Tiers of Furniture Quality

I'm a newbie on this forum, but I looked around and couldn't exactly find something on this topic. I'm not new to furniture, but I don't buy it frequently enough to know what is out there. It's semi-easy to tell the good from the really horrible, but not always easy to tell the good from the OK or just the bad.

I have a mix of furniture at home: Henkel Harris to some Broyhill (more the former, a few of the latter) and a lot in between. But what I was wondering is what fits into tiers of quality? I know Henkel Harris is better than most other brands, and I can feel that when examining them. But it gets murky in the middle.

I know more about watches and cars and I'll use that as an analogy. Most people think Rolex is the best watch the world; it's not, but many buy into that lie. In watches it ranges (skipping many steps and brands) from thing like: Parmigiani Fleurier and Patek Philippe at the top, to Jaeger leCoultre to Rolex to Hamilton (once good, but now owned by swatch) to Seiko, and to Timex at the bottom (there’s probably some bad Chinese stuff down there too).

But the lines blur. Rolex is not made by hand, but most people think it is (some of their watches are much better than others too); Parmigiani Fleurier is made almost entirely by hand, but a single watch costs more than most people's homes. We all know Timex is cheap, but then faux luxury brands (Seiko, and any watch at most mall stores) make nice looking pieces with good looking, if cheap, veneers that can fool many.

But the different shows itself in your $10 Timex outlasting your $100 Seiko (it happens less the higher up you go though). The same is true in cars; you'll usually spend more time getting your Mercedes-Benz repaired than your Honda due to Honda's economies of scale.

But, in furniture I don't believe that usually happens since quality is in the raw materials and the best economies of scale won’t make MDF outlast well made solid wood pieces. Most of our family’s high quality pieces are still good years later while the cheap MDF and engineered stuff has long since disintegrated.


So my general impression is in furniture (from higher quality to lower):

High quality custom (or near custom) made solid wood: Hancock and Moore
High quality mass produced solid wood: e.g. Henkel Harris, Stickley
Medium quality mass produced solid wood: Gordon ???
Low quality mass produced solid wood: ‘Amish,’ Woodcraft
Medium quality mass produced engineered: (is there even such a thing?)
Low quality mass produced engineered: Ikea, Pottery Barn, etc


I know Gordon belongs somewhere in the top, but I’m not sure if it’s Henkel Harris quality. My Gordon butler table is nice, but not as good as my Henkel Harris pieces.

But, I was wondering what other brands should be in these categories, should there be other categories? I know the reputation of Henkel Harris and infamy of Ikea, but in the middle I get lost and I'm sure a lot of others do too. So, I think a rough scale would greatly help in purchases.

The trouble with doing a scale that is accurate and useful is that it would require Consumer Report resources, otherwise it would just be heresay. It would involve getting a sample from each manufacture in the rating series you want to do and then tear it down to see what's inside. If you don't do that, then its just speculation and of little value. One can tell the same thing by going into the factory and watch the build process, but who has time to do that? I can pop on a maker's website and if they have good, exploded diagrams make a reasonable assessment with maybe 50% accuracy. And once you start tiering these makers, the CEO's of the companies will be calling. I guarantee that and their attorney will be on the other line as well.

For that reason I have never tried to rate the brands. What I do here is tell you what makes good construction, then send you out to the stores and using your eyes and hands you can tell pretty much for yourself.