The Best Furniture Brands, and What to Buy From Each
About to buy a sofa, a desk or a bed? These are the brands we have reviewed.
Our sofa is from Crate & Barrel. You sink in it, and I really like that feeling, especially after a long day. We have not reviewed Crate & Barrel yet, so for a sofa like ours, try West Elm.
Where I would start
Which sofa brand should you buy?
Pick by how you like to sit. Go soft if your sofa is where you nap and watch movies. Go firm if it is where you talk, eat or work on a laptop.
Castlery
Castlery’s Jonathan is for people who like to sit up. It is firm, and spills wipe right off.
It does sit low, at 16.1 inches off the floor, which is lower than a dining chair. Buy the Owen instead if anyone at home finds a low seat hard to get up from. It sits higher.
West Elm
West Elm’s Harmony is soft. You sink into the seat instead of perching on it, which is lovely on a movie night. Our rug came from there too, and we really like it.
Castlery or West Elm?Choose the sofa by how you like to sit
Which affordable brands suit a first apartment?
A first apartment means buying a lot of furniture at once, on not much money. Wayfair’s own labels are an affordable place to start, and each one has its own look and price range.
Mercury Row
Mercury Row’s Hegg bed makes a bedroom look finished. It is the first thing I would buy for a new place.
Lark Manor
Lark Manor’s Aleatha shoe cabinet gets the shoes off the hallway floor, and it looks like it cost more than it did. Put it by the front door, where you see it every time you come home.
Ebern Designs
Ebern Designs sells through Wayfair too, and the piece to start with is the Leaderville bathroom mirror. It looks just like its pictures, and it is an affordable finishing touch for a small bathroom.
Give yourself time with the hanging brackets. Getting it level is the fiddly part.
Wade Logan
Wade Logan’s Azriah is a firm sofa made for a small apartment. Buy it to sit up straight with a laptop or friends over. Skip it if you want a soft one.
Lark ManorSix tiers of shoe storage for the front door
Ebern DesignsStart with the mirror, the Bantam curtains or the Jalonda TV stand
Wade Logan Azriah SofaAn affordable sofa if you like a firm seat
Which brands for a home office?
Buy the chair for your body first, then the desk. The chair is the piece your back feels every day.
Eurotech
The Elevate has been my daily office chair for six years. Its cylinder has just started to fail this year, but it has served me well. For the price you can’t go wrong with it.
I also have the iOO, and it is extremely comfortable and adjustable. It is a great alternative to the Herman Miller Aeron, and still going strong all these years. This is a chair I would buy again.
Eurotech iOO, now Ergohuman XTREMEThe same chair, sold under its new name
Eurotech VeraA mesh chair for anyone about 5 foot 4 or taller
NewHeights
My own standing desk is a NewHeights Bonita with a straight top. It has stood in our den since 2020. I think a straight desk is easier to buy than an L-shaped one.
If you want a desk made for a corner, the Bonita ET has two tops shaped to fit it.
FlexiSpot and Uplift
Between these two, get the FlexiSpot E7 Pro. It costs less than the Uplift V3, and the warranty is just as long. If you are on the short side, the V3 is worth the extra, because its desktop comes down lower.
Ergotron
Ergotron’s WorkFit-T sits on top of the desk you already have and turns it into a standing desk. It lifts just as far as the pricier WorkFit-TL.
It needs a desk at least 24 inches deep, so measure yours before you order.
Tempur-Pedic
The Raynor Group builds Tempur-Pedic’s office chairs under license, and the mattress company does not make them. Judge each chair on its own, and do not buy one for the mattress.
Which brands for air purifiers and humidifiers?
A purifier only helps if it is big enough for the room, so measure before you pick a brand. Our air purifier size guide shows you how.
Levoit
The Levoit Core 300 is the affordable purifier we have at home. We bought one in April 2021 and put it in our bedroom.
We found it was too small for the room, so we moved it to our home office, which is smaller.
The filters were the part my wife did not like about ours. She kept having to buy new ones, because they were not washable.
Buy it for a space up to 222 square feet, like a home office.
Fellowes
For a bigger room, I would buy the Fellowes AeraMax 290. Its manual rates it for up to 290 square feet. Of the three AeraMax sizes we reviewed, it gets you the most clean air for what you spend on filters.
Boneco
Boneco’s W200 is an air washer, and you buy it for dry air. It puts moisture back into a room. Getting dust and smoke out is a job for a purifier.
If you are torn between an air washer and a humidifier, our air washer vs humidifier guide helps you choose.
Air washer vs humidifierWhich one a dry room needs
AeraMax and Boneco Replacement FiltersWhich filter fits which machine, and when to change it
What should you check before you buy from any brand?
Will it arrive built?
Castlery’s Jonathan arrives fully built. Lark Manor’s shoe cabinet takes a whole evening to put together.
A piece you build yourself is not a bad buy. Mercury Row’s Hegg bed goes together easily and feels sturdy once it is up. Look for the assembly details on the listing, and clear an evening if it needs some.
