About to purchase sectional and matching sofa

Firstly, Thank you Duane for the time you take to monitor these forums.

We are about to replace our 3 year old Costco Abbyson sectional (horribly cheap leather, vinyl peeling everywhere) and are looking to upgrade to a nicer piece of furniture. We had considered the Flexsteel Lattitudes line (yes.. I know.. don't worry) It did sit nice, but we know it would be another Abbyson. So we have been looking at King Hickory (it is what one of the "nicer" furniture stores in Kansas City was pushing).

I have no problem purchasing from a distance and would like to know how best to proceed to get some advice and pricing from you. We are looking at a Fabric and Leather combination sectional with @20-21" seating depth, firm detached cushions, seating 6 comfortably, and with a center wedge. The sofa would ideally match. The local store has a"20%" off sale till July 4th. Their sale prices for King Hickory Bentley Series 4400 were as follows LAF/RAF One Arm Loveseat: $2052, Wedge: $1655. Fabric alone prices were: LAF/RAF Loveseat and Wedge: $1428 each. We have not yet priced the sofa.

Thanks.

Steve B.

Hi Steve,

Yes, the Costco stuff is pretty miserable, so poor in quality I always wonder why they carry that kind of upholstery product? They seem to carry decent quality on most the goods they sell in the store, but the bottom-of-the-barrel furniture they have make me stop and question many of the other items I buy there.

King Hickory is decent, you won't have the same issues with that as the Costco product. If you were to make a purchase from my store, I'd suggest looking at Bradington Young as comparable. They have some leather/fabric combos that you can see on their website but truthfully I think all-leather is the way to go. The fabric - any fabric - just doesn't have the 4x longer lifespan of leather, so you will likely have the recover costs to replace the fabric portions of the unit within 10 years of the purchase. Usually all-leather is just slightly more in price than the leather/fabric combos.

I don't know the King Hickory pricing structure, so I can't tell you if the 20% off is legit and a genuine sale - but probably not. Most suppliers either never have sale period or when they do its almost never more than 5% off, so when you see '20% off' from a store its probably smoke n' mirrors and they are playing games with the pricing.

Thanks for the quick reply. In a Braddington-Young we were considering Warner BY-220, or Sterling BY-221. (Please tell me the differences between the two.) If you have time (and are able) please PM me prices for a Finished Semi-Aniline (We have 2 teenagers, so I thought we might need more protection) L and R hand Loveseat w/ Arm and Wedge, as well as a matching sofa. I will pass onto my wife your recommendations re: full leather. But, just out of curiosity what would the differences be in price for fabric/leather vs full leather? Also, please do not hesitate to educate me about leather (I have tried to read as much as I could). Would a full Aniline suit us better? If you would rather I call I could do so between 1:10 and 1:30 your time Tues-Fri. (I am a Psychologist and am in session with clients the rest of the day.)

Oh.... RE: the Costco furniture. I find it somewhat ironic that despite the low quality, they offer a full refund even 2 1/2 years after the sale (because the vinyl separated from it's backing in numerous places.) Now, if they offered that same guarantee with quality furniture...................

Steve B.

In the 220 series, its just a slight styling difference - they are built on the same chassis and are the same price. Just a point to note, and that is that a Finished leather (painted) is different than a Semi-Aniline. See "A PRIMER IN LEATHER" here on the forum for more on the differences.

In a GR 1 leather, I sell the L/S, Wedge (# 220-66), L/S for $ 5,187 plus delivery fees based on your location. Note there are two different wedges you can select. It would take a bit of time to figure up a leather/cloth combo and I would need more specifics such as which hides and which fabrics would be used, etc.

Thanks!

We too have been looking at the BY Warner Sectional also. If we want all leather, can they build it with two different leather colors? We really liked the one in the brochure that had black leather and lighter looking cushions (fabric) for a nice looking contrast.

Yes, they can 2-tone the piece.

I know it's personal preference but in your experience would you say 2-tone is "trendy" or would it just depend on the color combination?

I sell very, very little of the fabric/leather combos. 99.9 % of my leather sales are all leather. Only 1 in a 1,000 will do a leather/fabric combo. Fabric wears out much quicker and can also stain, so doing cushions in it means you will recover them many times over before there is any wear on the leather portion.

I personally am not a fan of the look, but that's just me.

Very good information as usual. We are piecing together a BY Warner or Sterling so once we get the leather color figured out I'll put in a quote request in the forum. Thanks again!

Are all the Grade 1 BY leathers the same price?

Yes, the grades ARE the price category...