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Furniture

Furniture buying guides

Well-made furniture can last decades, and badly made furniture can sag, peel or wobble within a few years, sometimes at a similar price. As a rough guide, a solid-wood dresser or dining table usually costs $1,500 to $5,000 or more, a well-built indoor sofa or sectional $1,500 to $6,000, and a teak, premium aluminum or HDPE outdoor sofa, sectional or dining set $2,000 to $10,000 or more. What you pay for is mostly the material, how the joints are made, the finish, and (for outdoor pieces) how the material handles sun, rain and freeze-thaw.

Guides coming soon. We haven't published any furniture guides yet. We'd rather show you an empty shelf than filler. When we do, they'll follow the same editorial policy as our generator guides: specs and construction details from manufacturers, sources linked, no fake testing claims.

Materials: solid wood vs veneer vs MDF

Solid wood (oak, walnut, maple, cherry, ash) can be sanded and refinished many times, but it moves with humidity, so good makers allow for that in how tops and panels are attached. Veneer is a thin layer of real wood over a stable core such as plywood or MDF. High-quality veneer isn't a shortcut: it resists warping and is common in fine cabinetry and mid-century designs, though it can only be lightly refinished. MDF and particleboard with a laminate or paper finish are the cheapest; they're heavy, swell if they get wet, and don't hold screws well after repeated assembly. Product pages often say "wood" or "solid wood construction" loosely, so look for exactly which parts are solid and which are veneer or engineered wood.

Joinery and construction

On case goods (dressers, cabinets, nightstands), dovetailed drawer boxes, full-extension metal or wooden runners, and back panels set into grooves are signs of care. Mortise-and-tenon or dowel joints on tables and chairs hold up better than butt joints with screws or cam-lock fittings. On indoor sofas and sectionals, look for a kiln-dried hardwood frame, corner blocks, sinuous springs or eight-way hand-tied springs, and the cushion foam density. For shelving and bookcases, check the shelf thickness, span and stated load per shelf, and whether the unit comes with wall anchors.

Finishes

Oil and hard-wax oil finishes are easy to touch up but need occasional re-oiling and show water rings sooner. Lacquer and catalyzed or conversion varnish finishes are much more resistant to water, heat and scratches, which matters on dining and coffee tables, but are harder to spot-repair at home. Painted finishes on MDF can chip at the edges.

Outdoor furniture materials

Teak is naturally oily and rot-resistant; it weathers to silver-grey unless you seal it, and grade (where the wood comes from in the tree) affects how long it lasts. Powder-coated aluminum is light and won't rust, but cheap pieces can blow around in wind and the coating can chip. HDPE lumber (recycled plastic made to look like painted wood) is heavy, needs almost no upkeep, and handles harsh sun and snow well. For outdoor sofas, sectionals and deep-seating sets, check whether the frame is all-weather (not just "weather-resistant"), whether cushions can stay out in rain, and whether covers or storage are included. Also check the cushion fabric (solution-dyed acrylic fades less), quick-dry foam, and stainless steel hardware.

What we plan to cover

Safety note: Anchor dressers, bookcases and tall cabinets to the wall, especially in homes with children. Furniture tip-overs injure thousands of people a year in the US, and dressers sold in the US must meet the federal STURDY Act stability standard.

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