Santorini
Jupiter
Del Mar
Sanibel
Alys
Palmetto
Haywood
Hunter
Keaton
Kennedy
Gigi
Giselle
Modern
Tate
Essential Parsons
Addie
Remy
Gage
Ming
Butler
Malibu
Solange
Celina
Full Moon
Ella
Malibu
Bella
Alba
Solange
Eva
Addie
Tremont
Soleil
Vienna
Miles
Choosing The Perfect Upholstered Dining Chairs
Picking the right shape and size chair is the biggest feat to tackle when planning your dining space. You’ll want to create a welcoming and comfortable dining room where it’s enjoyable to host friends and family. At MG+BW Home, our goal is to help you design a dining room of well-crafted pieces and statement furnishings—with comfort at every touchpoint. Here, we break down your upholstered dining chair checklist with all the main considerations and choices you'll need to make.
Do Dining Chairs Have To Match The Table?
No, your chairs do not need to match your dining room table. When selecting dining furniture that needs to work together, it is best to look at the structure and design elements—shape, scale, material, color—of each. What design elements of the table can also be applied to the seating? Materiality is a common and easy place to start. Whether your table is wood, metal, marble, stone, or a combination of materials, can inform your decisions when choosing a coordinating chair. Repeating materials, finishes, and colors can create continuity in a space. However, rather than relying on exact matching or dining sets, repeated design elements within a space or room will result in positive visual impact. For example, the polished stainless steel base option of our Modern Dining Table Collection, will coordinate well with the polished stainless steel option of our bestselling Remy Collection of Dining Chairs.
Because you can customize the table's surface and chairs' upholstery in a variety of material options, your possibilities are endless, but still within a coordinated and complimentary palette of material and finish. Does your table have strong, bold lines or soft, modern curves? Varying styles can work well together but be sure to find a connective thread between your table and chairs, perhaps through the coordination of materials, like wood, or finishes, like chrome accents.
While the completed design comes down to personal preference and style, the functionality of your furniture will be important. That brings us to choosing the size and shape of your chairs.
Explore Our Bestsellers
Understanding All The Shapes & Sizes Of A High Quality Dining Chair
“Personal preference is important when selecting the correct shape and size. For an entertainment space, arms are a great way to keep guests comfortable in their seats for lengthy dinners or a game of cards.”
— Emily Lawrence, MG+BW Designer
You’ll want to choose chairs that are a good fit—for your room and your guests. First, you’ll want to measure your table and have an idea for the number of chairs you will need. Take note whether your table has traditional legs or has a pedestal or plinth style base. This will help determine the size and scale of your chairs. If your table is extendable, you will also need to consider if you want to plan for additional chairs to use when the table is fully extended. It is fine to mix and match chairs, but you’ll want to make certain that the height of all the seats are the same or similar so your guests are comfortable.
Dining Chair Seat Height
A standard dining table will have a height of 28”-30”. A coordinating chair should have a height of 18”-23”, leaving a range of 10"-12" of space between the seat and the underside of the table for your guest. Because MG+BW Home chairs are upholstered, there will be added space when a guest is seated as the upholstered cushion will compress a bit when in use. This is something one of our expert Design Associates will be best equipped to help you plan around.
Dining Chair Seat Width
An upholstered dining chair will have a standard range of seat width between 18”-22”. While a wider upholstered seat is commonly viewed as more comfortable, the shape, design and whether the chair has arms, will affect the overall width and could add an additional 6”-8“. It’s also important to remember that a rounded/circle seat may have an overall wider width/diameter, but the circular shape and rounded cushion will save considerable visual and physical space.
How Do I Know What Size Dining Chair To Get?
Now that you’re prepared with some basic information and measurements, you can consider the breadth of shape and style options within the MG+BW Home collections of dining chairs that would best complement or complete your space. Now that you're prepared with basic information and measurements, it is time to consider shape and style. Consider an armless or side chair for the most flexibility, while an arm chair gives you and your guests the added comfort of arms with the option to create a more intimate seating arrangement. Furthermore, specialty chair features like caster wheels or swivel bases offer unique features that can add to the ease and comfort of your guests.
