In the world of recliners, you can break the chairs on the market today into three broad categories:
About Seatcraft Brand
Seatcraft is simply in a class by itself. Not only are their products amazing, but each model we’ll talk about in this review can be customized with your choice of high-value accessories, allowing you to personalize your recliner in ways that no other brand in the business today can match.
Seatcraft got their start in 1978, in the state of California. When they first opened their doors, they specialized in automotive seating with a focus on bench seats for luxury vans. Many years later, they expanded into custom RV seating and RV furniture, and in 2001, the company expanded into the market of luxury recliners designed as home theater seating.
Their recliners can be purchased individually, or in theater seating rows if you want to accommodate more guests in your home theater.
Although the company makes sectionals, home theater sofas and loveseats, and a few other, related products, for the purpose of this review, we’ll focus exclusively on the company’s line of individual recliners. For the rest, we refer you to either the company’s Amazon sales page or their actual website.
Seatcraft Recliners
We’ll be quick to point out that these chairs are not going to be for everyone. They’re expensive, highly custom pieces of furniture built with top-end materials and optimized for home entertainment. Even better, Seatcraft offers several accessories that allow you to extend the capabilities of whatever chair you choose to buy that no other company in business today can match.
If you’re looking for a recliner that’s built to last and crafted from the finest quality materials to give your living or entertainment room a look of distinction, these chairs are for you. They’re a little outside the mainstream and are guaranteed to enhance the aesthetic of any room you decide to put them in.
Is your interest piqued? If so, keep reading, and we’ll walk you through the individual recliners the company offers so you’ll have all the information you need to decide which model is the best fit for you.
General Product Notes
We decided not to list too many of each model’s particulars in the summary tables because as we said at the start, the company allows you an enormous amount of freedom and flexibility where customization is concerned. If you want the Seatcraft Recliner Sofa of your choice clad in some different type of upholstery, you can have that. If you want to add one or more accessories, you can have that too. The sky really is the limit where these chairs are concerned.
Upholstery
We’ll cover the accessories options separately, but where upholstery is concerned, Seatcraft offers the following options:
3600 Leather
This is a leather/PU hybrid material. As such, it’s slightly better than PU but not as good as top-grain leather. We’d put it more or less on par with bonded leather (below). As such, we can’t say we’d recommend upholstering your pricey, top-end recliner in the stuff, but the company offers it as an option, so we wanted to give it a quick mention here.
If you select this option, you can choose either black or brown 3600 leather to upholstery the recliner of your choice.
Bonded Leather
While bonded leather is genuine leather, it’s made by fusing leather scraps together. As such, it offers a low-cost alternative to leather, but it lacks strength, suppleness, and durability. Bonded leather holds up better than PU, but if you have pets, you can expect it to last about 90 seconds.
Given the price of the Seatcraft Power recliners, we wouldn’t recommend upholstering it with a relatively low-end upholstery option like bonded leather, but if you take agonizing care of it and if you don’t have pets, you can make it work. The company offers bonded leather in either black or brown.
Polyurethane (PU) Leather
In our view, this is the weakest of the upholstery options the company offers. We can’t even fathom buying a deluxe recliner like the ones Seatcraft offers, then upholstering it in something as fragile as PU.
Compared to the other options, it just doesn’t stand up nearly as well, and it will start showing its age much sooner than you’d hope. We’d personally give this option a pass, but since the company offers it, we wanted to include it for the sake of completeness. The company offers PU in either black or brown.
Top Grain Leather
Of the upholstery options, the company makes available, this is the first one we’d recommend. Top grain leather is a quality, durable, supple upholstery that gets better with age. It’s beautiful, but as with any type of leather upholstery, pets are the absolute death of it.
The company offers top grain leather upholstery in a modest selection of colors, which include:
Leather 7000
This is the company’s best leather option and the one we recommend. Given the price of these chairs, it just doesn’t make sense to skimp where upholstery is concerned, so if you have your heart set on leather upholstery, this is the option you want, although top grain leather is a worthy and somewhat lower cost viable alternative.
Not only does the company’s Leather 7000 option come in the widest range of colors, but this is the softest and most supple of the leather upholstery options available, hand-selected from the best hides, this option is the epitome of elegance and refinement. Here, your color options are:
Fabrics
In addition to the various leather and leatherette options the company offers, Seatcraft can also upholster the recliner of your choice in a variety of fabric options. Personally, we prefer the fabric-clad varieties because they’re more breathable and are vastly more pet-friendly.
Tastes and opinions will vary, of course, but in our view, fabric offers the best blend of value and durability and makes whatever Seatcraft Home Theater Seating you select much more suitable for spending extended periods in the chair. Contact the company directly for the full and most recent menu of fabric options and colors.
Some Assembly Required
Note that when you order one of these chairs, it will not arrive at your house fully assembled and ready to use. If it did, it almost certainly wouldn’t fit through your front door. Although it varies slightly from one model to the next, typically, your chair will arrive in three boxes. One for the chair base, another for the seatback, and a third, smaller box for the cables.
The assembly process takes mere minutes and requires no tools. The seatback simply snaps into position. Then, just plug the cables in, and you’re all set. Also, note that White Glove Service is not available, so you’ll need to go through these few steps yourself, or have an assistant on standby on the day the chair arrives at your door.
Design and Manufacture
All of Seatcraft’s products are designed in the US but manufactured in China and shipped here for sale. Don’t let the fact that the chairs are manufactured in China put you off. Remember, your iPhone is made there too.
The reality is that although there are tons of low-quality products made in China, their manufacturing quality at the top end of any market they’re in has really closed the gap with Western manufacturing, so a top-end Chinese chair is broadly comparable to a top-end chair made in Europe or the United States. Western quality is still somewhat higher, but the differences are disappearing rapidly. These are good products and very well made.
