The Complete Recliner & Lift Chair Guide

A Recliner Is Bought for One Body

A sofa has to work for everyone in the house. A recliner usually doesn't. Most recliners end up as one person's chair — the one they watch the game in, nap in, and, for many of our older customers, sleep in after a surgery. That changes how you should shop. The right recliner is the one that fits the person who'll sit in it most, and fit matters more here than in almost any other piece of furniture.

Over the years we've watched a lot of people test recliners. The ones who end up unhappy almost never chose the wrong fabric or color. They chose a chair that was a few inches too deep, too tall, or too short for them, and in a reclining chair a few inches is the difference between comfortable support and a sore lower back.

How to Tell If a Recliner Fits You

Recliners are commonly sold in three rough size classes, though every manufacturer draws the lines differently:

Height alone isn't enough, because people with the same height have different leg and torso lengths. Use these checks instead — in the store, or at home within the return window:

1. Feet flat when upright. Sitting all the way back with the chair closed, both feet should rest flat on the floor with your thighs roughly level. Dangling feet mean the seat is too high or too deep.
2. Two to three fingers behind the knee. With your back against the backrest, you should be able to slide two or three fingers between the front edge of the seat and the back of your knee. No gap means the seat is too deep and will cut off circulation.
3. Head on the headrest, not above or below it. Recline fully. Your head should rest on the pillow area, not hang over the top or get pushed forward by a bulge at your shoulders.
4. Lumbar contact. The back cushion should meet the small of your back. A gap there is what causes the "recliner backache" people blame on the mechanism.
5. Calves and heels supported. Fully reclined, the footrest should support your calves and your heels shouldn't hang off the end. Taller people often find the footrest ends at their ankles on a standard chair.
6. The 15-minute test. Anything feels fine for 30 seconds. Sit, recline, and stay there for at least 15 minutes, in the posture you'll actually use at home.

Recliner Types Compared

Manual or Power?

Power recliners used to be a luxury upgrade; now they're a large share of the market, and the price gap has narrowed. Power is worth it if:

• The user has arthritis, back trouble or limited hand strength. A handle that needs a firm yank becomes a real obstacle after a hip or shoulder surgery.
• You like to stop halfway — reading position, TV position, nap position. Manual chairs have only a few set positions.
• You want the footrest to come up slowly instead of snapping out.

Manual is the better buy if there's no outlet nearby, if you want the simplest possible mechanism, or if the chair will float in the middle of the room where a cord would be a trip hazard. A manual mechanism has fewer parts that can fail and costs less to repair out of warranty.

Wall and Floor Clearance

This is the measurement people forget. A recliner needs space behind it to lean back and space in front for the footrest. Exact numbers vary widely, so always read the spec sheet for "wall clearance" and "fully reclined depth." These are typical ranges:

Add the wall clearance to the fully reclined depth and that's the floor length the chair occupies in use. Then make sure there's still a walkway in front — around 30 inches is comfortable — and that the footrest doesn't hit a coffee table. Tape the full reclined footprint on the floor before you buy. Our measuring guide covers room clearances and the delivery path in detail.

What Separates a 3-Year Recliner From a 15-Year Recliner

Recliners take more mechanical stress than any other seat in the house. Every recline cycle loads the frame, the mechanism, and the joints between them. Here's what to look at.

The Mechanism

The mechanism is the steel linkage under the seat that makes it all move. Better chairs use heavier-gauge steel with smooth, quiet action and no side-to-side wobble when the footrest is out. In the store, recline and close the chair a dozen times. Listen for grinding and squeaks, and push gently sideways on the extended footrest. A lot of play there now becomes a lot more in two years. Ask whether the mechanism has a separate warranty — on good chairs it's often longer than the fabric warranty.

The Frame

Look for kiln-dried hardwood or a hardwood-and-engineered-wood combination, with corners that are glued, screwed, or blocked rather than just stapled. Pure particleboard frames can work loose at the mechanism mounting points. If the spec sheet won't tell you what the frame is made of, assume the cheapest answer.

The Seat

• Springs: sinuous ("no-sag") springs are standard and fine; pocketed coils in the seat cushion feel more supportive and last longer.
• Foam density: seat foam around 1.8 pounds per cubic foot or higher holds its shape much longer than the 1.5 lb foam common in bargain chairs. Our glossary explains foam density and the related terms.
• Back cushions: loose-fill fiber backs flatten and shift. Look for zippered compartments or a baffled design that keeps the fill in place, and fluff them weekly.

Weight Ratings Are Real

Check the manufacturer's stated weight capacity and leave a margin. A standard chair rated for 300 pounds will technically hold a 280-pound person, but the mechanism and frame will wear faster. If the regular user is above about 250 pounds, a big-and-tall chair with a 350- to 500-pound rating is worth the extra cost, and using a chair above its rating can void the warranty.

Leather, Fabric, or Microfiber?

