I was looking for four basic chairs to accompany an older 40" round OAK drop leaf table in my kitchen. Prior to purchase, I knew these were "natural" rather than oak tone; while the mismatch *is* enough to notice, it isn't enough to bother me (and I couldn't find an oak tone set in the same price range with reasonable reviews and free shipping). Since I've never ordered furniture online, I opted to buy one pair of chairs first, with the intent of buying a second pair if I liked them. Bottom line: I'm not sure I'll buy the second pair.
Pluses:
- Chairs were delivered via FedEx and well packed. Box had no damage.
- Basically sit flat and feel sturdy. One chair's flat; the other might need a very slim pad on one leg to even it out.
- Great price. I've been looking for something like this in local stores - and it's nowhere to be found.
Minuses:
- Not particularly comfortable. I'm a 5'9" slender female; the seat size is "perfect" for me (thus, would perhaps be small for larger people), but the real problem is that the round of the back hits me just below the shoulder blades and the back is so straight it's not comfortable to lean against.
- One chair seat has some minor scrapes that must've occurred in the factory, given that the packing was so good; same chair also has small bit of blue paint smudged along one area on the rounded back. Since chairs will always wear, I wasn't bothered by this given the price.
- Chairs seem a little small in relation to the table I'm pairing them with.
- EDIT (4/30/10): Another minus worth mentioning is that, although, the product description on Amazon indicates the chairs support up to 300lbs, the label on the underside of the chair indicates only a 225lb capacity; that's a non-trivial difference.