Best High Weight Capacity Recliners Review 2023

*While aesthetics is a matter of taste, aesthetic flexibility is a measure of how easily a given design would fit into a wide range of home décor schemes.​

**Brand Reliability is a measure of the strength and longevity of the brand, which by extension, is a measure of the level of support you can expect.

Our Selection Criteria

Given the title of this roundup review, it probably comes as no surprise that our first priority was to find recliners that supported more than the usual amount of weight. The problem, however, is that the phrase “high weight capacity recliners” isn’t specific enough to be helpful. To that end, the first thing we did was put a specific number to that.

We settled on a minimum supported weight of 400 pounds. More than that was obviously welcome, but in order to even be considered for inclusion here, we considered 400 pounds of supported weight to be the absolute minimum.

Beyond that, since people tend to buy recliners to have a comfortable place to lounge, comfort was another key feature we zeroed in on. After that, we gave a nod to any chair that offered extras or enhancements that went above and beyond what most other companies offer.

Our Pick: Simmons Osborn Rocker and Recliner

Simmons dominates this portion of our roundup review of the best high weight capacity recliners, capturing two of our top spots. What’s remarkable about that fact is that Simmons is one of the few big players in the furniture industry that builds furniture specifically for larger folk.

The company has a long history in the furniture business that stretches back more than 140 years. To say that they know a lot about making world-class furniture is an understatement, and the Osborn Rocker and Recliner is an excellent example of their work.

Chair Specifications

Before we get into particulars, let’s do a quick review of the stats that define this model. Here are the basics:

There are a few things to talk about here. First, the seat is enormous. In fact, the Osborn rocker offers the widest seat of any recliner in the entire roundup, both categories considered. That’s a good thing, but there’s a caveat here:

If the seat is substantially wider than you are, you’re going to find it impossible to make effective use of the chair arms. Depending on how much time you plan on spending in the chair each day, that may not be a big issue for you, but it does bear thinking about before committing to this chair.

The seat height definitely marks this model as a chair built for taller folks. The “normal” big and tall seat height range starts at 18” and goes to 22” and beyond, but curiously, the recliner is only 71” long when fully reclined, which may make it unsuitable for really tall users, say, over 6’4” or so.

Again, this mostly comes down to how much time you plan to spend in the chair and whether or not you mind your head and feet hanging well past the frame and cushioning of the chair.

The other thing to note here is that this is a massive piece of furniture, so unless you’ve got a sizeable room, it may be difficult to find a permanent home for the chair, and even in a big room, it’s going to dominate the space, becoming the focal point of the room by default.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing since it’s a stylish and attractive chair, offered in a neutral color that blends well with most any home décor scheme.

Manual and Powered Versions Available

Moving beyond the basics, you’ll be delighted to know that this chair is offered in both manual and power recline variants. If you opt for the manual version, you’ll be getting a standard three-position recliner, while the powered variant offers an infinite number of possible recline positions.

Note, however, that while many infinite-position recliners have preset recline positions built into the remote, this one does not. If you buy the powered version, you’ll have to use the controls to get yourself into your desired recline position, and you won’t be able to save your favorite settings. That’s not the end of the world, of course, but it is a slight limitation.

Also, be aware of the fact that the power recliner does not come with a battery backup system, so if the power fails while you’re reclined back, you’re going to have to awkwardly crawl out of the chair. That’s seldom a major issue, but when the lights go out, it may result in a bit of colorful language on your part.

Comfort-wise, there’s a lot to like about the Osborn. It utilizes a combination of standard block foam and poly fiberfill laced atop an array of individually wrapped comfort coil springs, much like what you find in top-end mattresses. That’s a very good thing, especially if you’re buying this chair with an intention of spending extended periods of time in it and using it for napping or even sleeping through the night in it.

Unfortunately, this recliner is not a “lay flat” model, so while it’s great for napping, unless you’re accustomed to sleeping sitting up slightly, or if you’ve recently had surgery of some kind and sleeping flat on your back is difficult, it may not be great for that purpose.

On the other hand, it is a rocking recliner, which is a fabulous combination of features that further enhances the overall comfort of the chair.

With an advanced comfort system, and the possibility of infinite recline positions combined with the soothing, relaxing rocking motion and the capacity to support up to 400-pounds of user weight, this chair is a great choice for just about anyone.

The only real negative is the fact that in the absence of a battery backup system if you ordered the powered version of the chair, you could find yourself in an awkward position if the power fails. The other potential drawback is that if you’re short on space, it’s going to be a real challenge to figure out where to put it. Other than that, though, this is a magnificent chair that you’ll be proud to own. It’s well-deserving of top honors here, and we highly recommend it.

