Stacks of sinuous springs ready for stretching across frames at BenchMade Modern. Even skilled salespeople may not know the type of staples used in a particular sofa, though, and manufacturers may not reveal these specifics. Siegel recommends that you look for 1¾-inch staples for structural reinforcement, though warns that too many staples can be a sign of shoddy craftsmanship, weakening the strength of the frame by damaging the wood. More likely you’ll find mid-priced sofas constructed using a combination of glue, screws, dowels, and staples with the addition of corner blocks and extra pieces of wood screwed into place as an insurance policy against wobbling. Same goes for FSC Certified wood and low VOC.
I can’t name a single company that doesn’t use kiln-dried wood. Only the best and more expensive sofas (like those from Modernica) are made this way and you’ll hardly ever find a mortise-and-tenon-constructed sofa for under $2,000. The strongest and most expensive frames are constructed using the labor-intensive and traditional technique of mortise-and-tenon joinery, connecting pieces of wood with precisely routed tabs (tenons) that fit into holes (mortises). Above a certain price range we’re all making FSC Certified sourced, low VOC, kiln-dried sofas.” “Same goes for FSC Certified wood and low VOC. But Joshua Siegel of BSC Furniture told us that practically all commercial wood furniture made domestically uses kiln-dried lumber: “Kiln-drying is standard procedure done to remove all moisture to avoid the wood from warping … I can’t name a single company that doesn’t use kiln-dried wood,” said Siegel.
Manufacturers commonly market their sofas with terms like “kiln-dried hardwood” and “ FSC Certified”-a designation for wood sourced from responsibly managed forests. Novak recommends frames built with engineered, furniture-grade plywood (“ grade A”) as a stronger and more beautiful option to MDF. “You’re not buying something designed to last, but renting disposable furniture that will fall apart in a year or two.” If a sofa wiggles in the showroom, it will undoubtedly exhibit the same structural issues over time in your home, and MDF is prone to give up the ghost quicker because the glued wood fibers don’t hold screws or staples like a dense wood does. Jay Novak, co-owner and president of Modernica, implores buyers to avoid any furniture constructed with MDF (medium-density fiberboard). (“Hard” and “soft” have nothing to do with the hardness of the wood, simply distinguishing coniferous evergreens (soft)from deciduous (hard) trees. Slower-growing, denser hardwoods like alder, poplar, maple, teak, and walnut are more expensive, but are generally considered more suitable for durable furniture, and will typically outlast faster-growing and economical softwoods like pine and Douglas fir, doing a better job of holding staples, nails, glue, and joinery in place. If a sofa wiggles in the showroom, it will undoubtedly exhibit the same structural issues over time in your home, and MDF is prone to give up the ghost quicker. The type of wood used for the frame and how each piece is joined not only determines a sofa’s durability, but will also be reflected in its cost. It’s an assertion we heard several times over when we asked experts and retailers where to begin when searching for a sofa designed to be used daily and to hopefully last for years. Photo: Gregory HanĮverything begins with the frame. These tours, in addition to more than 80 hours we’ve spent researching for our sofa buying guide and coverage of the best online sofas, helped us understand the difference between an average-priced sofa (say, under $1,000) and a more splurge-worthy equivalent.
In 2017, Wirecutter senior editor Christine Cyr Clisset toured the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams factory, based in Taylorsville, North Carolina. To understand what distinguishes quality components from inferior ones I toured BSC Furniture sofa factory with owner Joshua Siegel, the manufacturer that at the time was making BenchMade Modern’s line of upholstered seating (the two companies have since parted ways), followed by a visit to Modernica’s facilities in Los Angeles guided by Jay Novak, co-owner and president of the modernist furniture manufacturer. The quality of the frame, suspension, cushioning, and upholstery are what separate a sofa that will last 10 to 20 years from one that will start to wobble or look dingy after only a few. It’s a leap of faith that often leads to buyer’s remorse and one too many “for sale – hardly used” Craigslist postings. Yet many people drop serious money on a sofa without understanding what goes into a well-made piece of upholstered furniture. Nobody buys a house without researching the neighborhood and inspecting the foundation, plumbing, and electrical.
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