CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider Review 2024

Are you in the market for some new outdoor furniture?

Are you on the heavy side, or do you regularly entertain guests who are? 

If so, then you know what a challenge it can be to find furniture that’s sufficiently rugged and robust to stand up well and provide proper support.

Sure, if you weigh three-hundred pounds or less, you’ll find all sorts of options. More than that, though, and there just isn’t a whole lot available.

The good news is that a few well-respected companies are making top-quality furniture that are not only great-looking but built to last and capable of supporting an impressive amount of user weight. The CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider, offered by Amish Casual and sold through CAF, is an excellent example of the types of hidden gems you can find in this corner of the market if you spend enough time digging.

Porch gliders aren’t an obvious choice for many people, but if you’re looking for more than a simple bench-style seat, but for whatever reason, you don’t want a porch swing, this is a great piece of furniture that serves as a middle-ground between those two.

In the sections that follow, we’ll tell you everything this amazing glider rocker has to offer. While it’s not quite perfect and probably not for everyone, we think you’ll be impressed by what you read here. Let’s take a closer look.

An Overview of the CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Outdoor Glider

At first glance, the CAF Amish heavy duty mission porch glider looks like the bench seating offered by Amish Casual. On closer inspection, though, it becomes obvious that it’s something more.

Like the bench seating we mentioned, it’s built by Amish craftsmen in Mission style, simple and timeless. Even better, if you decide you want one, you can order yours in a variety of finishes, including:

The light and dark wood stain options make it easy to blend this bench with just about any outdoor décor scheme you may have. The white and black options are great for providing a weathered look. And the unstained variant gives you unlimited flexibility in terms of matching whatever color or décor scheme you’re using.

Be aware, however, that if you get one of the pre-stained glider rockers, they only come with a single coat of the stain you select. Most people who paint or stain their own furniture use at least two coats, followed by at least two layers of polyurethane to protect it.

We regard this, then, as one of the few genuine points of weakness where this product is concerned. It’s not awful, but a single coat won’t stand up as well over time, so even if you get one of the pre-stained gliders, you’ll have to restain it sooner than you’d like to.

Also note that in addition to the selection of stain colors, you can order your glider rocker in either four or five-foot-long variants. We regard the four-foot variant as being significantly less versatile than its longer cousin, but we understand that opinions will vary about that. Ultimately, there are no right answers here. It comes down to what your personal preferences are and which option is the best fit for you.

Turning to specifics now, let’s take a look at the stats that define the model. Here they are:

• Overall Product Dimensions:
  • Four Foot Variant: 51” W x 28” D x 36” H
  • Five Foot Variant: 63” W x 28” D x 36” H
• Seat Height: 22”
• Seat Depth: 19”
• Seat Width: 46” (4-foot variant), 58” (5-foot variant)
• Chair Weight: 70 pounds (4-foot variant), 80 pounds (5-foot variant)
• Maximum Supported Weight: 800 pounds

We’re incredibly impressed with these numbers. The seat dimensions, especially on the five-foot variant, are a superb complement to the maximum supported weight limit. And the bench is more than heavy enough that you won’t have to worry about heavy winds blowing it over while remaining light enough to move easily (with a bit of assistance) if you decide you want to put it somewhere else.

Adjustability and Comfort

There’s nothing at all adjustable about the CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission outdoor glider, so this will be a fairly short section.

Glider rockers occupy a curious middle ground. They’re one part rocker, one part stylish bench seat, and one part porch swing, giving you the same feel as a porch swing without the added hassle of having to hang chains and suspend your seat from the ceiling.

Comfort-wise, it’s about what you’d expect from a piece of wood furniture. The slats in the back have enough separation between them that the back is breathable. If you decide you want to make the bench more comfortable, that’s easy to do by adding either a padded seat, padded seatback, or both.

Doing so, however, comes with an unfortunate trade-off. This is a beautiful piece of furniture. It almost seems a shame to cover its natural beauty with some type of padding, but if your intention is to use it for lounging for extended periods, it may be the right choice for you.

Assembly is Required

As is the case with most of the furniture you can buy online these days, if you decide you want one of these, it will arrive in a large box and only partially assembled, so you will have to do some work before you can actually use the thing.

Fortunately, Amish Casual’s production quality is unbelievably good, and the assembly instructions are clear. You can expect that it will take about 40 minutes to get the CAF Amish heavy duty mission bench glider ready for first use, including unboxing and sorting. You can shave about ten minutes off of that time if you have an assistant standing by to lend a hand on the day the bench arrives.

Also, note that you can pay extra for the expert assembly option, which makes the process hands-free. Naturally, you’ll pay a premium for the service, which amounts to about a quarter of the total price of the bench. It’s not cheap, but if you’re really averse to putting your own furniture together, it’s nice to know you have the option.

Pros and Cons CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider

In our view, the heavy-duty Amish glider rocker is almost perfect. Our only genuine gripe is that the company cut a few corners where the pre-stained variants are concerned. We’d love to see this improved to two coats of your chosen stain color at some point, but we understand their thinking here.

Also, we really feel that the four-foot variant offers significantly less utility than the five-foot. If we could get the company to make just one change at our request, we’d love to see this bench offered in a five-foot and a six-foot variant.

Honestly, though, those are minor points. The simple truth is that this glider is amazing and is definitely something that belongs on your shortlist for consideration.

Final Thoughts: CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider Review

The quibble with the single coat of stain notwithstanding, the CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch glider is a wonder. We love it, but we understand that this is a bit of a niche product. Not everybody is going to want or need a glider rocker. If you’re a fan, you’re going to want one, and maybe two or more.

If you’re not, then you can get a standard bench seat made by the same company for less money, and that would be a better option for you. On that basis, we provisionally recommend it.

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Official Manufacturer Support

References & Resources

• A Brief History of Amish Furniture, Modern Bungalow.
• How to Make New Wood Look Old, The Spruce.
• How to Create a Weathered Wood Finish, Hunker.
• DIY No Sew Bench Cushion, Old House to New Home.
• Choosing the Most Durable Wood for Outdoor Furniture, Today’s Homeowner.