Wood dining chairs

A wood chair sets the temper of a dining room before anyone opens the menu. Here are 95 of them, every frame in wood, with seats in vinyl, fabric or plain wood. Settle one question first: does the room want a padded back for long dinners, or an open back that keeps the floor looking light between services?

Which back suits the room

Backs divide this page more than anything else. Twenty-seven chairs carry an upholstered back and 29 list a padded back, which is what a club dining room or a slow Saturday dinner tends to ask for. Sixteen curved backs come next. Vertical slats and square backs tie at nine apiece, slat backs reach seven, and bentwood frames make six. If you already know the shape, upholstered-back wood chairs and bentwood chairs each have a shorter page of their own.

Open backs let guests see the room. Padded ones frame the table instead.

Seats, arms and the width of a row

Most frames here take a choice of seat. Upholstery options are listed on 87 chairs, and the covers run to vinyl on 93, fabric on 81 and wood on 66. Vinyl wipes down between covers on a busy night. Fabric reads warmer under low evening light, and a wood seat suits a lunch room or a taproom where nobody lingers past the second round.

Arms appear on 24 chairs, and they belong at the head of a table, in a members' lounge or around a private room where dinner runs three hours; the full set lives under arm chairs. Widths vary more than people expect. One wood dining chair is listed at 22 1/2 inches wide, another wood dining chair at 16 inches. Across a long table for twelve, that difference decides whether the last two guests fit.

Rooms that stay put, and rooms that change

Only three chairs on this page stack. That makes wood a choice for a room whose layout holds from week to week, the main dining room or the club grill, rather than a function space that clears for a dance floor. For the room that resets, look at stacking chairs, or keep wood in the dining room and put metal chairs in the private hall next door.

Prices start around $44 and reach $306 for a single chair. Stain colors shift over the years, so when a furnished room needs more chairs years later, ask us for a fresh finish swatch and approve it before the order goes in. Give each room its own sheet in venue plans, and the dining room and the private room will each keep their own stain, seat and count.