What is SoundShaker Technology?
Many of the recliners we’ll be talking about here in our Seatcraft Theater Seating review come with SoundShaker technology built into them. You’ll need a SoundShaker amplifier to use the technology, but if you have one as part of your audio array, then it will transmit low-frequency signals to the chair, which will cause the chair to vibrate in tandem with whatever is happening on the big screen.
When there’s an explosion on-screen, your chair will vibrate, immersing you more fully in the action. It’s a small, subtle detail that will take your movie viewing to the next level.
One Potential Drawback
These are power recliners that offer one-touch convenience, and many of the chairs offer multiple powered features with separate controls for the recline function, headrest adjustment, and lumbar support adjustment.
That’s fantastic as far as it goes, but there’s a catch. If the power fails, you can’t return the chair to its upright position, and unfortunately, none of these chairs offer a battery backup option, except for Seatcraft’s lift recliner. That leaves you having to clamber awkwardly out of your chair if the lights go out.
In our view, this is a minor but important oversight. Given the off the chart quality of these chairs, a battery backup option would have been a nice finishing touch and one we’d like to see on future model upgrades.
Before we get into the details of individual models though, let’s start this Seatcraft recliners review by taking a high altitude look at all the individually sold recliner models the company currently has available. Here they are:
Seatcraft Recliners – Part I
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4.5
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4.5
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4.3
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4.3
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4.2
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4.0
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3.8
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3.8
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4.5
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4.7
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4.0
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4.0
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4.3
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4.2
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4.5
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4.5
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5.0
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5.0
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5.0
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5.0
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45” x 40” x 42.5” (72” when fully reclined)
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43” x 38” x 40” (67.5” when fully reclined)
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45” x 41” x 41.5” (70” when fully reclined)
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43” x 39” x37.5” (63” when fully reclined)
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192 pounds
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174 pounds
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167 pounds
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191 pounds
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400 pounds
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300 pounds
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400 pounds
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300 pounds
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26.5”
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22”
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26”
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23.5”
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24”
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22”
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22”
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21”
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Hidden in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table, built-in SoundShaker technology.
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Hidden in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table, built-in SoundShaker technology.
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Hidden in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table.
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Hidden in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table, built-in SoundShaker technology.
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Pantheon Big and Tall Theater Recliner
The Pantheon offers dream-level comfort, adjustability, and convenience for big and tall users and those who just want more seat.
*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.
The Seatcraft Pantheon is an amazing, sturdy, versatile recliner. It boasts a reinforced wood frame that’s capable of supporting up to 400 pounds of user weight and features extra-wide armrests, making it the ideal choice for bigger, taller users.
Designed along conventional lines, it has a low-key, understated aesthetic that blends seamlessly into almost any room. It’s also a wall-hugger, which conveniently means that you only have to place it 5”-6” from whatever wall you decide to place it near for it to recline fully. That’s handy because as you saw in the product summary, this is a sizeable piece of furniture!
Unfortunately, while its impressive size makes it a great choice for big and tall users, it can also work against you. If you’re cramped for space or living in an apartment or smaller home, it may simply be too big to be a viable option.
If you decide it’s the right recliner for you, you’ll find a lot to like beyond its size and the level of comfort it offers.
Control
There are three control buttons located on the inner arm of the chair next to the USB charging port that control the recline function, the headrest adjustment, and the lumbar adjustment.
Each of these can be adjusted to your exact specifications and then when you’ve found your seating sweet spot, you can store those settings in the chair’s built-in memory with the touch of a button for one-touch convenience the next time you use the chair.
Comfort
It’s well-padded and comfortable no matter what type of upholstery you pair it with, but in its default configuration, it comes clad in grain leather, with all the pros and cons that come with that choice. If you buy from the Amazon site, you won’t have the full range of grain leather color options available though (brown or black only from the Amazon site).
Extras
The Pantheon comes with illuminated cup holders and ambient lighting beneath the footrest. Turning these on gives you a subtle, blue glowing light that helps you find your way to your seat if you have to get up mid-movie, so you won’t have to turn the overhead light to make your way back to your new favorite chair.
Seatcraft Equinox Leather Power Recliner
The Equinox is the smaller version of the Pantheon but can still support up to 350-pounds of weight.
The Seatcraft Equinox Leather Power Recliner is the slightly smaller cousin of the Pantheon, and in our view, is a slightly less capable chair. While it boasts all the same features and extras as the Pantheon, it’s more lightly constructed and doesn’t support nearly as much weight as its larger cousin.
Aesthetically, it’s honestly a rather unassuming recliner. Not ugly by any means, but there’s certainly nothing inspiring about its design, though, to its credit, it looks a bit more like what we’d imagine a home theater recliner looking.
If you went to a super deluxe movie theater, the chairs you might sit in would probably bear at least some resemblance to this model, which is, we imagine, where the inspiration for the design came from in the first place.
Comfort
It’s a delightfully comfortable chair though, equipped with cool gel foam which is a bit like memory foam, though not quite as comfortable.
The main benefit of cool gel foam is that it helps to mitigate the problem most leather upholstered furniture suffers from. Leather isn’t breathable, and the more time you spend in a leather chair, the hotter and sweatier you’re likely to get.
While the cool gel foam doesn’t help a bit with the breathability issue, it does help regulate the temperature of the Seatcraft Equinox Recliner, which means you’re less likely to notice the lack of breathability and can spend longer periods in the chair without sweating like you’re on vacation in South Florida.
