In a Nutshell:
A great-looking, comfortable, capable power recliner you can get a decent night’s sleep in. Lifestyle Power Recliner is recommended for anyone 5’ to 6’ tall weighing 250 pounds or less.
Value for the Money
Comfort
Brand Reliability*
Aesthetic Flexibility**
Overall Rating
3.7/5
Benefits
Drawbacks
Recommended For: Anyone 5’ to 6’ tall weighing 250 pounds or less.
Are you in the market for a power recliner you can use as a sleeper? Are you in good enough health that you don’t require lift functionality? If you answered yes to both of those questions, then you’re going to be intrigued by what you discover this review.
Lifestyle isn’t one of the bigger, more established brands in the furniture industry. They’re general merchandisers, rather than specialists, so it’s important to understand that this isn’t a world-class chair constructed of premium materials. It’s built with lower-quality parts and not designed to last for the long term.
Even so, if your needs aren’t long term, the Lifestyle power recliner is a surprisingly good little chair that will serve you well. The design team got the basics right, and have offered the chair at an attractive price. We were fairly impressed, and we think you will be too.
In the sections that follow, we’ll tell you all about this chair, letting you know its core strength and the areas where it comes up a bit short. Let’s take a closer look at it, starting now:
An Overview of The Lifestyle Power Recliner
We’ll start with the obvious – this is a good-looking recliner that will blend in easily with most home décor schemes. It looks comfortable and inviting, and when you have a seat in it, you won’t be disappointed. Granted, it utilizes conventional block foam for padding, so it’s not next-level comfortable, but given the price of the chair, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Before we can move beyond simple matters of aesthetics, though, we’ll need to take a closer look at the core stats that define the model. Here are the basics:
This is a lightly built chair that doesn’t weigh a ton, but also, it doesn’t support a lot of user weight. It’s not an excessively large chair, and even better, it’s built with space-saving technology incorporated into the design, so you’ll only need about 4” – 6” of clearance between the seatback and whatever wall you set the chair near.
That’s good news for people who live in smaller homes or apartments, or for anyone for whom space is at a premium, but given the modest size of the chair and the limited amount of weight it can support, this chair is not going to be for everyone. If you’re taller than 6’ or weigh more than 250 pounds, you’re going to need a bigger, more robust recliner.
Assuming the height and weight limit issues aren’t a problem for you, you’ll find a lot to like in the design, and we’ll talk about the particulars in the next section.
Features of Lifestyle Recliner
Adjustability & Comfort
As we said in the last section, the Lifestyle Taupe leather recliner utilizes conventional block foam for padding. It’s comfortable, especially given its relatively modest price, but there’s a catch. Block foam tends not to hold its shape very well over time, so if your chair relies heavily on it for padding, and you plan on using it for several hours every day, you can expect that it will start breaking down after a couple of years of heavy use.
That fact underscores the biggest single limitation of this chair. It’s not built to last. All of its components are relatively low-quality. The motors are made in China, and the frame is lightweight wood, which is why it can’t support a ton of weight. This is a great chair for what it is, but it’s not a product you can buy today and plan to use for a decade. It’s simply not going to last that long.
Where adjustability is concerned, this is a power recliner, so the electric motors handle the recline function. It’s a standard three-point recliner, so you can choose “Sitting,” “TV,” or “Sleeping” positions. The motor is quiet, and the recline action is smooth, but you don’t have a ton of recline options on offer.
If you’re looking for something that offers an infinite number of recline positions and allows you fine-grained control over the recline angle, this isn’t the chair you’re looking for. It’s very good at what it does, but what it does is somewhat limited.
In any case, the company markets this chair as a “lay flat” model, but that’s overselling it. It lays mostly, but not completely flat. Again, that’s not a deal-breaker because if you’re looking for a recliner to sleep in, then odds are it’s because you find sleeping in your bed to be challenging, if not impossible, so laying perfectly flat wouldn’t do you much good anyway.
It’s a very good chair for people with conditions like sleep apnea though because you’re flat enough to be comfortable, but your head is elevated sufficiently that sleeping in the chair is not likely to trigger an attack while you’re sleeping.
Storage & Extras
Another potential limitation is the fact that this chair doesn’t come with built-in storage pockets. There’s nowhere to put your favorite books and magazines, or any supplies you may want to keep close at hand while you’re spending time in the chair.
That’s not a deal-breaker, but storage pockets are pretty easy additions, so we were a little surprised not to find one present here.
On the flip side, the Lifestyle recliner does have a USB port so you can keep your favorite device charged, which we can almost see as a viable replacement for the lack of a storage pocket; except of course that the storage pocket can be used to hold bottles of water and snacks. The USB port might replace the need for reading material storage, but you’ll definitely want a side table near this chair so you’ll have a place for your stuff!
One thing to note in this section, though is the lack of a battery backup system. If you’re in a reclined position and the power goes out, the chair is going to stay in that position until the power comes back on. If you suffer from a mobility issue, you may find yourself stuck in the chair until someone can come help get you out of it.
If you don’t have a mobility issue, you’ll still have to clamber out of the chair, which is a bit awkward, but more of an annoyance than anything.
Minimal Assembly Required
The Lifestyle power recliner doesn’t come assembled, but the assembly process is fairly straightforward. All you’ll have to do is attach the seatback to the rest of the chair and plug it in. From start to finish, it should take no more than fifteen to twenty minutes to get the chair ready for first use.
Unfortunately, this company does not offer White Glove service, so if you’d rather not put it together on your own, you’ll want to make sure you’ve got an assistant close at hand on the day the boxes arrive at your doorstep.
Pros & Cons of the Lifestyle Taupe Leather Recliner
As we said at the start, this isn’t a world-class product, but if you’re only looking for something to meet a short-term need, it’s a solid product that will serve you well. It is important, though, to be mindful of the chair’s limitations. In our view, here are the things you’ll like best (and least) about this model:
PROS
CONS
Final thoughts on Lifestyle Power Recliner
Overall, we feel that the pros outweigh the cons, making the Lifestyle Power Recliner an above-average product that falls short of greatness. Even so, before you commit to buying this model, you’ll want to make sure it’s a good fit for you, and be mindful of its limitations. We provisionally recommend the model.
References & Resources
- How to Replace the Old Foam in Your Recliner, SFGate.
- Positional Therapy for Snoring and Sleep Apnea, Verywell Health.
- Sleep tips: 6 steps to better sleep, Mayo Clinic.
- 10 Reasons Why Good Sleep Is Important, Healthline.