buying oak furniture

GerryRose

You can still buy oak furniture direct online at low cost but keeping high quality.

Try oak furniture king, they have lots of good reviews on trust pilot. My sister loves their new leather cleaning kit, she used it on her sofas and she's says they're almost new (and they are 10 years old Laura Ashley sofas).
regards

GerryRose

Errata

The problem with most oak furniture being sold is that it's made of Chinese oak, possibly not seasoned to the same standard people in the UK have been used to, and the furniture is probably made there as well.

leveller2911

In general you get what you pay for. Low cost "Oak" funiture will look ok for a while but as already mentioned its the poorest quality timber you can buy and cobbled together.

If you want to freshen up a room for a year or two then the likes of OFL are ok but personally I would touch it. If you want a decent quality timber furniture then you need to be looking at either companies like Ercol or bespoke furniture makers.

Chefs_World

Personally i would stick to smaller independant stores, better prices, unless you want interest free credit. Better build quality too.

We used charlies pine & oak for my daughter bedroom and had a table hand made for the kitchen at better prices then ofl offered.

Next time you are in ofl, look underneath the furniture, they are all bolted together ... guess they forgot how to make furniture properly

littlerock

I have a table and sideboard from Oak Furniture Land. I have been very pleased with them both and with the service.

JP08

As you appear to be in the Cambridge area have a nose at Hi-Sell Direct. They sound like a bunch of fly-by-nights, but have actually been in St Ives / Gamlingay for years (the website says 1983, they were certainly there in the early 1990s when I moved here). We've had several pieces from them over the years and found them very competitive on price and good on delivery. The Gamlingay (near St Neots) showroom is better for browsing (bit less crampled) than the St Ives one.
http://www.hi-sellonline.co.uk/

Also, bit of a long shot, but we're currently waiting on delivery of some furniture from them, there's a small place near Anglesey Abbey that sells Pine and Oak. Can't comment much more as we've only ordered stuff at this stage, but the prices were pretty keen. They are stuck down the end of a pretty long concrete farm track
http://www.cpando.co.uk/in/

Will add a comment re tables. Make sure you sit at the table before buying. Saw a very nice looking one in an independent Bedford firm ... it was only when sitting at it we realised that there was only just enough room between table frame and chair for legs, making it impossible to lift your chair a fraction and shuffle it in. We didn't buy. Got an Ercol table from Hi-Sell in their sale.


Further edit - Jeeze, just realised how old the original post was ! Some threads are like Lazarus !