Extras
Like the Pantheon, this chair comes with ambient lighting ringed around the two cup holders on the chair and tucked away beneath the footrest, and you can power these lights on or off as you desire. This chair was also built incorporating wall hugger technology and needed at least six inches of clearance to recline fully.
Controls
One thing we don’t especially like about this model, though, are the controls for the recline functions. Where the Pantheon featured three separate control switches, one for the recline feature, one for adjusting the lumbar support, and another for adjusting the headrest, all of the controls are built into a single omnidirectional switch on the Equinox.
Move the switch left or right for recline. Move the leftward edge of the switch up and down to adjust the lumbar, and move the rightward edge of the switch up and down to adjust the lumbar.
It’s honestly a cumbersome design, and in our view, it would have been much better to simply keep with the three separate switches we were introduced to in the Pantheon’s design. This feels like a step backward to us.
Accessories
In any case, all of Seatcraft’s accessories are compatible with this model, so if there aren’t enough goodies for you in the Seatcraft Equinox Home Theater Seating’s default configuration, you can certainly customize to your heart’s content. Oh, and before we forget, yes, the USB charging port is present on this model, just like it is on the Pantheon. Essentially, this is a smaller, lighter, slightly re-styled Pantheon, and we gave it a marginally lower score despite the presence of the cool gel foam.
In its stock configuration, the Equinox does boast slightly better upholstery as the company utilizes their Leather 7000 option here, and on Amazon, you’re limited to ordering yours in either black or red. If you want some other type of upholstery, or if you want access to the full-color selection, you’ll need to contact the company directly to arrange your purchase.
Seatcraft Julius Big and Tall Recliner
The Julius is another oversized offering for big and tall users but without lumbar support and built-in SoundShaker.
We feel that this is one of Seatcraft’s weaker models. It’s one of only two big and tall recliners they make, and it’s got a handsome look about it, but it’s not quite as feature-rich, and there’s one aspect of the chair’s design that we just don’t like at all.
Controls
Taking it from the top, the Seatcraft Julius Big & Tall chair is a power recliner and has a separate control switch for adjusting the headrest. Notably absent here though, is the adjustable lumbar support. In fact, it’s not just that there’s no means of adjusting it, there’s actually no lumbar support at all.
Worse, while the headrest looks attractive, when you press the adjustment button, it bows forward, pushing your head and neck down awkwardly. Sure, if you’re reclined back in the chair, this will have the effect of elevating your head, but it will do so on the edge of the headrest itself. It’s just a poor design.
You do get a memory function so you can lock in your preferred chair settings for one-touch recall convenience. But in practice, you’re not likely to adjust the headrest at all, which means the only thing you’ll be saving is your preferred recline angle.
About the only workaround we’ve found where the headrest is concerned is to invest in the neck pillow accessory the company sells, which is a bit of a disappointment.
Extras
In terms of extras on offer, the Julius offers the ambient lighting kit ringed ‘round the cup holders and tucked under the footrest, it’s got the USB charger, the tray table, and all the other goodies except for the built-in SoundShaker technology which was also left off.
Kudos to Seatcraft for leaving a feature off that not everyone will enjoy. That’s a good move in our view, but honestly, the company would have been better served to simply make a Pantheon variant without it than this model, which winds up feeling like the Pantheon’s poor cousin with a bad headrest design and no lumbar support.
We’d say here in our Seatcraft Julius review that it’s still a very good chair by any reckoning, it’s just not as versatile as the Pantheon and that’s a pity.
On the flip side, it’s slightly shorter than the Pantheon (and slightly smaller all around), and it only requires 5” of wall clearance to recline fully, so if you don’t plan on using the adjustable headrest anyway, and if you don’t have quite enough room for the Pantheon, this might be a good option.
But frankly, it’s just not as good a chair. We still recommend it, but only for users who, for whatever reason, don’t find the Pantheon to be a good fit.
Seatcraft Solstice Recliner
The Solstice has the same features as the Equinox, but it only needs 3" wall clearance to fully recline.
The Seatcraft Solstice Leather Power Recliner is significantly smaller than the Pantheon, measuring almost a foot shorter when fully reclined. It’s a good-looking recliner with an understated design that looks as though it was inspired by luxury seating found in the best and most exclusive commercial theaters.
Its smaller size, though, marks it as a chair best used by people 6’ tall or shorter. If you’re taller than that, you want one of Seatcraft’s bigger chairs.
Controls
Although it’s a little smaller when fully reclined, it features the full boat of standard features that Seatcraft’s best chairs have on offer. You’ll find a power recline feature, adjustable headrest feature, and a power adjusted lumbar feature, all controlled by the same switch.
We’d prefer to see these controls separated out as the company has done on some of their other models and the single switch control does take some getting used to. Once you’ve mastered it though, you’ll be able to make any adjustments you like without looking at the console on the inside of the chair arm. You’ll also find a USB charging port right next to the control switch.
Extras
The Seatcraft Solstice Recliner comes standard with the lighting package, which gives you accent lights around the rims of the built-in cup holders and an ambient light tucked away beneath the footrest, all controlled by a power button located inside one of the chair arms.
Upholstery
In its default configuration, this model comes with top-grain leather upholstery and is offered in your choice of brown, black or cream. If you want the full range of color options, you’ll need to venture to Seatcraft’s website.
Unfortunately, this chair suffers from the same basic problem where the headrest is concerned. When you adjust the headrest, it pivots forward on a hinge, pushing its way into the back of your head. It’s just a substandard design for what they’re trying to accomplish.