Runner Up: Sunset Trading Diamond Recliner

Sunset Trading isn’t an industry giant. They go about their business quietly, and they make stunning, well-designed furniture that has an undeniable artistic flair. The Diamond Power recliner is absolutely beautiful and is one of the best recliners for heavy weight on the market today.

Chair Specifications

Before we dive into exactly why that is, let’s do a quick stats review:

These numbers reveal the only limitation of the model. The seat is inconveniently narrow for a chair designed for heavier folks, a fact that works against the generous 400-pound supported weight limit. It may not be a deal-breaker, but you’ll definitely want to take careful measurements before buying this one to make sure you’ll fit comfortably into it.

Although the seat is 20” off the floor, which is well inside big and tall territory, the recliner only measures 65” when fully reclined, which won’t be long enough for the tallest users. This, combined with the relatively narrow seat, limit the market appeal of the chair, which is the main reason the Diamond Recliner did not win top honors in this part of our review. Assuming those facts don’t make the chair a non-starter for you, you’ll find a lot to like about this chair.

First, as big and tall recliners go, it’s not a huge chair compared to the other models on our list. So, if you’re cramped for space, this one probably moves to the head of the line by default. Second, as is the case with many power recliners, this one offers an infinite number of recline positions.

While many powered recliners feature a remote, the controls for this one are located on the side of the chair. There are no presets, so you’ll have to tweak the position to taste every time you recline back in the chair.

Although the Diamond doesn’t offer any built-in storage, you will find a USB port located next to the recline controls, which will allow you to keep your phone fully charged as you watch cute kitten videos or listen to your favorite music while relaxing in the chair.

Sunset Trading is known for adding extras and finishing touches like this on most of the furniture they make, so we were not at all surprised to see a feature like this added to the mix. 

What is a bit more surprising is the fact that although this chair is clad in a leather/PU hybrid, it’s actually delightfully breathable, thanks to the diamond pattern stitching in the seat and the seatback. They’re more than just decorative (although they are pretty!); there’s a practical purpose for their being part of the chair’s design.

In our view, the upholstery leaves a bit to be desired, though. Sunset Trading makes a glorious accent chair upholstered with specially treated top-grain leather, and we would love to have seen this chair upholstered with the same material.

Unfortunately, doing so would have more than doubled the price of the Diamond recliner, which would have put it out of the reach of many, if not most potential buyers, so we understand the decision to downshift into a lesser upholstery option. Even so, the PU/bonded leather hybrid used here might look nice, but it doesn’t age well and won’t hold up very long under the strain of heavy daily use.

Even under optimal conditions, after a couple of years, you’ll start to notice the peeling and cracking that’s inevitable with upholstery like this.

The upshot is that both the chair and the recline mechanism are incredibly well-constructed and will provide years of reliable service, which makes reupholstering with a more durable material a good investment when the time comes.

The Diamond’s comfort system is quite advanced and, in our view, even better than the one offered by our top pick.

Like the Osborn, it features a combination of individually wrapped coil springs supporting a layer of block foam. The seatback is double padded and features a flexible web mesh suspension behind the cushioning that provides spectacular support and comfort.

On top of that, the chair comes with a surprisingly comfortable built-in headrest pillow that makes it ideal for napping, reading, or movie-watching.

Minus the underwhelming upholstery, this is a magnificent chair from top to bottom. You’ll love it, and we highly recommend it.

Budget Pick: Simmons C709-195 Cuddler Recliner

The Cuddler is the second chair offered by Simmons Upholstery to make it into our final three of the best heavy duty recliners. Like the Osborn rocking recliner, it’s an amazing chair with a lot to offer. As we’ve done with our top two picks, let’s start by doing a quick stats review:

Chair Specifications

This is a big chair, and these are good numbers that, for the most part, support each other beautifully, defining this as a chair really optimized for big and tall folks. 

The only exception is the length of the recliner when it’s fully reclined. It’s a bit on the short side, so if you’re taller than about 6’4”, then this model may not be a good fit for you if you’re planning to spend several hours at a stretch sitting in it.

That’s a pity because this is an excellent sleeper recliner…unless you’re taller than 6’4” or so, in which case you’ll find that to be a bit of a challenge.

Bear in mind, too, that this chair is not a wall hugger, and you’ll need at least 20” of space between the back of the chair and whatever wall you place it near if you want to recline in the chair fully. That, combined with the sheer size of the thing, makes it a relatively poor choice if you live in a smaller home or apartment or are just generally cramped for space.

