The 9 Best Places to Buy Furniture in 2020

Best Online: Wayfair

Buy on Wayfair

Wayfair truly delivers on its slogan, “a zillion things home.” The online-only brand offers just about any type of furniture you can imagine, at just about every budget level. While some of their items can be found at other retailers, Wayfair carries many furniture brands you won’t find anywhere else, including their own line of home furnishings, Birch Lane. Most items ship free, many within one or two days, and Wayfair offers reliable customer service and tracking through the whole process. And they have everything from stylish headboards to ornate dressers. 

Wayfair has an intuitive search system that lets you quickly find what you’re looking for as well as an active community of reviewers who weigh in on their purchases. They also offer shoppable inspiration images through their “Room Ideas” section, along with guidance for measuring for and selecting various pieces of furniture. Bargain-hunters can search deeply discounted sale items, and if an item you like is out of stock, you can arrange to be notified when it comes back.

Best for Quick Delivery: Amazon

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If you’re looking for a breadth of options — especially on the less-expensive side — you’ll find them on Amazon. The massive online marketplace carries just about everything, from low to high end, and can be ideal if you’re looking for a piece to arrive in a day or two.

Amazon carries many of the same brands you’d find at a traditional furniture store or big-box store. In the Amazon’s Picks sections, shoppers can discover trends and curated style boards, and the retailer recently launched two proprietary brands, Rivet and Stone & Beam, with affordable, appealing furniture.

One complaint: With so many offerings, many with descriptions written by the manufacturer or retailer, it can take time to weed through everything to find just the thing you want. Instead of just using the search bar, use their navigation to go to the category you’re interested in, then use their filter tools to narrow down your options. Along with a slew of helpful reviews, the delivery and returns processes are nearly seamless.

Best for Modern: Room & Board

Buy on Roomandboard.com

This furniture store is known for its dedication to simple, modern designs and American craftsmanship. While the furniture is on the more-expensive side, more than 90 percent of its products are manufactured in the USA, and the company has a commitment to quality woodcrafting and sustainable environmental practices.

Room & Board has 17 brick-and-mortar stores and a clean, easy-to-navigate website that includes tons of information on how to arrange furniture, care for different materials and even choose paint colors for your rooms. Almost all furniture types are available in various materials, including different woods and dozens of fabric options. Some items are in stock and ready to ship for delivery within one to two weeks, while others are made to order and require a longer lead time.

Room & Board offers fixed direct delivery rates of $99 near major stores and $139 farther out, which includes fully assembled furniture, placed where you want it, as well as hauling away of all packaging (a service that some retailers charge extra for).

Best for New Traditional: Crate & Barrel

Buy on Crate & Barrel

This retailer has stores in more than half of the United States and offers a robust online experience to help you shop for the furniture you want. With prices ranging from moderate to high-end, the furniture selection includes modern and clean-lined traditional pieces, with both in-stock and custom-order options available (in-stock pieces typically deliver within one to two weeks).

In the stores, the associates are knowledgeable about the product and decorating in general, and the website offers smart guides on various topics, from fabric care to measuring your doorway to ensure you can get your new sofa inside! Shipping is calculated on a sliding scale based on the total price of your purchase, but the largest pieces cap out at $159 for in-home delivery, which includes assembly and removing the packaging.

Best for Finding Deals: Overstock

Buy on Overstock

Consider this the warehouse store of the online market, where you’ll find a mix of deeply discounted brand names and web-only finds. And if you’re someone who likes to dig a little deeper to get a specific look at a budget-friendly price, Overstock delivers. Easy navigation lets you filter by categories like color, style and price, and the home page offers ideas on decorating and trends to get you inspired.

Standard shipping is free for purchases above $45, and almost all items are in-stock and ship within one to two days. Most furniture will require some assembly; the active review community will clue you in to how much work you can expect to put in. Fun fact: Overstock was the first major retailer to accept bitcoin!

Best for Reliable Bargains: IKEA

Buy on Ikea

This Swedish-born, internationally reaching furniture retailer has been building its presence in the U.S. and now boasts dozens of stores countrywide as well as more and more products available to ship online. In its early days, IKEA was known for dorm-room staples like birch-wood bookshelves and simple chairs, but the selection has expanded exponentially, and now the retailer offers a broad and ever-changing collection of both traditional and modern furniture at hard-to-beat prices.

How they get those cheap prices: You have to assemble the product yourself, a process that can be either easy or marriage-destroying, depending on your handiness level (in fact, there’s a whole economy of people whom you can pay to assemble the furniture for you). Online shipping caps out at $59 (deliveries stop just inside your door).

Best Newcomer: Joybird Furniture

Buy on Joybird.com

This online-only furniture brand entered the market in 2014 but has developed a cult following for its relatively small collection of midcentury modern furniture. The prices are moderate to low-end, and they keep costs down by eliminating the middleman (storefronts) and ship directly to you.

With most furniture categories, you’ll find options for a few kinds of wood and more than 50 fabrics and colors, and you can order swatches for free ahead of time. Most items ship within a few weeks, but some "Quick Ship" items can leave the manufacturer in just three days. Plus, they offer an option to hold your item after ordering until you’re ready to receive it (say, if you’re moving from one home to the next). Shipping caps out at $99, and you can get it down to $49 if you opt for curbside pickup on smaller items. Returns are free-of-charge within 14 days.

Best Traditional: Home Depot

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Believe it or not, the place you go to buy appliances also has an extensive selection of furniture and home decor under the Home Decorators Collection line. While a lot of the furniture isn't available in store you will find an extensive array of comfortable sofas, trend forward dining tables, and space-saving furniture. 

Most items will be delivered straight to your door while others can be shipped to the store saving you money and the hassle of dealing with the delivery guy. Overall the quality of these pieces are solid which is a major plus because a lot of items come at an affordable price. The catalog and photography also have a lot of design ideas you can steal and you can "shop by room" so you can get the whole look in a few clicks.