Here at Cafe Chairs Melbourne our sales team are often asked about the difference between residential and commercial furniture. After all a chair is a chair and a table is a table. This is irrespective of whether you buy it from a bricks and mortar furniture showroom or a commercial retailer right? Unfortunately that line of thinking is incorrect for a number of reasons. Let’s take a closer look.
How often do you sit on your kitchen or dining room chairs at home? If you’re like the vast majority of people the answer is probably less than 2 hours a day. Now contrast that to cafe’s, bars, and restaurants where that particular chair is continually in use for anything up to 12-14 hours a day. It’s understandable therefore that getting 6-7 times more use per day than your typical residential chair means that it’s subjected to far more stress.
In addition your chair at home is used by the same people all the time. Whereas in any given day a typical cafe chair can be used by a multitude of people of differing shapes and sizes. For this reason very few residential chairs are built to accommodate weight of up to 160kgs (350lbs). Whereas commercial grade furniture is; and some are built to accommodate even more weight.
Can you tell the difference?
Most people assume that they can tell the difference between commercial-grade and residential furniture simply by looking at them, but the truth is that it has nothing to do with aesthetics. In fact in these days of advanced technology, modern day commercial furniture can appear incredibly design-led and inspiring. Instead the difference lies in the construction. It’s about the materials; it’s about how the piece is bolted, glued, riveted together; and it’s about how practical the furniture is. For example a heavily lacquered real teak wood table looks great, but in a commercial setting it probably wouldn’t last 5 minutes. Spills would cause stains in the lacquer and heat from endless cups of coffee would cause it to bubble. On the contrary commercial cafe furniture might incorporate hard-pressed laminate which can also be made to look like real wood, but at the same time has been treated to prevent warping, buckling, and bubbling.
Longevity vs price
Although commercial-grade furniture can (but not always) cost more than residential furniture it’s worth considering the longevity factor. As we mentioned at the start of this post commercial furniture can easily accommodate 6-7 times more wear and tear than residential furniture, yet it might only be 1.5 to 2 times the price. So in the long term, if you want to save money then you really should consider commercial-grade furniture for your establishment.
If you’re in the market for high quality commercial cafe furniture at great prices then look no further than Cafe Chairs Melbourne. We have over 400 products ranging from Tolix inspired bar stools, rustic ladder-back chairs and sumptuous tub-chairs, through to state-of-the-art polypropylene chairs and fantastic Isotop tables. So why not log on and take a closer look. In addition our highly experienced team are here to answer any questions you may have about our products, so feel free to call them on 07 3205 1616 today.