This is a power recliner with an infinite number of recline options on offer. Like the powered version of the Osborn, this chair has its recline controls on the side of the chair, rather than building them into a remote.

In another similarity with the Osborn, you won’t find any recline presets on offer here, so you’ll need to just keep fiddling with the recline controls until you achieve the perfect recline angle for you.

Like the other power recliners, we’ve talked about thus far, there’s no battery backup system here. So in the event of a power outage, you’ll find yourself in the unfortunate position of having to scramble awkwardly out of the chair.

If you want something with a battery backup system to avoid this, your best bet is to spend the extra money and invest in a lift chair, whether you need the lift functionality or not. It’s an expensive way to deal with a problem that will, in practice, only happen rarely, but if it’s important to you, that’s the best way to go.

It should be noted that the Cuddler is not a lay-flat recliner, so unless you’re accustomed to sleeping, sitting up slightly, this isn’t a good chair for spending a full night in. Sometimes, that’s exactly what you’re looking for, especially if you’ve recently had surgery of one sort or another, and sleeping while lying flat on your back is difficult, if not outright impossible. It is a delightfully comfortable chair, though, and a great option for lounging and napping.

The comfort system isn’t quite as advanced as that found on the Osborn, but it does feature a combination of supporting springs and generous amounts of block foam, and the comfortable fabric upholstery serves to enhance the comfort of the chair further.

Overall, this is a superb American-made recliner that will serve broad swaths of the big and tall market very well, though, as we said earlier, it’s a better fit for bigger folk than exceptionally tall people. We recommend it.

Also Great

Lane Stallion Recliner

Like Sunset Trading, Lane Furniture isn’t one of the biggest and best-known brands in the industry. Still, they’ve been in the business for a long time and have a reputation for making exceptionally well-designed furniture. They offer a small selection of big and tall recliners as part of their Big Man collection, and the Stallion is a part of that lineup.

Unlike the other chairs we’ve talked about to this point, this chair can support up to 500 pounds of user weight. Let’s take a look at the other numbers that define the model to see how well they work together.

Chair Specifications

Overall, they work exceptionally well together. The seat height definitely marks this chair as being optimized for tall users, so if you’re shorter and heavier, this chair may simply be too big for you. Note that the length, when fully reclined, supports the idea of this being a great choice for especially tall people as well.

There are two potential drawbacks here, the first of which centers on the seat width. While it should be fine for the vast majority of people, if you’re near the top end of this model’s maximum supported weight, it may not be sufficient. Just to make sure, you’ll want to take careful measurements to ensure that you’ll fit comfortably in the chair.

The second potential issue is the sheer size of the chair. While it’s not the biggest model on our list of finalists, it’s a sizeable piece of furniture, and its length at full recline has to be taken into account too. If you live in a smaller home or apartment or the room you want to put the Stallion in already plays home to a lot of other furniture, it may be a challenge to find a suitable place to put it.

Beyond the raw numbers, the first thing you’ll note about the Stallion is that it’s designed along purely conventional lines. That’s not a bad thing, but if you’re looking for something edgy or artistic, this isn’t the chair you want.

It’s also not the chair you’re looking for if you want something that features lots of bells and whistles. This chair doesn’t offer anything on that front, not even built-in storage. It’s just a big, comfortable, basic three-position manual recliner.

If that’s what you’re looking for, then this model belongs on your shortlist. If you’re hoping to find a model that offers more, then just about any other chair mentioned here will probably be more to your liking.

Comfort-wise, the Stallion utilizes spring-supported block foam, which is pretty standard fare as recliner cushioning goes. It’s not gloriously comfortable, but it does offer a very comfortable seating experience, and the pillowed design of the seatback helps make the chair more breathable. That’s a good thing given the Stallion’s upholstery, which we regard as a genuine point of weakness.

The Stallion is clad in bonded leather, which is real leather made from scraps that have been fused. As a result, bonded leather isn’t as strong or as supple as genuine grain leather. The problem is that had Lane chosen to cover this chair with genuine grain leather; it would have increased its price significantly.

The downside is that bonded leather isn’t really all that durable. After a couple of years, you can expect it to start showing its age by peeling and cracking, even if you’re exceptionally careful with it. If you have pets, you can expect that they’ll puncture it within a week, and perhaps before the chair has been in your home for a full day. Not good.

Fortunately, the bones of the chair are rock solid, so when the day comes that you have to have the chair reupholstered, doing so is a good investment because, with proper care, the frame itself will last you for years.