What would work better here, in our view, would be a massage chair airbag in the headrest. Activating the headrest adjustment portion of the control would begin to inflate the airbag, plumping it up until the desired adjustment was made. Reversing the action would cause the headrest airbag to deflate to its default position. Why this approach wasn’t used, we’re not sure, but on a premium chair like this, that would be more in line with our expectations.
In any case, we rate the headrest here in this Seatcraft Solstice review as the single biggest point of weakness in the overall design. It’s a good chair though, and the full range of Seatcraft accessories will work with it. If you’re going to get this one, our recommendation would be to definitely invest in the neck pillow accessory.
Seatcraft Recliners – Part II
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4.0
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4.7
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4.6
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4.7
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3.8
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5.0
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4.5
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4.3
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4.0
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4.5
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4.2
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4.8
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3.3
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4.3
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4.5
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4.5
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5.0
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5.0
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5.0
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5.0
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43” x 37” x 36” (69” when fully reclined)
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43” x 37” x 37” (67” when fully reclined)
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43” x 38.5” x 33” (69” when fully reclined)
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42” x 39” x 37” (68.5” when fully reclined)
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138 pounds
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145 pounds
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100 pounds
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119 pounds
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300 pounds
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300 pounds
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300 pounds
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300 pounds
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24”
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24”
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24”
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24”
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21.5”
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22”
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19”
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21”
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USB charging port, two cup holders (one in each arm), built-in SoundShaker technology.
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Hidden in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table, built-in SoundShaker technology.
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USB charging port, two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table.
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Two cup holders (one on each arm), tray table.
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Seatcraft Imperial
If you're a fan of the button back, you're probably going to want the Imperial in your home theatre, but note that it doesn't have all the bells and whistles like the others.
First and foremost, the Seatcraft Imperial is a niche product in an already small, exclusive market. It’s a beautiful recliner, no doubt, and the Old-World aesthetic is stately and refined, with its rounded back and tufted seatback that hearkens back to ages gone by, but that’s the problem.
In the real world, most households aren’t decorated like that, which means that this chair is simply going to clash with many household décor schemes. As such, most people are going to give it a pass.
If your home is decorated in a way that’s reminiscent of the Old World, this chair will fit right in. Otherwise, unless you’re dedicating yourself to creating an Old World/Victorian/Steampunk Themed Theater Room, it’s going to be difficult to make this chair work.
Aesthetics aside, compared to many of Seatcraft’s other designs, this one is decidedly bare-bones.
You won’t find adjustable headrest or lumbar support controls here, because they simply don’t exist. This model, like the others we’ve talked about so far, is a wall hugger though, and you’ll only need 5” of clearance between the seatback and whatever wall you set it near to fully recline.
Extras
Although this model features the cup holders and the ambient lighting kit, a lot of the other fun extras, including the hidden storage, are simply not included in this design although you can create a highly customized version of this chair with those elements by working directly with the company.
Upholstery & Finishing
All that to say, the main reason most people gravitate to this chair is the look and feel of it, and the Seatcraft Imperial offers a few lovely details and finishing touches that enhance its Old World aesthetic, including the fact that the cup holders are bronzed instead of being finished with a brushed stainless steel look, and the area surrounding the cup holders is set off from the rest of the chair by the presence of bronze nailhead accents.
In its default configuration, this chair comes upholstered in top grain leather and is offered on Amazon in either black or brown. If you want access to the full range of top grain leather color options, you’ll need to go to the Seatcraft website direct.
It’s a very good chair, but its minimal feature set compared to other Seatcraft models and its Old-World design mark it as a chair that’s targeted at a very narrow sliver of the market. If you happen to be in that sliver, you’re going to love it. If you’re not, you’re probably not going to give it a second glance.
Final Note: One thing we don’t especially like about this design is that there’s no pillowed area on the headrest. Worse, although you can buy the optional neck pillow accessory and it will fit on this chair, it looks decidedly out of place. It does solve the problem of head and neck support, but in our view, it’s a crude, if effective option for doing so.
Seatcraft Orleans Recliner
The Orleans recliner is a good value option if you're just looking to have all the basic features.
The Seatcraft Orleans Recliner is a delightfully low-cost option that has the basics covered. Although this model doesn’t offer power headrest or lumbar adjustability, it does feature a lovely pillowed headrest, unlike the Imperial, which makes it a delight to recline back in.
Manual Option
Of interest, the Orleans is one of just a handful of models currently offered by Seatcraft that has a manual recliner option.
If money’s tight, or if you’d simply rather forego the power recliner option, you can get this model in manual recliner configuration without sacrificing any of the fun extra features, making it one of our favorite designs and the one we judge to be the best overall value for the money.
Leather Gel Upholstery
Whatever option you choose, the contemporary design of the chair lends itself well to blending seamlessly with almost any home décor scheme. In its default configuration, the Orleans is upholstered in one of Seatcraft’s lesser upholstery options, “Leather Gel,” which is a hybrid of leather and PU. It’s more durable than PU, but not as good as grain leather and isn’t a pet-friendly upholstery option in the least.
It will stand up reasonably well to light to moderate use, but if you want something longer-lasting, you’ll definitely want to pay to upgrade the upholstery to either breathable fabric, top-grain leather, or the company’s premium leather offering, Leather 7000.
From the Amazon site, brown is the only color option offered. If you want to make upholstery or color changes, you’ll need to go directly to the Seatcraft website.
Note that even if you opt for the manual recliner option here, the Seatcraft Orleans Home Theater Seating still needs to be connected to a power supply to use the ambient lighting and USB charging features. The upshot is that in addition to saving yourself a bit of money if the lights go out while you’re sitting in the chair, you’ll be able to return the recliner to its upright seating position and get out without difficulty.