Recliners get a lot of friction — at the arms, at the seat front, at the headrest — and the upholstery has to handle it.

• Top-grain leather is the durable leather choice. It wipes clean, ages well, and handles the arm-rubbing that wears through fabric. It's cool in winter and can feel sticky against bare skin in summer.
• "Leather match" means leather on the seating surfaces and a matched vinyl or bonded material on the sides and back. It's a legitimate way to save money, as long as you know that's what you're buying.
• Bonded leather is shredded leather scraps glued to a backing. It's inexpensive, and it peels — usually within two to four years, starting on the arms and headrest. We don't recommend it for a recliner that gets daily use.
• Performance fabrics and microfiber are the best choices for pets and kids. Tight weaves resist claws; microfiber wipes clean. Check the cleaning code tag; our care guide explains what W, S, W/S and X mean.
• Textured, loose-weave fabrics look great but snag on pet claws and pill at the arms. Avoid them in a chair that'll get heavy use.

Lift Chairs: A Different Purchase

A lift chair uses a motor to raise and tilt the entire chair forward, setting the user nearly on their feet. For someone recovering from a knee or hip replacement, living with Parkinson's, or simply finding it hard to get out of a soft chair, it can be the difference between independence and needing help to stand. They're often bought by adult children for a parent, and they deserve more care than a standard recliner.

Positions

What to Check on a Lift Chair

• Sizing matters even more. A lift chair that's too tall tips the user forward before their feet touch the floor; too short and it doesn't lift them high enough to stand. Use the seated measurements above.
• A simple remote with large, clearly labeled buttons. Some have a backlit remote for night use.
• Battery backup so the chair can always return to upright in an outage.
• Heat and massage are pleasant extras, but they add cost and parts. Buy them because the user wants them, not because they come bundled.
• Side pockets for the remote, phone and glasses. Small, but genuinely useful.

Safety Around Kids and Pets

Reclining mechanisms have moving steel parts and pinch points, and children and pets have been seriously injured or killed when trapped under a footrest or in the gap of a closing chair. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled several power recliners over exactly this hazard. A few habits reduce the risk substantially:

• Don't let children play on the footrest, ride the chair as it moves, or crawl under it.
• Before closing a recliner, check under and behind it for kids and pets — cats in particular like the dark space under the mechanism.
• Use a child lock on power models if one is available, and keep the remote out of reach.
• Unplug power recliners when you're away for long stretches.
• Register the chair with the manufacturer so you hear about recalls, and check the CPSC recall database if you're buying used.

Reclining Sofas and Sectionals

Much of the same advice applies to reclining sofas, loveseats and sectionals — "motion furniture" in the trade — with a few extras:

• Not every seat reclines. On many sofas only the ends recline. Wedge corner pieces on sectionals and middle console sections usually don't.
• Consoles with cup holders and storage add 12 to 16 inches of width each. They're useful, but they eat seating.
• Wall clearance is per seat. If one seat isn't wall-hugger, the whole sofa has to come off the wall to its clearance.
• Power motion sectionals need outlets and sometimes multiple plugs. Plan the cord routing before delivery, especially if the sofa floats in the room.
• Weight. Power motion pieces are heavy — 100 to 150 pounds per section is common. Measure the delivery path, and our living room guide covers sectional planning.

Delivery and Setup

Good news: most recliners are easier to get through a doorway than they look. On the majority of models the back lifts off. There's a pair of locking brackets on each side, and with the back removed, the chair is shallow enough to turn through most interior doors. Before you assume a chair won't fit:

• Ask whether the back is removable. On most standard recliners it is.
• Measure the door width with the door fully open, and the narrowest point of the hallway.
• Check that the chair will be near an outlet if it's power, and plan where the cord runs.
• Remove the shipping restraints and test every position right away. Report problems within the return window, while they're easy to fix.

If you buy from our Romulus warehouse, our delivery crew handles placement and setup throughout our Southeast Michigan service area.

Budget and What You Get

These are rough street-price ranges at the time of writing. They vary with sales and materials, so use them as a guide, not a quote.

Read the warranty in detail. A good one breaks out separate terms for the frame, the mechanism, the motor and electronics, the cushions and the upholstery. "Lifetime warranty" that applies only to the frame while the motor gets a year tells you a lot about where failures happen.

Common Recliner Mistakes

• Buying for the wrong body. A chair that fits the tall spouse often swallows the short one. Decide who it's really for.
• Testing for 30 seconds. Sit for 15 minutes in the position you'll actually use.
• Forgetting wall clearance. A standard recliner pushed against the wall can't recline.
• Bonded leather on a daily-use chair. It peels.
• No battery backup on a power or lift chair for someone with limited mobility.
• Exceeding the weight rating. It shortens the life of the mechanism and can void the warranty.
• Ignoring kids and pets around a moving mechanism.

Frequently Asked Questions