What does the warranty actually cover?
Read past the big number, because it may not cover the whole piece. The Eurotech Elevate’s upholstery and foam get five years, even though the rest of the chair is covered for life.
On a standing desk, make sure the motors are covered, since they do the lifting. The FlexiSpot E7 Pro, the E7 and the Uplift V3 all give 15 years on the frame, the motors and the electronics.
Then check where you bought it. Castlery’s warranty only holds if you buy from castlery.com.
Who do you call if it arrives broken?
Find out before the truck comes. With Ebern Designs, Wayfair is who you deal with if something arrives broken or you change your mind.
Castlery sells direct, so anything that goes wrong goes back to Castlery.
Does the name on it tell you who made it?
Not always. Wayfair owns the Wade Logan name and does not say who builds the furniture, so judge each piece by itself.
Names change, too. Wade Logan’s Azriah sofa is now listed as the Croley, so search for both names before you decide a piece is gone.
Every brand page
- Boneco: H680, W200
- Castlery: Castlery Reviews, Castlery vs West Elm
- Ebern Designs: Ebern Designs Reviews
- Ergotron: WorkFit Comparison, WorkFit Corner, WorkFit-TX
- ESI, now Fellowes: Enmo Table, Kata 2 Dual Monitor Arm
- Eurotech: Elevate, iOO, Vera
- Fellowes: AeraMax 90 vs 190 vs 290, AeraMax 90, AeraMax 190, AeraMax 290, Elea Chair, FlexCharge, Levado Desk, Lily Task Light, Lotus, DX and LT, Powershred LX220 vs LX210
- FlexiSpot: FlexiSpot E7, FlexiSpot vs Uplift
- iMovR: Birdi Perching Stool
- Lark Manor: Lark Manor Reviews
- Levoit: Core 300, Vital 200S
- LightCorp: Amble Task Light
- Mercury Row: Mercury Row Reviews
- NewHeights: Bonita ET
- Special-T: Ella and Aim Desks
- Tempur-Pedic: Tempur-Pedic Office Chairs
- Uplift: FlexiSpot vs Uplift
- Wade Logan: Azriah Sofa
- Wayfair house brands: Wayfair House Brands
- West Elm: Castlery vs West Elm
Questions people ask
What are the best furniture brands?
Of the brands we have reviewed, the best quality furniture brands are Castlery for a firm sofa and West Elm for a soft one. For an office chair I go to Eurotech, and for a standing desk, FlexiSpot.
What are some affordable furniture brands?
Wayfair’s own labels are the place to look, like Mercury Row for a bed and Wade Logan for a firm sofa.
Are Wayfair’s house brands any good?
Yes, the pieces we picked are. Mercury Row’s Hegg bed makes a bedroom look finished, and Lark Manor’s pieces look like they cost more than they did.
Which furniture brand is best for a first apartment?
Start with Wayfair’s own labels, and buy the bed first. Then add a shoe cabinet by the front door and a sofa that fits the room. Our Wayfair house brands page has one of each.
Where do you start with a whole room?
Start with the piece you use most. In a living room that is the sofa, so decide first whether you want it soft or firm. In a home office it is the chair, because your back feels it every day.
Sources
- Our own Crate & Barrel sofa, West Elm Kista rug, Eurotech Elevate and iOO chairs, Levoit Core 300-P and NewHeights Bonita standing desk. The source for our house, and nothing else on this page
- Corner Nook’s Castlery Reviews and Castlery vs West Elm pages, read September 26 and 27, 2026. The source for the Jonathan, the Owen and the Harmony, which sofa is firm and which is soft, the Jonathan’s seat height and assembly, and where Castlery’s warranty holds
- Corner Nook’s Wayfair House Brands, Mercury Row, Lark Manor, Ebern Designs and Wade Logan Azriah Sofa pages, read September 27, 2026. The source for each brand’s pick, the Hegg and Aleatha builds, who handles an Ebern Designs return, the Azriah’s new listing name, which labels are Wayfair’s own, and what a house brand is, which the Azriah page takes from Wayfair’s annual report
- Owner reviews on the Leaderville mirror’s Wayfair listing, read September 22, 2026. The source for how the mirror looks and hangs
- Corner Nook’s Eurotech Elevate, Eurotech iOO, Eurotech Vera, NewHeights Bonita ET, FlexiSpot vs Uplift, FlexiSpot E7, Ergotron WorkFit and Tempur-Pedic office chairs pages, read September 27, 2026. The source for each chair and desk pick, the warranties, the iOO’s new name, the Bonita ET’s top shapes, who builds the Tempur-Pedic chairs and the desk depth a WorkFit needs
- Corner Nook’s Levoit Core 300, Fellowes AeraMax, AeraMax 290 and Boneco W200 pages, read September 27, 2026. The source for the Core 300’s certified room size, the AeraMax 290 pick, its room rating and filter value, and what the W200 is for
- How Corner Nook researches these pages