An upholstered dining chair gets used differently from any other seat in the house. It is pulled out and pushed in several times a day, it sits close to food and drink, and at a long dinner it carries you for two or three hours. That is why the choices that matter most are practical ones: whether the chair has arms, what it is covered in, and how it relates to the table it stands at.
This guide walks through those three decisions as they apply to the upholstered chairs in our dining chair collection. Exact sizes and ergonomics are a separate topic; here the focus is on making the right combination.
Upholstered or open: what padding changes
A fully upholstered chair, with a padded seat and a padded back, is the more comfortable choice for long meals. The back supports you when you lean back between courses, and the covered frame softens the look of a room with a lot of hard surfaces: stone floors, a marble or lacquered table top, glass.
A chair with only a padded seat and an open or wooden back looks lighter and suits smaller rooms, where eight fully upholstered backs around a table can feel heavy. As a rule of thumb:
- Daily family dining and long dinners: padded seat and padded back.
- Kitchen tables and breakfast corners: padded seat, lighter back.
- Rooms with many hard finishes: more upholstery helps the room feel quieter and warmer.
With or without arms
Arms make a dining chair feel closer to a lounge seat. You can rest your elbows, sit back after the meal and get up more easily, which many older guests find helpful. The trade-off is space and fit.
Check the table first
The arms have to slide under the table top, or at least sit level with it, when the chair is pushed in. A common table height is about 75 cm; what matters is the clearance under the top or under the apron (the frame rail below the top). If the arms are higher than that clearance, the chair will always stand a hand's width away from the table.
Allow more width
A typical guideline is around 60 cm of table edge per armless chair and 65–70 cm per chair with arms. On a 220 cm rectangular table that can mean eight armless chairs or six with arms.
Mixing both
A common and practical solution is armless chairs along the long sides and two chairs with arms at the ends. The table keeps its seating capacity and the ends get a clear emphasis. If the two models come in the same leather or fabric, the set still reads as one group.
Leather or fabric at the dining table
Both work well; the question is how the room is used. Sitdesign upholsters in genuine leather only, with 76 leather colours in 12 colour families and Italian leathers as our top leather group. Fabric upholstery is also possible, and we accept customer's own material (COM) if you want the chairs to match curtains or other upholstery in the house.
Leather
- Spills and crumbs wipe off; a damp cloth is usually enough if you act quickly.
- A leather with a protective finish copes better with oil and sauce than a natural, unfinished one, which marks more easily but develops a softer patina.
- Leather shows the occasional scratch from belts or rings; in mid and darker tones this is far less visible.
Fabric
- Feels warmer at first touch, which some people prefer in cooler rooms.
- Tight, smooth weaves are easier to keep clean around a table than loose, looped or deep-pile textures.
- Mid tones and small patterns hide everyday marks better than very light plain colours.
If you are weighing the two for the living room as well, our article on leather vs fabric for a sofa set covers the differences in more depth.
Matching chairs to the table
The chair and the table do not have to come from the same series, but they should agree on a few points:
- Shape: round and oval tops sit well with curved or rounded backs; long rectangular tables take straighter, more upright backs.
- Visual weight: a heavy pedestal or thick stone top can carry a fully upholstered chair; a slim table with fine legs looks better with a lighter chair.
- Legs and base: repeat one element, such as the wood tone or the metal finish, rather than matching everything.
- Colour: pick the upholstery after the table top and the floor; it should either connect to them or contrast clearly, not sit halfway.
Some pairings come naturally from a shared design line. The Myra dining chair, for example, is shown in the cover photo alongside a table outdoors, and it has a matching table in the Myra line. A model such as the Bellini dining chair can be combined with different tops from our dining table collection, depending on the room.
Making the chairs fit your room
Every chair is made in our own factory in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul, so the upholstery choice, leather or fabric, is made per order. Custom dimensions are available on request, for instance a slightly lower or wider chair when it has to pass under an existing table. Bring the table height and the clearance under the top to the conversation; those two numbers decide most of the details.
If you would like to see the leathers in person, we send leather samples on request. Contact us with your table size and the number of chairs, and we will prepare samples and a quote.
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