At the end of the day, this is a basic, no-frills design. If that’s what you’re looking for, then it will get your attention immediately. It’s also a bit of a niche product, though. If you weigh 400 pounds or less, you’ll probably find that one of our other finalists of best rated heavy duty recliners will serve you better, so this chair’s real target market is exceptionally tall people who weigh between 400-500 pounds.

That’s a fairly specific, relatively tiny slice of the market, and unless you happen to be a part of it, some other model will probably wind up being more attractive to you. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it.

Southern Motion’s Hercules Recliner

We didn’t feel this portion of our roundup review would be complete without giving a shout-out to Southern Motion’s Hercules recliner, which the company specifically designed to compete with our fourth-place entrant, Lane Furniture’s Stallion recliner.

This is an interesting chair for a few reasons, but as we’ll explain below, overall, we find it to be slightly inferior to the chair it was designed to compete against. Before we get into that, let’s start by taking a closer look at the chair’s core statistics.

Chair Specifications

This chair is similar in size to but slightly smaller all around than the Stallion. At full recline, it’s also five inches shorter, but even so, it’s the second-longest recliner in this portion of our roundup review, which puts it in the same general segment of the market.

Disappointingly though, the Hercules only supports 400 pounds of user weight, compared to the Stallion’s 500, which means that the Stallion serves a slightly larger segment of the market.

The seat dimensions and seat height are both excellent fits for the portion of the market this chair is targeting, and even if you’re near the top end of the supported weight limit, you shouldn’t have any trouble fitting comfortably into this chair.

As with most of the other models we’ve talked about in this section, with the notable exception of the Diamond Recliner, finding a permanent home for this chair may be a bit of a challenge if you’re cramped for space.

Like the Stallion, it’s designed along conventional lines, but where the Stallion features a pillowed seatback that improves the chair’s breathability, this one is just a solid wall of disappointingly low-quality upholstery, which means this chair isn’t nearly as breathable as the model it’s designed to compete head-to-head against.

It’s fine for short-duration seating, but if you plan to spend any length of time in this chair at a stretch, it’s going to get increasingly hot and uncomfortable.

Comfort-wise, the Hercules fares much better thanks to one of its two modular add-ons, the recline-a-pedic feature, which, if purchased, adds a layer of memory foam over the spring-supported block foam.

The big thing this chair has going for it is its modularity. That’s something most Southern Motion chairs offer, but sadly, there are only two modular options available with this model: Wall Hugging Technology and the recline-a-pedic feature.

Unfortunately, unless you invest in both of those extras, this chair comes up significantly short against the Stallion and in fact, all the other models we’ve talked about so far.

Even worse, the addition of those two features makes this chair far and away the most expensive model on our list of finalists, which is an unfortunate combination of factors.

Given the steep price, we would have expected to see high-end upholstery on the chair, but sadly, the Hercules comes up a bit short here too, offering a hybrid upholstery that’s a blend of polyester and PU. Both are non-breathable, low-end material options, and blending them together doesn’t really improve the equation.

You can expect that after a year to a year and a half of moderate to heavy daily use, the upholstery will start peeling and cracking as the material begins to show its age. If there’s a silver lining here, it lies in the fact that the frame of the chair is exceptionally well-constructed and will last several years longer than the upholstery itself.

When the time comes to reupholster, that fact makes doing so a good investment that will extend the useful life of the chair by a number of years, plus, you’ll be able to re-cover the chair in something you like better that offers more in the way of durability.

The Hercules reclines back to about 160 degrees, which isn’t quite flat, but near enough that you can easily use it as a napping chair and could possibly even spend an entire night sleeping in it. If you do so, however, you’ll almost certainly want to put a sheet between you and the hot, non-breathable upholstery, or you’re apt to have a miserable night.

The Hercules also features well-implemented wall-hugging technology, which means you’ll only need about 5” of clearance between the back of the chair and whatever wall you decide to place it near, which will make it at least a little easier to find a place to put it.

The Hercules compares favorably to the Stallion in terms of recline capabilities, however. Where the Stallion is a manual, three-position recliner, the Hercules is a powered chair with an infinite number of recline possibilities. That, combined with its modularity, makes it an attractive option but also a super pricey one.

Overall, we just didn’t feel that the bright spots this model brings to the table were enough to warrant the massive difference in price. It’s an interesting chair, and it’s got good bones, so if none of the other recliners we’ve talked about to this point are what you’re looking for, it’s a good option to consider. We do, however, regard it as a relatively weaker option than the rest. On that basis, we can only provisionally recommend it.