I was shopping for dining tables and dressers last week. There are the
places that sell made-in-China stuff with lots of plastic and drawers that
are stuck. There is the chain called Gothic Cabinet Craft for custom
furniture but it's not well made and contains some plastic. Then there are
the name brand resellers like Oak Warehouse that have a lot of very nice
looking pieces, but it still has some plastic in the drawer runners and
table leafs.

There are other types of retailers but I haven't been there yet.

Where does a buyer go to get away from plastic without paying full-custom
prices? How much more does it cost to replace a few small parts with wood?


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"Tom Del Rosso" wrote in message
...
I was shopping for dining tables and dressers last week. There are the
places that sell made-in-China stuff with lots of plastic and drawers that
are stuck. There is the chain called Gothic Cabinet Craft for custom
furniture but it's not well made and contains some plastic. Then there
are
the name brand resellers like Oak Warehouse that have a lot of very nice
looking pieces, but it still has some plastic in the drawer runners and
table leafs.

There are other types of retailers but I haven't been there yet.

Where does a buyer go to get away from plastic without paying full-custom
prices? How much more does it cost to replace a few small parts with
wood?


Any mass produced stuff is going to have some plastic. That is not a bad
thing as plastic does not move like wood and guides and slides can work for
many years with no problems due to warping from high humidity. Cheap
furniture is not kept as heirloom stuff anyway.

There are many other brands of furniture that will probably suit you better,
but not at any place that has "Furniture Warehouse" in its name. You may
find better quality at a place that sell Drexel, Thomasville, etc. You pay
more, but it will last a lifetime. I'm still using a chest that was mine
when I was a kid, new about 55 years ago. Our bedroom furniture is Drexel
and is 41 years old and still looks as good as the day it was delivered.

Judging by the places you are looking now, I don't think you are willing to
spend the money for quality stuff.

Tom Del Rosso wrote:
I was shopping for dining tables and dressers last week. There are
the places that sell made-in-China stuff with lots of plastic and
drawers that are stuck. There is the chain called Gothic Cabinet
Craft for custom furniture but it's not well made and contains some
plastic. Then there are the name brand resellers like Oak Warehouse
that have a lot of very nice looking pieces, but it still has some
plastic in the drawer runners and table leafs.

There are other types of retailers but I haven't been there yet.

Go there. If there's a "Stickley and Audi" store in the area check it
out.

Where does a buyer go to get away from plastic without paying
full-custom prices?

Any decent furniture store. So far you have not looked in a "decent
furniture store". Get out your yellow pages, cross out any place that
has "warehouse" in the name or that sells "unfinished" furniture and
then make the rounds of the rest. If there's a place with "Stickley" in
the name they'd be a good starting point. Sit down before you ask the
prices though. Look for places that list brands like "Lane",
"Thomasville", "Drexel-Heritage", and "Broyhill". Also for something a
bit different look for a store that carries "Scandinavian" or "Danish"
furniture. Any decent department store (Macy's or their many
subsidiaries, for example, _not_ Wal-Mart) should have a small selection
of decent brands. If all of those are above your price range then look
for an Ikea store.

You're going to find some plastic in most commercially produced
furniture--this has nothing to do with being low or high quality, in
some applications plastic just works better.

How much more does it cost to replace a few
small parts with wood?

If you have the tools and knowledge and skills to do it yourself, not
much, but if you had those you wouldn't have needed to ask. If you are
paying someone to do it it is going to cost more than it is worth (it's
cheap if you do it yourself because you don't charge yourself for
labor--someone who does it for a living charges for labor) unless you
have some really compelling reason for not wanting plastic--if it's for
medical reasons then be aware that even if you don't see plastic parts
it is often there--many modern adhesives and finishes are plastic, and
are more likely to be outgassing than any molded or machined part. Your
best bet in that case is to talk to your physician about sources for
furniture that is compatible with your medical condition.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news:ZNQLh.9339$282.8517@trndny04
"Tom Del Rosso" wrote in message
...
I was shopping for dining tables and dressers last week. There are
the places that sell made-in-China stuff with lots of plastic and
drawers that are stuck. There is the chain called Gothic Cabinet
Craft for custom furniture but it's not well made and contains some
plastic. Then there are
the name brand resellers like Oak Warehouse that have a lot of very
nice looking pieces, but it still has some plastic in the drawer
runners and table leafs.

There are other types of retailers but I haven't been there yet.

Where does a buyer go to get away from plastic without paying
full-custom prices? How much more does it cost to replace a few
small parts with wood?


Any mass produced stuff is going to have some plastic. That is not a
bad thing as plastic does not move like wood and guides and slides
can work for many years with no problems due to warping from high
humidity. Cheap furniture is not kept as heirloom stuff anyway.