Also note that even if you select the manual recliner option, the chair is still compatible with all of the other fun accessories the company sells. This is a great little chair and offers tremendous value for the money!
Seatcraft Raleigh Theater Seating
The Raleigh is a purely manual recliner that offers a lot of good features. Recommended if you have limited space and budget.
The Seatcraft Raleigh Theater Seating is a purely manual recliner. There is no power option available here. That’s not a bad thing though; mostly, it comes down to what kind of chair you’re looking for. If you have your heart set on a power recliner, then this one won’t spend more than a second or two on your radar, but if you’re willing to consider a manual option, this one has a lot to offer.
Space-Saving Armrests
It does make a few sacrifices, though. Most notably, in a bid to create a chair with a smaller footprint, the Raleigh incorporates space-saving armrests, which makes it impossible to utilize built-in storage. The chair does offer a food and work tray, but there’s no storage compartment to put it in, so you’ll have to work out a place to put it when it’s not in use.
No SoundShaker
The Raleigh also takes a pass on SoundShaker technology, so if that’s a feature you’ve just got to play with, this isn’t the model you want. Also absent from this design is any sort of adjustability for the headrest and no lumbar support either.
A Few Extras
On the other hand, you will find the USB charging port, a pair of cupholders and the ambient lighting package present here, which gives the chair some genuine versatility, and of course, most of the other accessories work just fine with it (except that there’s no option to add built-in storage. It simply wouldn’t fit, given the design of the chair’s armrests).
Wall Hugger
The Raleigh has a delightful contemporary design that looks great in just about any environment. Even better, in keeping with the space-saving paradigm this model was designed around, it incorporates wall hugger technology into its design, which means you’ll only need 5” of clearance between the seatback and whatever wall you place the chair close to. That makes this chair a good choice for people who live in smaller homes or apartments, or anyone for whom space, in general, is at a premium.
Lightweight
It’s also a lightweight model, so if you decide you want to relocate the chair sometime after you purchase it, that’s something you can probably do on your own, and something easily accomplished if you have a trusty assistant standing by when you decide to relocate the chair to some other part of the room, or to a different part of the house.
Upholstery
If you’re looking for a good home theater quality recliner with a smallish footprint, and you don’t have a ton of cash to spend, this is a great option to consider. Unfortunately, the default configuration of the chair is upholstered in the company’s Gel Leather option, which is a mix of PU and Leather.
It’s more durable than PU, but that’s not really saying much. If you have pets or are looking for something that will stand the test of time better, you’ll definitely want to talk to a Seatcraft representative about upgrading the upholstery to either fabric (the most pet-friendly option), top-grain leather, or their premier Leather 7000 option.
If you order straight from the Amazon page, you’ll get your choice of brown or black, in the upholstery mentioned above.
Seatcraft Millenia Recliner
The Millenia recliner is a very simple, manual theatre recliner for people with limited space.
The Seatcraft Millenia Recliner is about as simple and bare-bones as it gets. It offers a sleek, contemporary design and a relatively small footprint. That, coupled with its wall hugger technology that only requires five inches of clearance between the seatback and the nearest wall to recline fully makes it another excellent option for people with limited space, whatever the reason.
Manual
This is also a manual only recliner from Seatcraft, which means it neatly sidesteps the issue that all of Seatcraft’s power recliners share: When the power goes out since none of the power options have a battery backup, you’ve got to struggle out of the chair as best you can. That’s obviously no issue with manual recliners.
A Few Extras
You do miss out on most of the things that set Seatcraft’s recliners apart though. The only cool features you get are the two cup holders and the food tray. Unfortunately, as with the Raleigh, there’s no onboard storage, so figuring out where to put the tray when you’re not using it will be a small hurdle to overcome.
Also absent from this design are adjustable headrest and adjustable lumbar features, although this chair does have lumbar support built-in – you just can’t tweak it like you can on many of Seatcraft’s more expensive models. Even so, this is one of the company’s more comfortable chairs, and certainly the most comfortable of its lower-priced options.
Compatible Accessories
The good news is, though that this design is basically a blank slate, all of the accessories can potentially be added to the chair. So although the base model is nothing flashy or showy, it offers you the perfect starting canvas and allows you to pick and choose the specific features you want to create the perfect home theater seating solution for you. We like that.
Gel Leather Upholstery
What we don’t like as much here in our Seatcraft Millenia review is that by default, this model is upholstered in the company’s Gel Leather upholstery option, and if you order from the Amazon page, you don’t have any color options. You get black, black, or black.
With this model, we’d recommend upgrading the upholstery to either fabric (if you have pets), or top grain leather or the company’s Leather 7000 option if you can afford it, then sit down and think seriously about what options you want to add so you can start configuring this chair to perfection.
Another approach would be this: Forget about upgrading the upholstery, focus on adding the fun extras you want and use the Gel Leather until it starts showing its age, then have the chair reupholstered with something designed to last in the long term. The chair is built on good quality bones and will last far longer than the upholstery, so this is a good approach if money’s tight right now, when you’re contemplating your purchase.
Seatcraft Recliners – Part III
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4.7
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4.5
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4.6
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4.8
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4.6
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4.4
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4.5
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4.2
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4.6
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4.4
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4.2
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4.4
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5.0
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5.0
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5.0
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43” x 37” x 37” (67” when fully reclined)
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43” x 40” x 38” (68” when fully reclined)
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83” x 62” (with Ottoman)
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134 pounds
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143 pounds
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164 pounds
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300 pounds
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300 pounds
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500 pounds
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24”
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25”
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52”
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22”
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21.5”
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60"
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Hidden, in-arm storage, USB charging port, two cup holders (one in each arm).
