Designers and DIYers reveal their shopping (and styling!) secrets.
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Reading up on Domino’s shopping guides is like having your own personal product concierge. We do the tedious part—deep-dive research, hands-on testing, and tapping experts for advice—so all you have to do is hit “add to cart.” That’s why we call them Simply the Best.
Dining chairs aren’t the typical first-apartment purchase. You wouldn’t live without a mattress (you need to sleep!) or a sofa (where else would you slurp instant ramen while watching The Bachelorette?), but dining room furniture never feels as essential. That is unless you want to host people for brunch—or just eat at an actual table every once in a while. Come to think of it, investing in dining chairs is crucial.
Now for the fun part: It’s time to play Goldilocks and choose the perfect set for you. While the best get-togethers start with a killer playlist and free-flowing wine, comfortable chairs that invite guests to linger long after dessert, when the plates are left with nothing but a few crumbs, are the unsung heroes of any dinner party. Aesthetics, of course, has its own role to play. If you’re ready to graduate from the sofa to the dinner table and buy a real set of the best dining chairs, read on for answers from designers and DIYers to that age-old question: How do you pick out the perfect seat?
Arms: Yes | Seat height: 18.5 inches | Material: Linen-and-polyester blend
When designer Abbie Naber was tasked with furnishing an entire SoCal home, the dining table chairs had to nail the trifecta of style, price, and sensibility. “We chose CB2’s Lisette because it hit the mark on many levels for us: comfortability—its fabric had a bit of cushion to it and arms were a requirement—and color—forgiving yet still light, like the palette of the space,” she offers. The best part, though, may be the unexpected silhouette, which Naber describes as modern but not too predictable. While this particular version is no longer in stock, we did find an alternative at Lulu and Georgia that nails Naber’s criteria.
Arms: No | Seat height: 18.5 inches | Material: Velvet
This year may be the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus school, but we first spotted this chair originally dedicated to the iconic German movement in a Los Angeles home crafted by Jessica Hansen of Tandem Design in 2022. The velvet-covered modern frame is fashioned from wood, foam rubber, and injection-molded soft foam, which is more durable than you’d think and the main reason Hansen chose it for her client Sara Matarazzo. After growing up in an Italian household where furniture was more often than not covered in plastic, Matarazzo was seeking a balance between form and function. The cylinder-like, sculptural silhouette is described as cozy and soft; despite its artful appearance, its a comfy place to eat a family meal.
Arms: No | Seat height: 19 inches | Material: White oak, stained oak, or recycled HDPE
The biggest draw of Division 12’s Resto is the customization. “The brand offers an extensive list of options, and it was a fun way to add color in a place that sometimes is more muted,” recalls designer Regan Baker of a dining area she worked on in a San Francisco home. After playing with a bunch of looks, she landed on mint for the frame and a yellow plaid cushion fabric that could sustain wear and tear from kids. “In general, the Resto chairs are a great fit for somewhere where durability is key,” adds Baker, noting that the company is a commercial brand typically tapped for restaurants.
Arms: No | Seat height: 19.5 inches | Material: Velvet upholstery on steel or brass
Designer Zoe Feldman knew her clients needed plush places to post up for long, boozy dinner gatherings. After considering multiple pieces, she settled on the Angelo chair by RoveConcepts for a few reasons. “We wanted a color that was not already represented but also didn’t feel like a complete departure,” explains Feldman, noting the moody paint shade and depth of the wallpaper. “Blush is a wonderful neutral that gives the space some welcome lightness, delicacy, and a quiet pop of color.” The curvy frame also gives it a soft touch of femininity that was not only an aesthetic win but, paired with the velvet upholstery pulled over a high-density foam seat, won points on comfortability, too.
Arms: Yes | Seat height: 17.25 inches | Material: Ash and cane
DIYer Brit Arnesen of Britdotdesign always envisioned cane chairs when she began converting her garage into an open-concept living room, complete with a terrazzo fireplace and dining area. “I didn’t necessarily have any preferences in terms of shape or dimensions, because I planned to build a table to go with them,” she shares. Industry West’s cane armchair is even closer to her vision than she expected to find (and the $160 T.J. Maxx ones she landed on). Though the natural colorway is no longer available, the mid-century frame adds beautiful contrast in the black- and green-painted ash wood. If you can’t splurge on a set of classic Cesca chairs, why not give this contemporary twist a try?
