Are you ready to update your space? When you need to buy dining room furniture, it’s best to find a great retailer that has just the pieces you want. After all, many people use their dining rooms for everything from family dinners to homework and work stations.
When looking through different styles and shapes of tables, chairs, and other dining room must-haves, consider how big your space is, as well as how many people you want to seat at the table. Some of the best places to find dining room furniture, such as Crate and Barrel, Wayfair, and Cost Plus World Market, offer a variety of styles and price points so you can compare options for every aesthetic and preference.
Here are the best places to buy dining room furniture.
With furniture lines focused on traditional style, modern trends, kids dining, and one-of-a-kind artisan-created pieces, there’s something for everyone at Crate and Barrel. Many of the store’s dining sets feature clean lines that can be tailored to your specific style and updated with place settings, table accents, and other decor in the room as your tastes or the seasons change.
Crate and Barrel dining sets are expensive but well made, and they last for years. There are over 112 stores in the United States, making design consultations easy. Most larger furniture pieces must be ordered and aren’t in stock, although the website does show which stores nearby might have smaller pieces ready to pick up. Another perk of choosing Crate and Barrel dining room furniture is that the company focuses on sustainability; many furniture pieces are certified sustainably sourced by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
If you like modern, clean design, you’ll drool over everything from Article. This store offers plenty of contemporary and mid-century-inspired dining room furniture pieces. You can design a custom set by mixing and matching a table with chairs. While you do need to purchase a table separately from the chairs, which can make your chosen furniture expensive, it also allows for the most customization.
Many of Article’s pieces have a tapered leg, which is very trendy. There isn’t much that could be considered traditional, although if you want to mix and match styles, all of the available dining room pieces are high-quality and made of solid wood to stand the test of time. You can also draw inspiration from Article’s feed of real-life photos from customers and how they have styled their own dining rooms.
The online-based arm of Crate and Barrel is the more affordable CB2. While CB2 still has the same high-quality clean, contemporary style as its larger parent brand; it’s a smaller and more value-rich alternative. With only 23 storefronts, CB2 is able to pass significant savings along to the customer using a primarily online retail model. Dining furniture options can still be pricey, but given the quality and sleek style, CB2 is a great retailer if your hope is to achieve a high-end look.
Because CB2 is online-based, you likely won’t be able to see samples of furniture colors and finishes in person. But the company does offer complimentary design services, so you can talk with an expert about your style, needs, and how you want your dining room to look and feel. The return policy makes sure any quality issues are corrected quickly or issued a refund. Like most retailers, CB2 doesn’t accept returns for custom furniture orders.
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Affordable
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On-trend styles
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Easy to browse online
With a cult following, Target is the destination of choice for everything from home decor to laundry detergent. This extensive retailer’s dining room furniture is mass-produced but available in on-trend styles, and it’s all quite budget-friendly. Target offers individual dining room furniture pieces as well as complete dining sets. The selection of kitchen tables and smaller dining sets is especially great.
You can search by style, seating size, and category. Once you’ve found a piece you like, you can see whether it is in stock near you or whether you’ll need to order it. Target keeps a number of smaller furniture pieces, such as chairs and folding tables, in stock, but you’ll likely need to order larger sets and dining tables. You can have them delivered right to your home or to your nearest Target for pickup.
Cost Plus World Market began as a single retailer selling imported baskets and housewares in San Francisco, and today it’s still known for a selection of one-of-a-kind decor and furniture finds from all over the world. If you like a worldly, eclectic style, this is the place to look for a dining room set that no one else will have. Many of their pieces are handmade by artisans and aren’t available anywhere else.
There are a range of price points, but you should expect to pay a lot for the best quality furniture. There are a few collections that can be customized with different table sizes or seating configurations. You can also put your own set together by selecting a table and pairing it with any chairs you like. As you search, pay attention to which items are only available online and which you can pick up or see in person before purchasing at the store.
Timeless, classic design is more common than modern and edgy at Frontgate. If your own tastes lean more toward traditional, with formal accents such as upholstered dining chairs, cane accents, and solid wood tables in rich finishes, you’ll love the dining room furniture selection available. Frontgate also has bar cabinets, buffets, and sideboards to complete your dining room.
These pieces are expensive and meant to be handed down as heirlooms. One way to get the style for less is to invest in chairs for the head and foot of your table. Not only does this create a showstopper in your dining room, it also fits right in with the classic look of traditional design. While Frontgate’s pieces do run high in price, the store’s clearance section is a great place to find a fantastic deal, although you’ll still likely pay more than you would at a big box store.