Armless Chair
The most flexible option, an armless chair will allow multiple chairs to be placed closer together for a more intimate seating space.
Arm Chair
An arm chair style dining chair, will offer an additional level of comfort and formality. You’ll want to make sure to measure the height of any arms and be certain that they will fit under your table. Often, arm chairs and armless chairs will be mixed together at a table to offer options for guests but allow for more seating. Traditionally, home owners will use arm chairs at the two heads of a rectangular table where there is more room for the arms.
Tall or High-Back Chairs
Typically, higher back chairs lend themselves to more formal settings, while lower backs are ideal for informal dining and cozy kitchen tables and breakfast nooks. High back dining chairs are more traditional in shape but can be modernized with material and textiles.
Casters
Casters or mounted wheels will allow your chairs to be easily moved or turned. This can be a great option for round tables or tables in a small space where maneuverability and flexibility is important to guests’ comfort.
Swivel
A swivel is slightly less maneuverable than a dining chair with casters. It will allow the chair to turn on a stable base while offering some degree of movement.
Our Favorite Customizable Collections
Choosing A Fabric Or Material That Is Practical & Stylish
It’s not only a beautifully designed silhouette you’ll love over time–what's inside also matters. Our chairs are artisan-crafted at our North Carolina factory with a commitment to quality and detail that allows us to offer a lifetime warranty on our frames. Now that you have a size and shape picked out, you can utilize our vast library of 400+ fabrics and finishes to customize your design and create a dining room that is inviting, stylish, and comfortable. You’ll want to order your complimentary swatches to help narrow down your decision from our collection of fabric and textile options.
“As a mom of two that has sit-down family meals every day, durability and cleanability is one of the key factors I suggest considering. That being said, the right fabric has the most to do with the overall mood and use of the room. With our beautiful covers, we can achieve nearly any aesthetic for a formal or informal design.”
— Victoria Shrader , MG+BW Designer
Performance Velvet
Our velvet upholstery comes in an array of sumptuous performance grades, proving to impart both durability and sophistication throughout your home.
Italian & Vegan Leather
Customize your next upholstered piece in one of our soft Italian leathers that brings warmth, texture and tonal contrast into a space. Available in a range of hues, our library is as rich as the material itself. In addition, we offer leather alternatives that are durable and easy to care for.
Designer Fabrics
Our curated selection of exclusive Kravet textiles is brimming with thoughtful colors, textures and patterns. Explore our collection of 340+ Kravet upholstery fabrics—a majority of which are performance grade—and bring truly exquisite custom craftsmanship into your home.
Luxe Textures
From rich boucles to sumptuous chenilles, easy–care faux suedes, durable denims and luxe linens, there is no shortage of luxurious upholstery options.
Materials That Matter
Mixing metals, woods, fabrics, and leathers is the best possible way to add depth and interest into your entertaining space. From statement storage and lighting to material-minded table and chairs, there's plenty of opportunity to play with contrast in the dining room. In many of our dining room chairs, we offer multiple wood or metal base finishes.
“Balance is key when mixing materials. I like to use a 60/30/10 rule where I try to use those proportions of each material in the space for balance.”
— Victoria Shrader , MG+BW Designer
Wood
From rich ash wood in dark Caviar finish to natural oak in a brushed white finish, our range of wood grains and finishes bring instant texture to the dining room. With a range of over 20+ wood stains and finishes, we can customize the wood to white oak, rosewood, carbon, driftwood, and more to coordinate or match with with our wood-framed dining chairs.
Metal
Whether you're partial to soft brushed brass or drawn to the sparkle finish of a polished chrome or stainless steel, our metal finishes always lend jewelry-like sophistication to a room. We offer multiple metal-frame chairs with brushed brass, brushed stainless steel, polished stainless steel, pewter, and additional vintage-inspired metal finishes.
Complete The Room
FIND FRESH INSPIRATION