Arms: No | Seat height: 18 inches | Material: Walnut veneer or upholstered and steel
If you’re searching for something unexpected to wow guests, consider Afteroom Studio’s dining chairs. “We love that they feel like little elegant characters,” says Russell Whitehead of London-based firm 2LG Studio, who paired the steel-framed stunners with a sculptural table created in collaboration with jesmonite artist Olivia Aspinal in his and Jordan Cluroe’s own dining room–slash–workspace. “We needed dining chairs that could hold their own but had a lighter appearance to play against the solid shape of the table leg,” he adds. “Their slim, playful shape is the perfect complement, and the options on upholstery allowed a level of freedom to bring these in line with our color palette.”
Arms: No | Seat height: 18.25 inches | Material: Leather, Sungkai wood
Why we chose it: For a laid-back yet luxe look that will only get better with time.
While we have long admired the Strap dining chair—a bitonal leather and wood combo crafted by Thomas Hayes Studio—we frankly don’t have $3,000 to spare for one. (See them in Meredith Chin’s creative haven, the countertop version in model and chef Sanne Vloet’s Los Angeles loft, and Maria Dueñas Jacobs’s Manhattan apartment.) For those of us tasked with furnishing a dining room on our own a little more affordably, there are plenty of similar styles on the market that bring these two classic materials together in a woven format. Take Lulu and Georgia’s Vix chairs, for example. They feature a naturally tanned leather over a curved yet sturdy Sungkai wood–based frame.
Finding the perfect set of seats for your dining table, kitchen corner, or breakfast nook is no simple task—should you opt for a classic wood look or a comfier upholstered frame? Do you want something lush like velvet or a top-notch performance fabric that’s a breeze for wiping up pasta sauce and wine spills? So we found a few of our favorite dining table chairs and asked the designers who sourced them why they were the ideal fit for that space.
Dining chairs come in all shapes and sizes, but determining the right dimensions for your room depends most on your existing dining table. Ergonomics is pretty important to eating—no one wants to feel like they’re in need of a booster when sitting down or bruise their knees every time they have to get up—so be sure to account for ample leg and lap room when taking measurements. For a standard table, the seat height these designers went with fell between 17 and nearly 20 inches. Though Baker also advises most guests won’t want to straddle the base of a table, so it’s equally important to think about where the legs of the chair and table meet (if at all—this is less of a concern with a pedestal or trestle table).
It’s all about space allotment. Baker suggests asking yourself a few questions first: Where will the arms fall at the table? Will they prevent the chair from sliding underneath the table? “From here, it becomes a style choice,” she notes. “Arms can add a structural or architectural moment, which is why we like to use them, especially on the ends of tables where there is often more room.”
Chair arms are also tied up with comfort—sometimes it’s nice to have a place to rest your elbows, but if space is tight, you won’t want to feel like the sides are closing in. Material choices are also a factor. We get it; dining chairs should be visually stunning. But if you’re planning to sit on them regularly, you don’t want to feel sore or stiff in a half hour. “Sit tests are always important,” stresses Baker. And if you’re entertaining often, you might want to opt for a structure that’s easy to maintain. Naber suggests focusing on materials that are simple to clean and stain resistant, such as a wood chair with a leather pad.
Baker suggests leaving at least 4 inches between chairs to prevent guests from feeling like they’re on top of one another. A general rule of thumb, according to Naber, is 24 inches per chair: “If the chair itself is wider, then you’ll need to accommodate for more space.” You can fudge that calculation a bit more in high-traffic areas that call for space-saving measures. For example, consider backless stools—which are usually narrower than traditional dining chairs. More specifically, Baker will reserve about 4 inches between each chair to prevent people from feeling cramped.
This depends on the material or upholstery you choose. For instance, cane can be brittle, making it susceptible to tears and fading, so try to keep it out of direct sunlight and moisturize it every now and then with a water-and-oil mixture (just be careful not to oversaturate it!). Wood and metal can always be easily wiped down after spills, but a cushion is more likely to stain, so stick to performance fabrics if you have kids or a penchant for hosting family and friends.
The number of seats is largely dependent on the length or diameter of your table, whether it’s round or rectangular. “Generally someone selling a table will tell you how many chairs it can accommodate, but all chairs have different widths—many are in the range of about 20 to 26 inches,” points out Baker. In other words, 45 to 60 inches should allow you to sit anywhere from four to six people, designers reveal, but your chair count ultimately boils down to common sense: After all, you can fit more skinny, armless chairs than large armchairs in any space.
Bar Table Whether it’s a modern dining chair or cheap dining chair, aesthetics is usually priority number one, but designers note comfort is just as important. “Everyone has different thoughts on what is comfortable. Some people don’t like chairs with openings in the back or don’t like upholstered chairs because of food on the fabric,” says Baker. “Some people want chairs to be wipeable, in which case a wood or plastic chair is more ideal, but it’s always an important conversation to have initially because it’s so subjective.”