Dining room furniture from Los Angeles-based Lulu and Georgia is modern and edgy. The company works with artists to design pieces that are both works of art and functional dining room seating and tables. The minimalist upholstered Temi Retro velvet chairs, for example, get special attention for their ability to combine vintage and modern style. However, because they’re so special, many of the most popular pieces from Lulu and Georgia require a waitlist.
The store’s online feed of pieces in actual customers’ homes looks more like a catalog than lived-in spaces. This dining room furniture makes for gorgeous inspiration and style, but it may not be the top option for people with families or busy homes. Sideboards or cabinets are great ways to add some minimalist modern style to spaces that tend to be more traditional.
Furnishings from West Elm have a sleek, upscale appearance with a mid-century modern flair. This staple retailer stocks tables, chairs, cabinets, dining room rugs, and more. You can get pared-down minimalist pieces, as well as statement furniture and eye-catching accents for your dining room. Most pieces come in multiple colors and finishes.
Like Pottery Barn, many of West Elm’s furniture items are made-to-order, which can take a month or two. Upon delivery of larger pieces, they also offer white-glove service at no extra charge. They will carry-in, unbox, assemble, and remove all the packing materials—a hassle-free service.
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Variety of price points and styles
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Helpful user reviews
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Can filter by style, color, material, and other details
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Inconsistent quality
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Too many choices
If you want a wide selection of furniture in almost any style you can think of, all in one place, Wayfair is your best option. This online retailer offers items at a variety of price points, although most fall under the budget category. When searching through the many, many options available, you can filter by color, style, price, material, seating capacity, table shape, size, availability, customer rating, and many more criteria. The search function on Wayfair is one of the best out there.
Because this retailer carries furniture from so many different brands and designers, the quality can be hit-or-miss. One of the best things you can do is read through reviews from other customers who bought the pieces you’re considering. Many include photos of the furniture in real homes and provide honest feedback about the quality and functionality.
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Expensive
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Difficult to move
Pottery Barn is our go-to retailer for high-quality timeless style. The store offers dining sets as well as individual pieces, most of which are classically styled. Pottery Barn’s dining room furniture selections are investment pieces you can style in different ways as your tastes change. You can shop by collection, which coordinates dining room tables, chairs, sideboards and buffets, and bar carts to create a cohesive look. Once you find a piece you like, it’s often available in multiple hardwoods and finishes so you can get the customized look you want.
Pottery Barn’s dining tables tend to be very bulky and hard to move, although this is also a testament to their high-quality construction, design, and materials. The tables in particular have extra-sturdy bases that feature architectural details, such as turned legs, pedestal bases, or specially-designed hardware. One of our favorite things about Pottery Barn is the attention to every detail that makes its furniture worth its high price.
Like the name suggests, AllModern furniture tends to be modern and contemporary. You can find individual tables, chairs, and benches as well as sideboards, buffets, and other furniture that you can use in your dining room. There are a few dining sets available, but most are better suited for eat-in kitchens or casual dining.
The sideboards from AllModern should get special attention. Not only are they some of the more affordable options, given their high quality and style, but they also have plenty of interest and texture. Prices do cover a wide range on AllModern, and the retailer does run a lot of sales through the year. If you need your dining furniture ASAP, you can browse the ready-to-ship section, where you’ll find pieces that can arrive at your door within a week.
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Expensive
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Limited modern pieces
For a great selection of classic furniture that’s well organized for simple searching and at-home inspiration, Birch Lane is a top pick. This retailer’s pieces are made in traditional, coastal, and farmhouse styles, with a few modern ones thrown in for variety. Birch Lane furniture definitely leans more classic, however. If you like dining chairs with intricately detailed backs, including carved wood and cane, this is a great place to look. This store also offers complimentary design services you can use to decide which furniture will look best in your home.
Birch Lane is a bit pricey, especially for chairs. You can find some simpler options at a more affordable price point, and sales do happen occasionally. All of the company’s pieces are well-made, so if you want dining room furniture that’s high-quality, and aren’t as picky about the exact style, look through the wide selection of chair pairs and dining sets.
Castlery may be another modern furniture and decor company, but it’s home to some of the best inspiration you’ll find online, right on its website. You can use traditional search functions and filters to look through the array of tables, chairs, and dining sets by material, price, color, length, and seating. Most of the shapes are mid-century modern, especially when it comes to dining sets. The materials and finish are really what you get to choose.
If you need inspiration, however, we recommend trying Castlery’s Virtual Studio. You can walk through a virtual showroom to see how different pieces look next to each other and get a good idea of size and shape, without leaving home. You can also Shop the Look in photos onsite by clicking on pieces that interest you, or take a look at real-life customer photos to see how other people have styled furniture in their own homes.
