The dining room is an essential part of a home where family and friends gather for almost all their meals. Therefore, dining chairs are one of the essential items in a dining room. Therefore, spending on quality, comfortable, and durable dining chairs is crucial. However, these dining chairs are expensive to purchase.
If you are wondering why dining chairs are so expensive, this could be due to several reasons. Here are some reasons that influence the high cost of dining chairs.
- Cost of Materials
- Cost of Labor or Craftsmanship
- The Cost of Transport
- The Time Taken for production
- The Quality of Chairs
- Size, style, and design
- The Type of Wood
This article outlines and explains some reasons why dining chairs are so expensive. All these reasons contribute to the high cost of dining chairs.
Seven Reasons Why Dining Chairs Are So Expensive
The ultimate goal of a dining room is to enable you to have a relaxed meal with friends and family. Therefore, dining chairs are one of the essential items in a dining room. Well, high-quality, comfortable, and durable dining chairs are crucial when setting up the dining room. However, these dining chairs are pretty expensive.
The cost of these dining chairs is affected by several reasons. So, when shopping for dining chairs, you should consider the reasons below as factors that affect the cost.
1. Cost of Materials
There are different types of materials for making dining chairs, and the cost of these materials is one of the significant reasons dining chairs are costly. Hardwood is one of the most common materials for making chairs, and this is because chairs made from hardwood usually last for a very long time.
Although all hardwood materials are excellent, however, their quality differs. Spruce and Acacia are hardwoods but cannot compare to cherry and pine. Therefore, their prices will differ. Nevertheless, both the Spruce and Acacia are still great options.
Furthermore, selecting the wood to use also depends on what the builder wishes to produce. For example, artisans use one lathed wood piece to produce chairs with long legs extending to the chair’s back.
These chairs are usually solid and high quality. Therefore, they’re also costly; hence the wood costs more. Builders can make this type of chair for less by combining several pieces of wood.
Plastic chairs are the cheapest dining chairs and cost between $25 and $150. Metal chairs are more expensive than plastic chairs and cost between $40 and $150. While the upholstered cost from $200 to $800.
2. Cost of Labor or Craftsmanship
People pay high for dining chairs because of the high cost of labor or craftsmanship. And this is also one of the reasons why dining chairs are so expensive. The longest and most difficult chairs to make are those made of hardwood.
Therefore, anyone who succeeds in making these chairs will charge higher. Some dining chairs require exceptional craftsmanship, which reflects how meticulous they are. Such chairs typically cost higher.
Because it takes time and expertise to upholster a chair properly, upholstered chairs are also expensive. If you choose custom-made chairs to match your home’s design rather than the readily accessible prefabricated options, you can also pay extra.
For example, dining chairs are from wood, fabrics, and cushions. Therefore, it will cost more because using these materials will increase their cost. Typically, chairs made of mass-produced metal and plastic are the least expensive.
3. The Cost of Transportation
The cost of transportation also contributes to the high cost of purchasing dining chairs. The cost of shipping the chairs may increase if you’re not purchasing them locally. Unless it’s an international shipment, chairs are usually shipped using ground transportation. However, even ground shipping is a little costly, especially considering the chairs’ size and weight.
The cost of shipping your dining chairs will depend on how many chairs or sets you have to move. A simple chair shipment typically costs less than a set of dining chairs or more.
Furthermore, the shipment of a plastic dining chair will cost less compared to the shipment of a sturdy dining chair made from wood. Therefore the materials used also contribute to the cost of transportation. Overall, this is a pretty important factor that should not be overlooked.
4. The Time Taken for Production
Some chairs take longer to produce, which also affects the cost of dining chairs. For example, the upholstered and cushioned chairs take more time to make compared to other ones. Here the spring or stuffings are in place before attaching the outer cover. Thus, they will cost more than regular ones.
When making a chair, the manufacturers manufacture the parts separately, putting everything together, which usually takes more time. After assembling the chair, the manufacturer applies the wood’s finishing. It comprises wood treatments that add anti-pest and water-resistant properties, as well as paints, oils, or stains to enhance the beauty of wood.
The wood is given a polyurethane treatment in certain chairs to make it durable and prevent spills and scratches. In addition, you can use appropriate chemicals to treat the fabric of a chair’s parts to make them stain-resistant or provide other protection.
5. The Quality of Chairs
The quality of chairs is another reason why dining chairs are so expensive. A high-quality dining chair will cost higher than a lower-quality chair. A chair’s quality is often determined by how and where they’re from. A highly experienced craftsman will always produce chairs that cost slightly or considerably higher than a newbie’s.
Typically, when considering the making of the dining chair, it refers to whether the chair was handmade by a local craftsman or in a factory overseas. Imported dining chairs may be quite less costly when compared to locally manufactured ones, and for good reason most of the time.
A local artisan will make a dining chair of higher quality than a factory overseas. And this is because a chair mass-produced by a factory overseas requires less time, labor, and attention to detail.
While a chair handmade by a local craftsman is always unique and pays more attention to details that require more time and labor, a high-quality dining chair should be smooth and structurally sound.
There are several other ways of determining a high-quality chair, and most of these methods require a physical examination. You can also determine a high-quality dining chair by looking at the back of the chair.
The back leg of a high-quality chair is from one piece of wood extending to the chair’s backrest. In contrast, a low-quality dining chair has its back leg and backrest made of several pieces of wood. All these factors contribute to the cost of dining chairs.
6. Size, Style, and Design
The design, style, and size also impact the cost of the dining chairs. In addition, these factors affect the quality and quantity of materials, including the labor cost required to make the chair.
For example, making a curved back dining chair requires more materials, time, and labor. Therefore such a chair is considered higher quality and will cost more than other styles. Similarly, a sturdy and large dining chair with a cushioned seat, armrest, and upholstery pattern will cost more than a small, straightforward plastic dining chair with little or no style.
For a dining chair made from a combination of wood, fabrics, and cushions, the cost of the chair will increase the use of these materials. In addition, the cushion and fabric quality will affect a dining chair’s price.
7. The Type of Wood
There are so many types of materials used for making dining chairs; these materials include metal, rattan, plastic, and wood used for making chairs. However, wood is the most commonly used material for making dining chairs. Therefore the type of wood used is another factor that determines the cost of dining chairs.
Hardwoods like walnut, cherry, and oak are typically more expensive because they last longer. At the same time, softwoods like Acacia and pine are less expensive because they are weaker and less durable. Therefore, a dining chair made from hardwood will cost more compared to a dining chair made from softwood.
Lastly, Some materials for dining chairs are wood, fabrics, and cushions. The use of these materials increases the cost of the chair. In addition, the cushion and fabric quality can affect a dining chair’s price.
Conclusion
The dining room is an essential part of a home, where family and friends gather for almost all their meals. Therefore, spending on quality, comfortable, and durable dining chairs is essential. Unfortunately, however, these dining chairs are pretty expensive.
The cost of these dining chairs is affected by several reasons, such as the cost of material, the cost of labor or craftsmanship, the cost of transportation, the time taken for production, the quality of chairs, the type of wood, size, style, and design. All these factors affect the cost of purchasing dining chairs.
Well, I hope you found this article helpful and understood why dining chairs are as costly as they are.