I didn't know they all had it. Does that include the brands you mention
like Drexel?

It might be durable, but furniture from 50 years ago didn't have plastic and
those drawer runners are still smooth.


There are many other brands of furniture that will probably suit you
better, but not at any place that has "Furniture Warehouse" in its
name. You may find better quality at a place that sell Drexel,
Thomasville, etc.

Thanks for the names. Actually I think that Oak Warehouse place does have
those brands, but now I know what to look for.


You pay more, but it will last a lifetime. I'm
still using a chest that was mine when I was a kid, new about 55
years ago. Our bedroom furniture is Drexel and is 41 years old and
still looks as good as the day it was delivered.

Judging by the places you are looking now, I don't think you are
willing to spend the money for quality stuff.

No, those are just the places nearby that I visited first. Oak Warehouse
has name brands and it's not bad stuff considering, as you say, that all
mass-produced furniture has some plastic. I'll look for the names you
mentioned now.


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"J. Clarke" wrote in message


Any decent furniture store. So far you have not looked in a "decent
furniture store". Get out your yellow pages, cross out any place that
has "warehouse" in the name or that sells "unfinished" furniture and
then make the rounds of the rest. If there's a place with "Stickley"
in the name they'd be a good starting point. Sit down before you
ask the prices though. Look for places that list brands like "Lane",
"Thomasville", "Drexel-Heritage", and "Broyhill". Also for something
a bit different look for a store that carries "Scandinavian" or
"Danish" furniture. Any decent department store (Macy's or their many
subsidiaries, for example, _not_ Wal-Mart) should have a small
selection of decent brands. If all of those are above your price
range then look for an Ikea store.

Thanks for the brand names. I guess that's the info I really needed.


You're going to find some plastic in most commercially produced
furniture--this has nothing to do with being low or high quality, in
some applications plastic just works better.

How much more does it cost to replace a few
small parts with wood?

If you have the tools and knowledge and skills to do it yourself, not
much, but if you had those you wouldn't have needed to ask. If you
are paying someone to do it it is going to cost more than it is worth

It's sad that they don't make runners like they used to. They used to be
small pieces of hard wood. I don't understand why that would cost so much.


(it's cheap if you do it yourself because you don't charge yourself
for labor--someone who does it for a living charges for labor) unless
you have some really compelling reason for not wanting plastic--if
it's for medical reasons then be aware that even if you don't see
plastic parts it is often there--many modern adhesives and finishes
are plastic, and are more likely to be outgassing than any molded or
machined part. Your best bet in that case is to talk to your
physician about sources for furniture that is compatible with your
medical condition.

Thanks, but it's just a matter of principle. I like wood.


--

Reply in group, but if emailing add another
zero, and remove the last word.

Tom Del Rosso wrote:
"J. Clarke" wrote in message


Any decent furniture store. So far you have not looked in a "decent
furniture store". Get out your yellow pages, cross out any place
that has "warehouse" in the name or that sells "unfinished"
furniture and then make the rounds of the rest. If there's a place
with "Stickley" in the name they'd be a good starting point. Sit
down before you ask the prices though. Look for places that list
brands like "Lane", "Thomasville", "Drexel-Heritage", and
"Broyhill". Also for something a bit different look for a store
that carries "Scandinavian" or "Danish" furniture. Any decent
department store (Macy's or their many subsidiaries, for example,
_not_ Wal-Mart) should have a small selection of decent brands. If
all of those are above your price range then look for an Ikea store.

Thanks for the brand names. I guess that's the info I really needed.


You're going to find some plastic in most commercially produced
furniture--this has nothing to do with being low or high quality, in
some applications plastic just works better.

How much more does it cost to replace a few
small parts with wood?

If you have the tools and knowledge and skills to do it yourself, not
much, but if you had those you wouldn't have needed to ask. If you
are paying someone to do it it is going to cost more than it is worth

It's sad that they don't make runners like they used to. They used
to be small pieces of hard wood. I don't understand why that would
cost so much.

The wood is cheap. The labor to do it is the expensive part.
Personally I'm quite capable of making any reasonable piece of furniture
but I wouldn't pull a plastic part that was working fine out of a
purchased piece to replace it with wood.

(it's cheap if you do it yourself because you don't charge yourself
for labor--someone who does it for a living charges for labor) unless
you have some really compelling reason for not wanting plastic--if
it's for medical reasons then be aware that even if you don't see
plastic parts it is often there--many modern adhesives and finishes
are plastic, and are more likely to be outgassing than any molded or
machined part. Your best bet in that case is to talk to your
physician about sources for furniture that is compatible with your
medical condition.

Thanks, but it's just a matter of principle. I like wood.

I do too, but not to the point that everything around me has to be made
entirely from it.

--
--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)