Solid wood furniture is more than just a design choice—it’s an investment in quality, durability, and craftsmanship. Whether you’re furnishing a new home or searching for a statement piece, solid wood furniture offers long-lasting beauty and functionality that mass-produced alternatives simply can’t match.
Did you recently move into a new house and it needs furnishing? Maybe you are looking for a statement piece to complete a room. There are a lot of options out there, and that might feel overwhelming. This is why you should always do a little bit of research before you start shopping. A lot of companies now sell “fast-furniture”, which is composed of flat pack, MDF or particleboard designs. In this case, fast isn’t best. These pieces are great for a quick fix or when you are not ready to invest in high quality pieces, but they aren’t made to go far. Solid wood furniture will give you the design, functionality, and durability to be well worth your dollar.
Here are 5 reasons you should be considering solid wood furniture as your next purchase.
1. The furniture will last a lifetime, maybe even generations
Real wood will outlive any wood composite. Solid wood furniture is known to last at least 15-20 years – and many families have been able to take great care of them and pass them to multiple generations. Solid wood is easy to repair if it gets damaged, a little sanding and some refinishing is all it takes. Even if that’s not something you feel comfortable doing yourself, there are plenty of craftsmen out there that will gladly restore furniture.
You buy solid wood furniture when you’re ready for an investment piece. The price tag might be higher, but you’re paying for something that you can use for your whole lifetime or pass down.
Let’s compare this to the fast furniture you can buy from most box stores – you will be lucky if it’s still in decent shape after 5-10 years. MDF and particleboard are made quickly and sell quickly. It’s not designed to pass on to your children. Damage to these faux woods will remain permanent because of how it is constructed. These composites are highly compressed with resin to form an outer seal, creating a surface that “looks like wood” but cannot be repaired with sanding. It just eats away at the coating and leaves you with a rough mess.
2. Each piece can be customized to your liking
Big box stores are limited in their options and you still might pay more for a piece you don’t love. You buy what they have. When working a team of American furniture experts (like Steiner’s Amish Furniture) you can customize:
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Dimensions
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Choice of wood species
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Stain and finish options
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Hardware and fabric selection
The best part is that you can makes these kinds of changes on every single piece. By creating a custom piece of furniture you are guaranteed to have a one of a kind piece that fits with your style and home.
If you’d like to get more familiar with the options we have at Steiner’s Amish furniture, we have plenty of things to explore. If you’d like some ideas of what furniture we typically have available for order, check out our Design Center. If you already have a design in mind and want help bringing it to life, we encourage you to explore our custom furniture program.
3. Real wood is naturally beautiful
Some of the beauty just comes from the craftsmanship. We’ve been so pleased with the time and effort our builders put into each solid wood piece they make. The lines are clean, smooth, and every detail is done with purpose. Their design are made to complement the natural structure of the wood.
As such, the handcrafted design and customization, solid wood furniture easily gets attention in any home. There is unique grain variation with each piece. No matter what finish or wood type you choose, you’ll be able to see the quality immediately. Our Amish partners across the US like to build furniture from American hardwoods like oak, brown maple, cherry, hickory, quarter-sawn white oak, and more. These are solid grains that offer their own unique looks, but all have the same allure.
4. Real wood increases the value of your home
We’re not just taking about selling your home, it increases the value for you as the current owner as well. When you take the time and effort to put together a home with pieces you love, you’re going to be proud of the furniture and your home as a whole. You’ll enjoy your living space in a new way.
Of course, if you ask any realtor, they’ll tell you that having solid wood furniture helps your resell value, too. Since these pieces are considered an investment, people view these as a commitment to quality. It shows you have cared for your home and the things in it. As long as you maintain your furniture, a home tastefully decorated with solid wood furniture might positively sway a buyer’s opinion on the home.
5. Solid wood furniture makers focus on environmentally friendly options
Due to our current landfill situation, the less we can throw into them, the better. Not only does the sourcing of solid wood more environmentally friendly, it’s longer lifespan results in less waste. Plus, many wood furniture builders use as much of their materials as they can to avoid throwing valuable material away. Who knows what kind of waste practices most MDF factories have and if an MDF table is damaged, you will likely have to throw it since it can’t easily be repaired.
Another problem with the manufacturing of MDF is off-gassing. The wood particles and a mix of resins and glues are fused together under high heat and pressure. So, off-gassing occurs after the material has been created and the glues release chemical particles into the air. This can continue to happen even when the product is in your home. Meanwhile, solid wood furniture is made using joinery techniques and not cheap glues or fasteners.
How our builders are careful about our forests
Trees do have to be cut down in order to make solid wood furniture, but our builders are committed to keeping our forests healthy. The Amish prefer the beauty of nature, they like to hunt, fish, and they understand all things are done in moderation. So, they’re going to do what they can to make sure nature can keep thriving, even in their business practices. Much of that’s through selectively cutting in their own forests or working with trustworthy loggers who practice selective logging and healthy forest restoration. All of our partners are proudly American and use only locally sourced wood in all their products.
Ready to invest in solid wood furniture?
At Steiner’s, we understand the long-term value of solid wood furniture, and want to help you find the pieces that will be most valuable to you.
If you’re ready to invest in custom solid wood furniture built to last for generations, contact our team today, or stop in at our Sun City or Tempe showrooms. We’d love to help you design a one-of-a-kind piece perfectly suited to your home and lifestyle.