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Hidden, in-arm storage, tray table, USB charging port, 2 cup holders (one in each arm).
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2 cup holders, 2 accent pillows, 2 food/work trays.
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Seatcraft Sausalito Recliner
The Sausalito is a very basic, wall-hugging power recliner with in-arm storage.
The little Seatcraft Sausalito is another great budget option whose design was apparently borrowed from bits of other chairs the company sells. It’s an odd mashup of at least three different models from what we can see. We’re basically on board with that approach. After all, Seatcraft makes good chairs and has a number of good designs, so why not start combining the best features to make something new?
Upholstery
This one is a basic, wall-hugging power recliner that features contemporary styling that will blend well with most home décor schemes. Although again, in a bid to keep the price low, the company utilized their Gel Leather upholstery which they’re apparently quite fond of.
Unfortunately, we’re not so fond of it. It’s a decent low-cost option, but it’s not pet-friendly, and it doesn’t age well. Our thinking is: If you’re going to spend hundreds of dollars on a luxury recliner, then get the best upholstery you can afford. In most cases, that’s going to be something better than Gel Leather.
In any case, that’s what the stock chair comes in, and you can choose from either black or brown from Amazon’s sales links. If you want something else, or if you want Gel Leather in a different color, you’ll need to head directly to the Seatcraft website to get it.
Storage
In terms of the cool features many of the company’s high-end models come with, the Sausalito skips most of them. You’ll find the in-arm storage but no tray inside and cup holders but no ambient lighting kit. You’ll find a power recline button, but nothing in the way of adjustable lumbar or headrest controls, and that’s it.
Compatible Accessories
Fortunately, this chair is compatible with all of Seatcraft’s accessories, so again, this chair makes a great starting point, allowing you to customize to your heart’s content to get exactly the chair you want.
Seatcraft makes a couple of models like this that we consider to be essentially blank slates. They provide the basic ingredients to get you started and give you tremendous flexibility to customize from there.
Our recommendation, if you’re interested in this chair is to spend any extra money you’re willing to spend on accessories and live with the less than optimal upholstery until it starts showing its age. Then, pay to have it reupholstered with what you actually want.
The frame is rugged and durable and should last you quite a long while; the Leather Gel, not so much, but it offers a relatively inexpensive way to get one of Seatcraft’s exceptional products for relatively little money, then spend a bit more on the upholstery down the road. It’s a good model and offers solid value for the money.
Seatcraft Monterey Recliner
The Seatcraft Monterey Recliner is another great budget option that has most of the standard features of their high-end models.
The Seatcraft Monterey Recliner appears to be another “mashup design” that borrows features from at least three of the other models we’ve discussed to this point. The good news is that it’s got plenty of excellent chairs to draw from and offers a stylish modern design as a consequence.
The not so good news is that, for whatever reason, Seatcraft opted to use their epically bad headrest design on this chair. We’ve already complained about it at some length in other models that utilize it, so we won’t rehash it here, except to say if you’re going to spring for accessories, be sure you buy the neck pillow. You’ll probably need it!
Extras
Everything else about the chair is fine though. It offers most of the cool features the company offers as standard features on their high-end models, including the hidden storage, food and work tray, cup holders, USB charging port, and ambient light kit.
About the only thing you’re missing out on is the adjustable lumbar support and the SoundShaker tech. We can live without the latter, but the lumbar support is sorely missed and is a genuine weakness of the Seatcraft Monterey Home Theater Seating.
Upholstery
Thankfully, the chair is upholstered in something other than Leather Gel. This model features top grain leather, but unfortunately, if you order from the Amazon sales page, you’ll only be able to get this model in black. If you want something else, you’ll need to go to the Seatcraft website direct.
It’s a good model that has a lot to offer, but sans the adjustable lumbar support, this one’s not really optimized for heavy daily use. It’s fine for casual movie watching and sitting for a few hours at a stretch, but more than that, the leather upholstery is going to start making you hot and sweaty, and the lack of lumbar support will begin to take its toll.
Valentino Power Lift Recliner
Valentino Power Lift Recliner
Recommended For: People with mobility issues
The Seatcraft Valentino Lift Recliner is, at first glance, something of a surprise, given the chairs we’ve talked about before. But as we said at the start, Seatcraft has a long history of slowly and carefully expanding into new markets and the Valentino represents their first foray into the crowded Lift Recliner market.
On technical merits, it’s a good chair and built to the same exacting standards as their home theater chairs. Unfortunately, at least at this time, the Valentino is incompatible with Seatcraft’s home theater chair accessories, so this model is the exception in that regard.
Wall Hugger & Space Saving
It’s a power recliner with the same wall hugger technology that the other chairs we’ve discussed feature, so you’ll only need five inches of space between the seatback and whatever wall you place it near to recline the chair fully, which is handy. Even with that though, this chair might be a bit of a struggle to find a permanent home for if you have a smallish living room.
Infinite Position
It’s an infinite position power recliner with a wired remote for setting your preferred recline angle. We’re not sure why Seatcraft decided to skip the in-arm control panel that their theater seating chairs utilize unless they were simply playing it safe and following the conventions of the industry. We have to say though, this chair would have been well served by the in-arm controls.
We were also a bit disappointed that Seatcraft chose not to incorporate an adjustable headrest or adjustable lumbar into this chair. Had they done so, the Seatcraft Valentino Power Lift Recliner would have instantly become one of the most sought-after lift recliners in the business.
Instead, the company stuck to the basics, providing an infinite number of recline positions, smooth recline action and a powerful, quiet lift feature, courtesy of commercial-grade motors to control those functions.
