In a Nutshell:
The Flash Furniture Soft Suede Microfiber Rocker Recliner is a surprisingly good chair, offered by a small brand with a reputation for making good furniture. Recommended for anyone weighing 250 pounds and below.
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Aesthetic Flexibility**
Overall Rating
4.2/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone looking for a cozy rocker recliner and weighing 250 pounds below.
Are you a new or expectant mother looking for a good, comfortable rocker recliner for your nursery? Did you recently have some surgery that makes sleeping in your bed uncomfortable or impractical? Do you suffer from sleep apnea or a similar condition that makes it virtually impossible to sleep while lying flat on your back?
Suppose you answered yes to any of those questions or are in the market for a good rocker recliner for any other reason. You’ll be very interested in learning more about the Flash Furniture Contemporary Softsuede Microfiber Rocker Recliner.
Haven’t heard of Flash Furniture? We’d be somewhat surprised if you had. They’re one of the many smaller brands plying the waters of the American furniture market, but unlike so many of the others, Flash makes surprisingly and consistently good products. They’ve stolen top spots from much larger brands on several of our roundup reviews.
We’ll be quick to admit that their Contemporary Rocker Recliner isn’t for everyone – in fact, it’s somewhat narrow in its appeal, but it is a good value for the money, and for the right user, it could be perfect.
Are you the kind of user this chair was made for? By the end of this review, you’ll have all the information you need to answer that question! Let’s take a closer look at what this model offers and the areas where it falls short.
Flash Furniture Contemporary Softsuede Microfiber Rocker Recliner Overview
The Flash Furniture Contemporary Softsuede Microfiber Rocker Recliner is a big, comfy chair. That’s probably the first thing that will enter your mind when you see it for the first time. Unfortunately, looks can be a bit deceiving. While it’s true that a big chair will dominate pretty much any room you put it in, this model is quite lightly constructed and can’t support much user weight.
Chair Specifications
That statement is a good time to bring the model’s core stats to light, so here they are:
As you can see, it’s big but lightly constructed, as evidenced by its modest and maximum supported weight. In many ways, this chair is a lot like a long-haired cat.
It looks big at first glance, but once you start petting it, you realize it’s an average-sized cat with a lot of fur. The same thing is true here but with padding instead of fur. The extravagant padding makes the chair seem bigger than it is.
Given the narrow seat width and the modest weight limit, this chair will not work for a significant chunk of the market. As long as its measurements and yours are more or less in alignment, though, it’s a great choice.
Color Options
In addition to being a big, fluffy piece of furniture, it’s also reasonably attractive. Even better, it’s available in your choice of Fudge, Graphite, or Taupe “Softsuede” fabric. This fabric offers a luxurious seating experience and makes it easy to blend the chair into your existing home décor, whatever it might be.
Adjustability & Comfort
We ended the last section by briefly mentioning the “Softsuede” upholstery, so we’ll start this section by discussing comfort.
The upholstery is delightfully comfortable and is paired with generous amounts of block foam padding. Granted, block foam isn’t as comfortable as memory foam, but there’s quite a lot of it, and you’ll find the chair incredibly relaxing to curl up in, whether you’re taking a breather to watch some TV, have a quick nap, or recline the chair fully to enjoy a decent night’s sleep.
Rock and Recline Functions
As the chair’s name indicates, it is both a rocker and a recliner, but both have some limitations.
While it is possible to find recliners that rock while reclining, this isn’t one of those models. Further, it’s not possible to recline the seatback without raising the footrest. The Flash Furniture Soft Suede Microfiber Rocker Recliner does offer the standard trio of reclining positions, and although it doesn’t recline to a “lay flat” position, it manages to get about 80% there.
Honestly, laying completely flat is, at least in many cases, unnecessary anyway. If you’re looking for a recliner to spend a whole night in, the odds are that you struggle to get a good night’s sleep while lying flat on your back in bed anyway. In that case, lying flat on your back in your trusty recliner wouldn’t help much. The bottom line is that the chair reclines far enough back and is well-padded enough to sleep comfortably through the night if needed.
Other than the aforementioned trio of reclining positions, there’s nothing else to report on adjustability-wise. As a manual recliner, it offers exactly what you’d expect it to.
Storage & Extras
As you might expect, given that this is a basic, manual recliner offered for a song by a smaller brand, there are no extras here. Unfortunately, there’s no storage, and we’re unsure we “get” why.
Storage pockets are easy. A bit of extra material and some stitching, and you’re done. And they’re high-value additions to any chair. Who doesn’t love a convenient storage pocket, after all? Sadly, this model doesn’t offer onboard storage either.
It’s a small thing and certainly not a deal-breaker, but especially since part of the target market for this chair is new and expectant mothers who might want this chair in their nurseries, it seems to us that a handy pocket to keep baby supplies would have been a simple addition that would be tremendously appreciated.
Minimal Assembly Required
The Flash Furniture Contemporary Rocker Recliner will arrive at your door in a giant box and in two pieces. Assembly amounts to simply attaching the seatback to the rest of the chair. That’s all there is to it. It will probably take you longer to wrestle the chair out of the box than it will be to put it together, although if you suffer from some mobility issue, even those steps might be daunting.
Unfortunately, this chair is not sold with a White Glove option, so if you don’t want to mess with the assembly process, be sure to have an assistant on standby when the chair arrives!
Pros & Cons of the Flash Furniture Contemporary Softsuede Microfiber Rocker Recliner
As we said at the very beginning, this is a good chair for the money, but it has its share of drawbacks. The major one is that it’s too small and too lightly constructed to appeal to broad swaths of the market.
It’s also a fairly large piece of furniture despite its lightweight, and it’s not built with space-saving technology. If you want to recline fully in it, you’ll need to be sure to place it at least 20” from whatever wall you set it near. That could be problematic for people who don’t have a lot of space to work with.
Assuming you have room, though, and if you can fit into the chair’s relatively narrow seat, and if you don’t exceed its modest maximum supported weight limit, you really will find a lot to like here.
It’s a delight to sit in, and it’s got enough padding and reclines far enough back to make it an excellent recliner for napping or even sleeping through the night. It’s also an excellent rocker, making it a great choice for new or expectant mothers, and it’s got an incredibly attractive price.
Overall, despite its narrow focus, we feel that the pros of this model handily outweigh the cons.
Flash Furniture Soft Suede Microfiber Rocker Recliner – Final Thoughts
This chair is almost entirely self-selecting. If you have the space for it, and if the chair’s measurements are a good fit for your measurements, the Flash Furniture Contemporary Softsuede Microfiber Rocker Recliner is a great, budget-priced recliner that will serve you very well indeed.
If space is at a premium at your house, and if you’re too big for the chair, you’ll rightly give it a pass without thinking twice. Based on that, we provisionally recommend this model. Flash is a good company; if this chair is a good fit for you personally, it’s a great option.
Recommended Reading
Catnapper Cloud 12 Rocker Recliner Review
Our evaluation focuses on the Catnapper Cloud 12 Rocker Recliner, a superb choice for those with ample space.
ProLounger Wall Hugger Recliner Review
Our assessment focuses on the Prolounger Wall Hugger Recliner, an off-brand lounger with surprising value.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES:
- Flash Furniture, Official Brand Website.
- Recliner Height Guide, Hunker.
- 5 Tips on Cleaning a Suede Sofa, The Happy House Cleaning.
- This One Sleep Position May Be Destroying Your Health, Medium.
- How to Assess the Correct Size of Your Chair, Goodwood Mobility.