrics. A lot of those options are more solids and textures, whereas a regular sofa manufacturer will have those choices, but also many other more beautiful fibers to put on the piece! These are all important considerations when choosing between a regular sofa and reclining sofa!
Just like a pair of shoes, furniture comes in all different sizes! Usually, reclining furniture will be larger, with a deeper seat, higher off the floor, and a much taller back designed for head support. Generally speaking, these pieces are built for people that are 5’8 and taller. If you are shorter, reclining sofas may not fit! Sitting, my feet might dangle, or I would need to scoot into the seat for better back support. The height of the back might hit me incorrectly, and cause my head to be pushed forward!
Sometimes, having specific chairs that fit your body size are a better option!
If your room is tight on space, the option of a reclining loveseat or sofa might be better because they take up less space as compared to two individual chairs. Usually, a sofa will be a wall hugger so that it can sit up closer to the wall allowing for more room space in front of the piece rather than behind!
You have a mechanism in the seat, there generally is not room for seat springs like the ones that come in a regular sofa. Also, because the seat moves, they cannot build the frame as heavy duty! There is very high quality reclining furniture pieces, but many people consider them too expensive! Keep in mind that quality comes with a cost. Then if you add motors for opening and closing, head adjusting, lumbar, heat and massage…those are all extra costs!There are many manufacturers that build reclining furniture. They are all trying to get their pricing down, so they start taking away some of the quality features! Many of these manufacturers import the parts and assemble here. They can cut the quality of the framing, the density of the foam as well as the strength of the motor used. If there is a price difference, it probably has to do with the quality of the components used! Beware!
You might have thought that just selecting a sofa was easy!