Extras
We were also pleased to see the presence of a simple but effective battery backup system on this chair, in addition to the spacious side pocket for storing magazines, bottles of water, snacks or other supplies you might want to keep close at hand if you’re spending lots of time in your chair.
The battery backup is actually something we wish Seatcraft would import from here into its theater seating line. Since most of those chairs are power recliners, having a battery backup system as an optional add-on would be a good thing. Otherwise, if the power fails, you’re left having to flail about and try to claw yourself out of your seat.
In any case, as we said, on technical merits, the Valentino is perfectly fine.Given Seatcraft’s dedication to quality, even without the bells and whistles the company could have easily added, it’s one of the better lift chairs on the market today, but we do hope the company will include more of their standard features on this model in future updates.
As it stands, you certainly won’t be disappointed!
Gel Foam
One thing the company did include in their design was the cool gel foam that was used to good effect in a couple of the home theater models.
It’s a superb addition here because people who are interested in lift chairs usually have mobility issues, which means they tend to spend extended periods in their chairs.
Unfortunately, spending several hours at a stretch in a leather-clad chair (which this one is) will make you hot and sweaty because leather just isn’t breathable.
While the cool gel foam doesn’t magically improve the breathability of the upholstery, it does help combat the issue of slowly increasing heat, and every little thing that can be done to help with that problem is a plus. Kudos to Seatcraft for the inclusion.
Service & Support
The final thing worth mentioning here is Seatcraft’s reputation for service and support. They got their start making custom auto seating and any time you’re in the business of custom anything, there’s a lot of handholding involved, with Seatcraft has gotten very good at in the decades they’ve been in the business.
Since many lift chair users are older or have special needs, that hand-holding and personal attention is a very good thing, and it makes this chair highly recommended.
Seatcraft Swivel Cuddle Couch
Recommended For: Anyone looking for a more eclectic piece of furniture to serve as a centerpiece for your home theater setup.
This is one of the reasons we’ve fallen in love with the Seatcraft brand. This quirky piece of furniture defies easy categorization. Its fun shape and neutral color make it easy to blend in with your existing home décor scheme while providing an eye-catching centerpiece to whatever room you put it in.
Extras and Accessories
Best of all, just like the home theater recliners we’ve been talking about, this chair/sofa/bed hybrid comes with cup holders and is compatible with Seatcraft’s complete line of accessories.
Not everyone is going to want one, obviously, and not everyone is going to have a space for something like this, but if your tastes run to the more eclectic and you’re looking for a fantastic piece of furniture to serve as a centerpiece for your home theater setup, you’ll be hard-pressed to find something more interesting, comfortable and inviting than the Seatcraft Swivel Cuddle chair.
In its default configuration, you can select from either the fabric-clad variant or a bonded leather variant. It’s got an optional matching ottoman, two stainless steel cup holders, two tray tables and a pair of accent pillows.
Size
There’s plenty of room on the cuddle couch for two adults or three kids which makes it an ideal piece of furniture to spend a romantic evening on, or if you’re letting the kids have run of the theater room on a given night, up to three children can easily fit.
Swivel
It offers a 360-degree swivel and is delightfully comfortable. With the ottoman included, you’ve got plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy a nap, or cuddle up with your special someone under a fuzzy blanket and take in a movie.
Note that Seatcraft makes a swivel recliner along these same lines called the Cuddle Chair, which Amazon does sell.
Before We End This Section…
We said at the start that Seatcraft makes a lot more than recliners. They have an incredibly broad range of sofas, loveseats, sectionals, chaise lounges, and the like. All of them are designed along the same lines as the home theater recliners we’ve been looking at. Although those are beyond the scope of this brand review, we may, at some point, do another Seatcraft review that focuses specifically on those types of furniture.
Until then, here’s a quick overview of what you can expect when you explore the company’s Amazon Brand page or their website.
Seatcraft Hawke Home Theater Seating Sofa
The magnificent fabric-clad Seatcraft Hawke sofa is every bit the equal of the recliners we’ve been looking at.
Measuring 86” wide, 41” tall and 39” deep (63” when fully reclined), the magnificent fabric-clad Seatcraft Hawke sofa is every bit the equal of the recliners we’ve been looking at.
Console
There’s plenty of room for two adults, and best of all, the space between where the seats features an expansive console that has a wireless charging pad, USB charging ports, a pair of stainless steel cup holders, and even a power outlet that allows you to plug your laptop in as you curl up with your special someone.
When the hatch is opened on the console, you’ll find a pair of soft LED lights that can be turned on for a bit of unobtrusive, non-distracting light if the need arises.
Loveseat
The Seatcraft Hawke Home Theater Seating also includes a loveseat, which has slightly smaller dimensions and a smaller center console for food, drink, and supplies. Both the sofa and the loveseat are compatible with all of Seatcraft’s accessories, so you can customize these pieces of furniture to your heart’s content.
Again, we don’t want to spend too much time on these, but we did want to give you a small taste of what you can expect when you begin to explore the options on the brand page or on Seatcraft’s website itself.
Whatever your tastes or preferences, and however simple or elaborate you envision your home theater and entertainment room as being, you’ll find the perfect piece of furniture somewhere on Seatcraft’s site!
Let’s Talk About Accessories!
To access the company’s accessories selection directly, click here.
While each of the models above comes with a standard configuration of options and extras, you can, at your preference, order something custom. If that’s the route you want to go, you’ll find a wide range of high-value options available. We’ll go over them in brief in this section:
Accessories Pod
This is the first, necessary accessory. You’ll need it if you want to add any of the hot-swappable modules like the Wine Caddy or the Tablet Holder. It slides right into the cup holder on Seatcraft chairs and is essential for attaching many of the other accessories.
