Furniture and Furnishings - Ethan Allen Furniture advice or other?

hello

we are in indiana and want to buy good quality furniture for our new house.

we have looked at a few stores in the area and have found a few we are interested in (couches). one if from king hickory and the other is ethan allen.

our question is: ethan allen is much more than king hickory, who manufactures ethan allen furniture and can we get it more cheaply online or some other way?

do you have any opinion on ethan allen vs. king hickory(or any other brand)?

thanks

Hello Indiana,
I guess by way of Massachusetts?
Heh Heh...your location still says Mass
;)

Anyway, I can comment on half your question
Ethan Allen branded furniture, though it may come from different suppliers, is only sold at Ethan Allen stores
Their quality and service is excellent
But they don't want to "water-down" their quality image but allowing discounters to carry their furniture
(I'm sure you've seen some perpectually going out of business and fly by night discounters out there, and perhaps can see their point)

If I were buying an E/A sofa, it's one of the few brands I wouldn't have to flip it over in the showroom to check out the frame quality before I bought it
(Berkline and Flexsteel are others)

But then, If I were buying an E/A sofa I would have to really like it, as they are not cheap

I don't know about King Hickory

Perhaps you should ask the salespersons in both stores to flip them over and tell you about the frames and such
Just remember plywood frames are sronger than "hardwood" frames
Though "hardwood" sounds better, it's more likely to crack and warp
(if King Hickory uses actual hickory that would be good though, a little rare, but good)
Check out the seat springs, coils or straps
And see how the wood frame parts are attached to each other, glue, glue & staples, any other reinforcements
And try and compare the two

thanks for the info. we moved to indy 6 months ago. i will update my info.

the thing that makes E.A. tough is the cost and they aren't willing to haggle. I don't like to buy stuff without at least being able to get some sort of discount. I feel like I am getting ripped off.

Lol, it's the opposite with me
I feel if I can get a discount, they were charging too much in the first place
Or wait...maybe that's not the opposite?
:)

well, we bought the furniture at EA Saturday night. My wife was set on buying it from them and I couldn't find any other reason to oppose it except cheapness on my part.

thanks for your input.

Ethan Allen has beautiful and expensive home furnishings. I would just like to add to this thread that you may want to check out care and maintenance instructions on Ethan Allen's website at http://www.ethanallen.com/jsp/qual_wood_care_main.jsp

This information should help you with maintaining the investment in your furniture.

sorry i didn't see this post until today! i would've advised you to at least wait until the sofa was on sale. EA regularly rotates the furnishings they put on sale.

i can assure you, as others have said, that you have purchased a VERY high quality item that will last you for years, and that you'll want to have reupholstered in the future, as oppose to simply getting rid of it & buying another.

thanks to everyone for your input. one other question:

should we get the "fabric protection" with our purchase? i think they call it gold program. it include some kind of warranty against breakage as well as a fabric protector applied at the factory.

it is considerable in cost but might be nice to have with 2 kids under 5 at home.

any opinion is welcome.

thanks again

if you will be allowing food & drinks in the same room with the sofa, i'd advise you to get it.

from what i remember, if you get a stain on the sofa, you call them & they will walk you through a clean-up procedure. if the stain doesn't come out, they might come out & try. if they can't get it out, they'll replace either that cushion or section of fabric, or if it won't match/look good, they'll recover the whole thing.

if you don't allow food/drinks in the living room, then you can buy Scotchgard in a can & spray it yourself for good measure. however, a lot of fabrics have Scotchgard on them already, before the fabric is applied to the sofa. ask to see the fabric swatch & read the label to see.

Annette is right on with her advice
But what is the gold program exactly
Fabric protection chemicals (in bulk, store or factory-wise) are not that expensive
Is it an E/A or "Chemical Co." warrantee? or a "WarranteeCo." warrantee?
What is covered?

EDIT: it's the "considerable in cost" that's bugging me, as fabric protection can be notoriously over priced

well here is what i understand the "gold" program to be, but we all know, the customer's understanding and the company's can be two different things:

1) if you damage anything on the furniture for the first 5 years, they will repair/replace it. they said things like "tear the fabric", break one of the wooden legs, etc. They also said they would repair it one time but if it were due to a "behavioral" issue like your son banging the table top with a screwdriver, the second time it happens, you are not covered.

2) they would treat the fabric at the factory and give us 5 years of refillable cleaners.

that is the program.

i have to let them know if we want it up until a few days before they are to deliver the furniture. i still have a few weeks left to make the decision.

as far as cost goes, it think i remember it being at least a couple of hundred dollars per item. we bought a sofa, love seat, two end tables, a coffee table, and a sofa table so I wouldn't be surprised if the "gold" program cost us about $800 total (maybe less, i don't have the receipt on me).

the only reason i think it might be worth it is we have the two kids (under 5) and anything is possible with the furniture and one good accident can cost that much to repair. it is peice of mind and even though we are very careful with what the kids can and cannot do, you can't control everything.

anyway, let me know your opinions.

thanks

You'll want to read it yourself, but it does sound like more than a fabric protection warrantee
Make sure there is a "if the spot doesn't come out with our cleaners, we'll replace the fabric" thing in there
Does it cover water rings in the wood and stuff like that?

Personally I'd be interested in which chemical company they are using for fabric protection these days, but I doubt E/A would use a fly-by-nighter, that's probably more my curiosity

With 2 kids under 5 I'd tend to agree with your reasoning as to getting the program

It's perhaps best to think of the cost of the program in percentages
You're buying alot of furniture here
Off-hand, I think an additional 10% for that type of program (in writing!) would be a no brainer
20%...with 2 kids under 5?....yeah I think I'd do it
25%...we're pushing it, but if it made my better half have more POM, maybe I'd spring for it
30%...even with 2 under 5 I'd ask for a break on it, I mean, that's alot and they really wouldn't offer it unless they were sure you wouldn't use it

definitely get more of the details regarding the stain guard issue. i worked for Ethan Allen several years ago, and the deal was (then anyway) that if you followed their cleaning instructions and it still didn't come out, they would replace however much fabric it took to make it look good (ie: just the cushion or the whole piece if necessary).

what does the fabric look like that's on your upholstered pieces? is it very light in color, or a solid pattern? if so, the stainguard is money well spent.