All of the furniture sold by Maiden Home is handcrafted in North Carolina. While there’s a design studio in New York, each dining room piece (and other furniture items within the brand’s inventory) is made to order by artisans like woodworkers and upholsterers. The focus is on heritage style with a modern edge, as Maiden Home constructs furniture using traditional techniques that stand the test of time and produce a high-quality result.
Because each piece is made to order, the time it takes to have your furniture delivered can be quite long. Tables, chairs, and other dining room essentials are also expensive, and some variation, even among furniture in the same line and model, is normal. Natural variation in the wood grain, dye lots of the fabric, and hides mean that no two pieces are exactly the same. Some people love this aspect, while others may prefer furniture that matches in each and every way.
The dining room furniture from Interior Define is a bit limited, since the company’s real appeal comes from its selection of customizable living room furniture. But here, you’ll find a nice range of furniture, especially upholstered dining room seating. Interior Define offers a variety of fabrics, including velvet, tweed, and leather, to choose from. You can customize each seat by picking the fabric and frame finish.
Furniture from Interior Define is on the expensive side, but it’s made-to-order exactly to your specifications. Many of the available wood materials are also certified sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council. If something is wrong with your order, or if the furniture isn’t a good fit, the retailer’s 60-day return policy allows you to get a partial refund after the 50 percent return fee, even on custom orders. Returns of stock items only have 30 days, but these carry a much lower return fee of 15 percent.
Final Verdict
There are plenty of great places to buy dining room furniture, no matter your style or available space. For modern and contemporary pieces, Crate and Barrel, Interior Define, and Lulu and Georgia are all fantastic options. If you prefer something more traditional with timeless appeal, consider Frontgate, Pottery Barn, or Birch Lane.
Size
When selecting dining room furniture, you need to know that it will fit in the space available. Look for a retailer that includes size dimensions of each piece, and make sure that you can note key details or differences, like the size when a table is fully extended or the doorway clearance you need to get an item into the room. When it comes to detailed size data, Wayfair offers handy search tools and filters that let you organize by size.
Shape
Modern shapes tend to be more organic, like those from the artisans at Maiden Home. Some retailers, such as Castlery, have a lot of pieces with similar shapes and focus on different materials and finishes. Dining room furniture can take on classic and clean shapes or more creative and abstract design cues, depending on your desired style.
Construction and Supports
Well-made furniture will last for years and can even be passed down through the generations, if it’s constructed for strength and with solid supports. Attention to detail, like what Pottery Barn focuses on when designing furniture, means that everything from the materials used to the hardware is intentional and part of both the style and quality. Maiden Home is another retailer known for its high-quality construction using traditional techniques.
Style
One of the biggest things to consider when selecting dining room furniture is the overall style and look of your room. The best dining room furniture can be styled in different ways. Pieces with clean lines, like those from West Elm, can work with a variety of styles. Wayfair has a lot of options for easy comparison of styles in one place.
Material
High-end materials tend to be more expensive than their more basic counterparts. Solid wood, exotic woods, and natural stone are typically the most expensive, but they last the longest and look great. Fabrics such as velvet, tweed, and thick wool cost more but will hold up to years of sitting. If you’re searching for high-quality materials, Maiden Home is known for using them in all of its furniture.
FAQ
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If you want to create a high-end look without a big budget, try adding one or two standout pieces to your dining room and filling in the rest of the space with affordable alternatives. Sideboards and buffets are a great place to spend money, because they add a lot of interest to the room without requiring multiple coordinating pieces, such as dining room tables or chairs. You can also make them the focal point of your dining room with art and decor.
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Look for high-quality materials and construction. Solid wood is always a good investment, because it will last longer than cheaper options. It almost always looks better, too. You should also consider how big you need your table to be. Many tables are extendable with added leaves. You can use the table in its smaller configuration for day-to-day dining but add seating for a bigger family meal.
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The foundation furniture in a dining room is a dining room table and chairs. Sets often include between four and eight chairs, depending on the size of the table. Additional furniture that can make your dining room more functional and stylish include sideboards, buffets, china cabinets, and bar carts. A beautiful dining room can be large or small, but should be inviting for those sitting down to a meal together.
This article was researched and written by Katie Melynn, a freelance writer who specializes in home and family products. Katie has been writing for The Spruce since 2019. To find the best places to buy dining room furniture, Katie considered a variety of styles and price points. She also looked for retailers that included information about the materials used in their furniture, easy-to-use search functions, and customization.