Review Of McKinley 1084 Sofas with Blackfoot Bark Leather

Review Of McKinley 1084 Sofas with Blackfoot Bark Leather

I was the very first person to take advantage of Duane’s McKinley Leather Furniture offer last year. My pair of Sofas arrived yesterday, and I am ready to offer my impressions and a review.

Shipping was via A&O Delivery, and although the truck arrived 2 hours past the 4 hour delivery window, the guys placed my sofas in the house, they were in excellent condition, and there were absolutely no problems. I walked out to the truck to find that the sofas were just blanket wrapped, and that they traveled in the truck standing on end. It looked like a recipe for disaster, but it all worked out. You just have to trust the movers to do their job. This was my third A&O delivery, and all the furniture has arrived in perfect condition.

This order was a risk for me because I had never even seen any McKinley furniture, had no way to try out the sofa for comfort or quality, had to make a model choice from the crummy pictures on the website, and choose a leather from tiny pictures provided by Duane. The only assurance I had came from my prior purchase experiences with the Keeping Room, and my confidence in Duane’s judgment and advice. He decided that McKinley was good quality and good value, and that was enough for me to take a chance. The special price deal didn’t hurt either.

I chose a pair of 1084 Sofas with Blackfoot Bark Leather.

I’ll start with the Leather, as that was the choice that was most difficult. Blackfoot Bark is a grade 1 leather. I seriously considered choosing a higher grade, but since I was ordering a pair, I went with the budget choice. I have to say that Blackfoot is beautiful. There is some variation and shading to the color. I was worried it might be too much, but it actually is really subtle, and at a distance just gives an impression of natural shading. This leather has an attractive matte sheen (not shinny or slick) and a really nice hand. It’s soft and smooth and feels great to the touch. I believe I like this leather more than any other I have ever owned. I’m no expert, but in my opinion Blackfoot is a terrific bargain as a grade 1 leather. I highly recommend it.

The 1084 Sofa was my choice because I liked the style and the level of detail to the construction. In person, I think that these sofas are absolutely beautiful. They look expensive and luxurious. The back of the sofas are scalloped with 3 curves on the top. The fronts have matching scalloped curves to match the cushions. I know that in construction curves are expensive. These had to have been difficult to make. They each have 8 large bun feet. That also has to cost more. The seats have a little extra depth and the back cushions have Velcro, but can be removed, making it perfect for a nap, or even an extra overnight guest to sleep on. They appear to be well made. They’re heavy, and solid as a rock.
Overall I am over the moon happy with my purchase. I feel that I got the deal of the century on these sofas. I truly believe that they are worth twice what I paid. Duane did right by me.

Now --for my only complaint, and it was not anything Duane had control over. It took 18 weeks from my order until delivery. That included 5 weeks from the time my sofas were ready to ship on the loading dock, until they were delivered. This was the odd case (because of the website) when we all could see the progress of the other McKinley orders and the reviews as they were received. I’m impatient by nature and I assumed first ordered-first built, so it was painful to watch other sofas, which were ordered after mine, being delivered in less than half the time it took for mine to arrive (one even had the same leather). I also learned that shipping can take longer than expected. Because I wanted the old sofas out of the way when A&O delivered the new ones, I donated them to family (they weren’t in bad shape, and were perfect for a kids play room) and tried to time everything by having them removed 3 weeks after the new ones were ready for shipping. I believed that shipping would only take 3 weeks (I live in the South, 700 miles from the McKinley factory). My attempt at predicting delivery time was a disaster. ---We watched TV from folding chairs for two weeks. Lesson Learned, and a life lesson for me in patience. Good things come to those who wait, and my sofas are a good thing.

Great review, thank you! I'm glad you like the sofas!

McKinley is a very small, family business that doesn't have the Marketing power (or money) of a company such as Hancock & Moore. In my opinion, they build a very nice product for the price, its better than most at very attractive price points. Of course they don't have a top flight website, and not a lot of name recognition for brand awareness. That's why I made that one-time fireball offer on price to get some units out there are unbiased, unpaid honest reviews for them.

Time frames on leather hide availability is one of the two sticky wickets in this business. At any given time most companies have about a 60 to 70 % stock level of available leathers for projects, from the big guy to the little one. When hides are out of stock then they are at the mercy of the tanneries (all of which are overseas) as to when they will arrive. One time at the H&M factory I was there with one of the Principal owners and I suggested they get that up to 90 to 95% levels and we walked back out to the leather storage area and I was told "We have $ 3.5 million dollars worth of leather inventory you can see" and they did! And it was added "We refuse about 25 % of all leather orders that arrive, we inspect all the hides and if they don't meet our standards, back they go to the vendor. That can be frustrating for the retail customer, having to wait - but its more important to get it right than to rush it". And that can be the story of leather availability. I always like to call and check at beginning of an order so we have an idea of time frames, but even doing that its not a sure-fire thing on time estimates. Sometimes I will even call and find out the leather is 6 weeks out, then another 6 weeks production (total of 12 weeks) and then !BAM!...just like that the order is shipped in 4 weeks from time of order and I sit there scratching my head trying to figure out how that happened.

And of course, there is the Delivery lag time, from when it leaves the factory door to arriving in your driveway. I know that once you have paid for an item, you want it delivered ASAP. I do too, when I buy something long distance. In an era of UPS 3-day shipping and Amazon Prime, we are accustomed to rapid delivery of goods which pulse along every day in a highly developed logistical network that handles millions of pieces a day. The furniture industry is not like that. Big, bulky product that goes on a truck in North Carolina and stays on that same truck to your home. Yes, its packed tight in the truck, nested and stood on end. Trucks have to be full to run, and have to have the most pieces possible on them. It's a low-profit, low-margin business doing inside home deliveries and I would not want to be in it. They can't roll a truck until its full, the cost to run an 70% full truck is the same to run a 100 % full truck, and the truck is likely break even at around 85% full. That last 15 % of the load is the operating profit for the company. So it becomes a volume business - the more they have to deliver in an area, the more frequently they can run. If loads are light, they have to wait for a bit until they can get to that 85% level at a minimum. There are faster ways to deliver, but the cost to do so rises as well, sometimes double or even triple depending on the service level requested. Hope that helps to explain the process!