Short answer
Wooden chairs are harder-wearing and easier to clean; upholstered chairs are softer and quieter; neither is better in every home.
A household with small children, or a dining table that doubles as a desk and a craft table, gets more from wood. A room where dinners run long, with a hard floor and bare walls, gets more from upholstery, which softens both the seat and the sound.
Many homes end up in between: a wooden frame with an upholstered seat, or upholstered chairs with a frame that wipes clean.
Wood wins on durability and cleaning, upholstery on softness and sound; the chart below sets out the differences point by point.
The upholstery column assumes a modern performance fabric. Older or delicate fabrics mark more easily and need more care.
| Solid wood | Upholstered | |
|---|---|---|
| Comfort | Firm; depends on the shape of the seat | Soft from the first minute |
| Cleaning | Wipe with a damp cloth | Vegan leather wipes clean; velvet and bouclé need spills blotted quickly |
| Children | Nothing to stain | Choose vegan leather or a water-repellent weave |
| Pets | Hard oak resists claws well | Choose a bouclé tested for claws |
| Sound | Adds to the echo of a hard room | Absorbs sound |
| Ageing | The wood develops a patina | The fabric wears first; a replaceable seat renews it |
For many homes, yes: a solid wood frame that wipes clean, with a soft seat where the body actually meets the chair.
The frame takes the knocks and the seat takes the weight. Because the seat is the part that wears, it is also the part you want to be able to change.
Our Karin and Erik come with either a sculpted oak seat or a bouclé seat upholstered over a plywood core, and both seats share the same two-piece shape. Seats are sold separately, so a Karin with an oak seat can become a Karin with a bouclé seat later, or the other way round.
Steel frames are slimmer, lighter-looking and very strong; oak frames are warmer and more substantial.
A welded steel frame can be thin without being weak, which is why steel chairs look light even when they carry the same load as oak ones. Oak brings grain, warmth and a more classic, Scandinavian look.
Our steel chairs, Sella, Bella and Isabell, are welded from raw Swedish steel and powder-coated in our factory in Malmö; Sella and Isabell are certified by RISE to EN 16139 Level 2 for heavy commercial use. Our oak chairs, Karin and Erik, are made from solid A-grade FSC-certified oak under a matte lacquer. Every one carries 200 kg (440 lbs) per seat. Our bar stool guide to wood vs metal goes deeper into the two materials.
Bella Dining ChairWelded steel · 6 kg · from £399View Bella
For children, choose wood or vegan leather, which wipe clean; for pets, choose oak or a bouclé tested for claws.
Children spill, and a surface that wipes clean in a second is worth more than any stain treatment. Our Valencia vegan leather is rated at 300,000 Martindale and carries an easy-clean protective finish.
Pets scratch and shed. Solid oak under lacquer resists claws well, and our Dolly bouclé is claw-safe tested to BS 8479. Our guide to the best fabric for dining chairs compares every option.
A solid wood or welded steel frame lasts longest; on an upholstered chair the fabric wears first, which is why a replaceable seat matters more than the fabric itself.
A chair whose fabric is fixed to the frame is only as durable as its fabric. A chair whose seat can be replaced lasts as long as its frame.
We do not offer a re-covering service, but seats and seat cushions for our dining chairs can be bought separately and changed at home. Our guide to reupholstering or replacing a dining chair seat explains how that works for each model.
Karin Dining ChairFrom £469Solid oak · wipes clean
Erik Dining ChairFrom £479Oak frame · bouclé seat
Isabell Dining ChairFrom £399Fully upholstered · claw-tested
Sella Dining ChairFrom £479Steel · vegan leather