It has a low profile, which makes it relatively unobtrusive and if you don’t need it, it’s easily stored in the onboard storage that most of the chairs offer. If you don’t plan on using the cupholder though, it’s easy enough to simply leave it where it is. With its stainless-steel finish, it certainly won’t detract from the aesthetic of your chair, even if you don’t have an attachment affixed to it.
Lighted Cup Holder
This is a fun addition, and it, like the ambient lighting under the footrest of some of the chairs, really adds a genuine theater feel to both the chair and the room it’s in. It provides low ambient blue lighting that helps make it easier for you to find your seat in the dark if you have to get up mid-movie.
It features a stainless-steel accent ring, a low-profile power switch and is easy to remove and clean. It’s a small detail, but depending on the aesthetic of your “theater room” it could be just the finishing touch you’re looking for.
Universal Neck Pillow
While most of Seatcraft’s chairs offer good head and neck support, this optional accessory takes it to the next level. It fits all of the chairs that Seatcraft sells, securely drapes into place, is easy to adjust and provides an added layer of comfort for your neck, making it even more delightful to recline back, get comfy and enjoy your favorite movie.
Tablet Holder
This sleek arm features a stainless-steel finish and is highly adjustable, allowing it to work with almost any tablet, and the arm itself features an elbow joint and full 360-degree rotation, allowing you to use it in a variety of different ways, adding versatility to your already highly versatile chair!
Also note that the company sells a miniaturized version of this accessory specifically for holding smartphones.
*Note: Accessories Pod required.
Wine Glass Caddy
Not something that everyone will need, but we love that the option is available. This sturdy wine glass caddy features a stainless-steel finish, full 360-degree rotation, a sturdy base and a no-spill hook that reduces the chances of accidents to nearly zero. It makes a superb, elegant addition to any of the chairs Seatcraft sells. Note – Accessories Pod required!
LED Reading Light
With a sturdy, attractive base featuring a stainless steel finish and a fully articulated stem, this handy reading light can be positioned anywhere you want or need it, making it a great addition for those times when you’re not watching movies on the big screen. After all, Seatcraft’s chairs are so delightfully comfortable, you’ll want to use yours all the time, and this handy accessory gives you even more options on that front.
The LED light is quite powerful, easily providing enough light for reading while in your chair, and doing so in an unobtrusive manner that won’t interfere with your guests if they’re watching a movie or doing something else next to you.
*Note: Accessories Pod required.
Cigar Host
If you’re a cigar aficionado yourself, or if you live with one or regularly host someone who is, this is the perfect accessory for you. Featuring a sturdy base with an aluminum billet finish, this cigar host is both handy and handsome. The perfect accent feature for the chair of your choice, and a great way to transform your home theater room into a cigar lounge as the mood strikes.
Refreshment Console
This is the most deluxe accessory the company currently has available, and it takes your home theater seating to the next level by turning it into a full-fledged bar as well!
The back section of the console boasts sufficient storage space to hold glasses or bottles upright, and the in-arm storage compartment has plenty of room for ice as well, which will help keep your favorite beverages ice cold and ready for consumption.
The refreshment console features lighted cup holders and a framed accent that wraps around the entire wedge.
Wireless Charging Table
This could be considered an upgrade to the standard food and work table that comes with many Seatcraft’s home theater models. The wireless charging table is exactly what it sounds like. Place your smart device of choice anywhere on the surface of the table, and it will begin to recharge. It’s a super nice touch on chairs that are already delightfully high-tech!
Pros & Cons of Seatcraft Recliner Sofa
There’s a lot we like about the Seatcraft brand in general. It’s a great concept, and in general, they execute that concept very well.
A couple of the models utilize an almost spectacularly bad headrest design in our view, and if we could get one wish granted, it would be that all of their chairs with an adjustable headrest utilize the headrest found on the Pantheon or Equinox chairs.
Just behind that one, we’d like to see all of their chairs utilize the cool gel foam for padding since they seem to be completely enamored with leather/PU upholstery. This wouldn’t get completely around the breathability issue, but it would help across the board.
Those are the only two things we regard as major complaints. While there are a few additional nits here and there, if the company made the two changes described above, we feel it would strengthen the entire brand.
Not that the brand is in bad shape as it is. They’re one of the most interesting and innovative companies doing business in the recliner industry today, and their products are exceptional. No company is perfect, however, and we do feel that the stuff we mentioned above represents genuine points of weakness in their designs.
Seatcraft Recliners Review Conclusion
As we said at the start, Seatcraft’s chairs aren’t going to be for everyone. They’re designed for people who are specifically interested in turning a room in their home into a dedicated home theater or entertainment suite. Every chair the company sells is a cut above. The production quality is amazing, and the top-end upholstery options are out of this world.
All of these chairs are highly customizable, and the company offers a dazzling array of options and accessories that allow you to extend the capabilities of the chair of your choice in a variety of interesting ways.
Best of all, even though these are luxury recliners, the company does make a few models that are priced within a range that mere mortals can afford, which makes them much more accessible and attainable than you might think.
Seatcraft is a next-level company that makes world-class custom seating. Their recliners (and the other types of furniture the company sells) are simply beyond compare. We highly recommend the entire Seatcraft line. Their products are superb, and you won’t be disappointed.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
- Seatcraft Solstice Recliner User Manual.
- Pantheon Big and Tall Theater Recliner User Manual.
- Seatcraft Equinox Leather Power Recliner User Manual.
- Seatcraft, Official Brand Website.
- Types of Recliners, SFGate.
- How to Reupholster a Chair, BHG.com.
- Types of Home Theater Seating, Preferred Seating.