Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Couch

May 09, 2024

This week I asked experts about the most important things to look out for when purchasing a couch. Also in this issue: Five credit card benefits you might not know about, and how to clean your remote control.

THE BIG STORY

I never really liked the couch that my boyfriend and I bought when we moved in together.

Perhaps it was a purchase that was doomed to begin with. It was at the start of the pandemic and many furniture options were out of stock. And neither of us had bought a couch before. (His $40 Craigslist purchase of a curbside sofa doesn’t count.) We were also operating on a tight budget, and yet we still yearned for the perfect couch. Something that could be relaxing, tasteful, and bold all at the same time for the price of less than $300.

This was the couch we ended up with: A velvet sofa that was too hot in the summer and uncomfortable to sit on year-round. For the rest of our time in that apartment, we opted to sit on the floor, and when we eventually moved, the couch was the first piece of furniture we abandoned offered to our roommate.

When it comes to home décor, a couch can be one of the priciest furniture items you can buy. So before you purchase one, think about your priorities and what you’re hoping to achieve, says Alex Duncan, associate director of upholstery for the online home retailer Wayfair.

For example, are you looking for a more timeless piece or something trendy that you might replace in a few years? Will the couch be part of a formal entertainment space or are you looking for a day-to-day couch that will also be shared with kids or pets?

And break it down to key elements: Size, comfort, material, and style are the four things to consider, says Jessica Harris, manager of production design at Living Spaces, a furniture retailer with locations across California, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas.

Size: If you have a small living room, go for sofa options that measure under 80 inches wide, Harris says. If you have a generously sized living room, a design that measures over 90 inches might have more of the right scale.

You want your sofa to fill the room but not overwhelm the space. So you should also pay attention to things like the back height of the sofa in relation to the ceiling height, says Noel Fahden Briceno, vice president of merchandising at Chairish, an online marketplace for furniture.

Comfort: To gauge the comfort level, look at the construction materials of your sofa cushions. High-density foam cushions will feel firmer, while softer seats usually feature a blend of foam, fiber, and down feathers, with down being exceptionally plush, Harris says.

If you like a relaxed position when you’re sitting, go for a low, deep seat, says Jessica Ochoa, interior design leader at the U.S. branch of Ikea. A higher, narrower seat favors an upright position, and a couch with a high backrest provides better support for your neck and shoulders.

Material: It’s important to consider your lifestyle when you’re choosing the material for your couch. If you want something more breathable and comfortable in summer, linen is the best choice, Harris says. Compared with linen, polyester is more durable, and if you’re looking for longevity, a leather sofa can last more than a decade.

Style: A modern design might suit you if you like clean, simple lines, mid-century styles, and minimalism. Whereas a transitional design is perfect if you prefer a more casual look and you prioritize larger, deeper sofas that place comfort over style, Harris says.

What are common mistakes to avoid?Make sure you measure not only where the couch will end up but also the spaces it’ll have to go through to get there, such as the size of the doors, stairs, and elevators. That avoids this particular “Friends” situation from happening* and your couch getting stuck, Briceno says.

*And it does happen. One of my friends had to return his newly ordered couch after it had been hauled up three flights of stairs but could not, for the life of everyone involved, be made to budge past his door.

For people who have children or pets, it’s good to look beyond criteria such as the color of your couch and consider materials that are more durable, says Allyse Y. Li, a registered interior designer and founder of RAAW Design, an interior architecture studio in Vancouver, British Columbia. Microfiber, for example, is a material that doesn’t pill as much.

If you’re looking for fabric that’s more resistant to stains and spills, it’s worth noting that PFAS, chemicals linked to a growing number of health risks, are commonly found in stain- and water-resistant fabrics (as well as in other products, flagged by us here). When purchasing a new couch, look for retailers that have policies restricting the use of PFAS, as listed by the GSPI.

Another way to provide protection for your couch is to use removable, washable sofa covers, Ochoa says. And if you’re getting tired of your décor, a new cover can also give your couch a fresh, new look.

Finally, if you’re shopping for a couch online and you’re worried about whether it will fit with the color scheme of your room, you can reach out to the vendor and ask if it can send a free sample of the fabric so that you can see the fabric in different lighting beyond the pictures online, Li says. If the vendor has a walk-in store nearby, it’s also worth visiting to see the couch or test-sit on it.

Bonus reading: These are the best places to shop for furniture, according to a survey conducted with CR members pre-COVID-19.

PUBLIC FORUM

We asked Instagram users in a poll whether they’ve ever regretted buying a couch. Seventy-five percent said yes, with many disliking how uncomfortable it was or how it failed to provide support. One user said they “couldn’t sit on it for longer than 10 minutes.” A few expressed regret over buying a couch they thought was pretty over a comfortable one.

White sofas were also a source of regret. One person said they have “major spill anxiety,” while another described their dilemma in the plainest terms: “It was white, and I had a baby.”

THE GOOD STUFF

Fake reviews are a big concern when shopping on Amazon and other online retailers. Here’s how you can tell the real reviews from the fake ones, according to our shopping expert, Samantha Gordon.

An extra tip: You can also look at the individual reviewer’s history to see whether they’re legitimate. If they don’t have one, then their review might be untrustworthy, Samantha says. Also, reviews that slam a product but praise an alternative could be suspicious and possibly paid for by a competitor.

THE SHORT ANSWER

Should you use male-to-male extension cords? No, stay away from them.

UNFILTERED TAKE

Photo: Angela Lashbrook/Consumer Reports Photo: Angela Lashbrook/Consumer Reports

The canned cocktail has taken off in the past few years, but is it any good?

To find out, Angela Lashbrook, a CR writer who has worked in various food and beverage industry domains for many years, decided to try a rum classic from Bacardí, a tequila concoction from Cutwater, a cosmo that’s a collaboration between Sarah Jessica Parker and the brand Thomas Ashbourne, and several others cocktails.

Here’s the verdict: Angela absolutely hated the cosmo, which is ironically called “The Perfect Cosmo.” It’s way too sugary, and it’s something that she would serve only to her worst enemy, in her words.

Most of the other cocktail options impressed Angela. Read about the ones that were actually good.

ICYMI

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💳 How to Get the Best Deals in Amazon’s Prime Early Access SaleHere’s how to score a good deal during Amazon’s pre-holiday sale, which takes place on Oct. 11 and 12.

✨ How to Clean and Sanitize Your Remote ControlsRemember to wipe the disinfectant onto the remote control, don’t spray it on.

🔪 Best Chef’s Knives From Consumer Reports’ TestsOne of the best knives we tested cost only around $40.

"One person’s couch is another person’s treasure."

Pang-Chieh Ho

I'm a newsletter writer who likes looking into the different ways we can live smarter. The topics I cover typically explore unanswered questions we have about the products we use every day and bridge the gaps between what owners' manuals advise and what we actually do. In my spare time, I like to take photos, critique movies out loud while I watch (at home!), and take care of my ever-increasing plant "children."