What makes a great piece of furniture?
The answer to this question depends on your unique circumstances. Are you looking for reliable, no-frills furniture? Are you shopping for extra-sturdy living room seating that can accommodate your “big and tall” frame? Or are you unconcerned with construction or materials and simply want comfortable budget furniture that looks good? Perhaps you fall on the other end of the spectrum and demand LED-lit cupholders, automotive-inspired stitching, and voice-controlled reclining?
Every shopper’s needs vary, so we’ve created our own rating system for our most trusted furniture brands. Our bronze rating indicates high-quality furniture at an economical price.
Bronze-rated products are perfect for folks looking for lasting value that won’t break the bank. You’re not likely to find super-techy features or all the bells and whistles imaginable from these furniture brands, but you will get a lot of bang for your buck.
In this article, we’ll explore two of our favorite bronze-rated furniture brands that produce great pieces of furniture: Sauder and Affordable Furniture.
Exciting, Easy-on-the-Wallet, Economical Furniture: Sauder
Sauder (pronounced like “chowder”) is an American brand out of Ohio. They produce 80 percent of their furnishings in Ohio in a facility of about 2,000 workers. If you ask the folks at Sauder, they’re the pioneers of the ready-to-assemble furniture industry!
We carry Sauder furniture for the living room, bedroom, dining room, home office, game room, and entryway, and we also offer kids’ furniture and Sauder home décor.
Now we’ll run through the criteria we use to rate each furniture brand.
Sauder Construction
Sauder produces affordable, budget-friendly furniture that’s, as mentioned previously, ready to assemble. It doesn’t require too much work to put together, and it’s worth picking up that #2 Phillips screwdriver and hammer to get the style, quality, and price Sauder offers.
We don’t recommend (and the folks at Sauder explicitly say "no" to) leaving out or adding parts to the furniture you’re assembling. For example, if you felt compelled to assemble a dining room chair but leave off the back, just don’t do it. Build the whole chair as intended or you can compromise the structural integrity and void the warranty.
Rest assured, however, that when it’s built as intended, the furniture’s quality construction can last for several or more years.
Sauder Materials
Sauder finishes all their furniture with a laminate that has a protective coating. The Sauder laminate is super-easy to clean with a damp cloth—just dry it with a clean cloth.
Check out Sauder’s Mystic Oak finish on a charmingly rustic panel headboard:
Sauder Wood
Sauder combines high-quality soft- and hard-wood residuals collected during lumber processing and bonds them together to create environmentally friendly “engineered wood.” The sustainable process requires synthetic resin, high heat, and high pressure to produce strong, dense composite panels.
Sustainable materials have never looked so good! This sturdy credenza can be just that (a credenza) or even hold your TV and entertainment setup.
Sauder Cushioning and Upholstery
Finding design inspiration from Bauhaus to mid-century modern to farmhouse chic, Sauder’s chairs are pleasing to the eye and create fabulous focal points in any room. In addition to their stylish looks, their chairs are often appointed with powder-coated metal legs and durable upholstery.
Leatherette upholstery and wood-capped arms at a great price? Check it out!
Sauder Drawers
Most Sauder furniture with drawers have metal runners with safety stops that provide a smooth experience. Some items, like entertainment centers or credenzas, have full-extension slides so you can fit gaming systems and media. And Sauder’s patented T-lock assembly system is designed to save you hassle while you construct your Sauder furniture.
Lovely and Low-cost: Affordable Furniture
The Affordable Furniture brand is a fantastic budget brand that produces inexpensive furniture that looks great and is super comfy. Founded in and still based out of Mississippi, Affordable Furniture operates with the goal to provide quality goods at very reasonable prices. Their furnishings are made in Mississippi at a single facility with over 300 workers.
We carry seating from Affordable Furniture for the living room, game room, bedroom, dining room, and even for your patio or foyer. This brand excels in making economical furniture that looks anything but.
Affordable Furniture Construction and Materials
Affordable Furniture chairs are sturdily built with wood and most have stylish, tapered wooden feet.
Plush seat and back cushions and an abundance of padded arms are hallmarks of Affordable Furniture chairs. Keep an eye out for loose or unattached back and seat cushions if you prefer the option of removing cushions for cleaning. Otherwise, if you prefer no one starts a cushion or pillow fight with your living room seating, look for attached cushions.
This accent chair has an attached back cushion and loose seat cushion.
Affordable Furniture also makes reclining chairs, loveseats, and sofas. These recliners come with manual recline mechanisms, which means you simply pull on a lever on the side of the furniture to recline. Plush, cozy, and soft to the touch, Affordable Furniture’s recliners are the kind of seat you’ll want to reserve for no one but yourself.
Affordable Furniture Upholstery
With a wide variety of patterns, your upholstery options for this brand’s inexpensive furniture look and feel luxurious.
Soft, smooth and durable, the microfiber that Affordable Furniture upholsters with is made of 100 percent polyester, which is easy to clean. And their smooth leatherette options come in striking colors like this beautiful red:
Some of their polyester upholstery takes a dramatic turn, in the form of gorgeous velour.
Experience Sauder and Affordable Furniture
When it’s time for you to take a step closer to experiencing Sauder and Affordable Furniture, stop by the Big Sandy Superstore nearest you, or shop online. And if you have any questions, give us a call or use our chat function on our homepage.
To learn more, explore our guide to shopping for every room of your house!