What Makes Amish Furniture So Special, Anyway?
Understanding What Differentiates Amish Furniture
It’s been several years now that there’s been a bit of a rave around Amish furniture. You may be wondering what it’s all about. We’d love a chance to spell out a few of the key elements that set Amish quality craftsmanship aside from other furniture.
Commitment to Quality and Handmade Craftsmanship
Amish furniture is not just made on an assembly line on a belt the way big box furniture is made. These pieces are handmade by craftsmen in their shops with the utmost attention to detail. This ensures quality control and pieces made with care.
Amish furniture craftsmanship is about so much more than a profitable business for them. For generations their elders have passed down time tested traditions and methods to make these pieces of art. The Amish are known for a modest and non contemporary culture. With this comes their commitment to their faith, which plays out in their pursuit of excellence in all aspects of their work. To them, making furniture is about so much more than making money. It is an opportunity to express their values of hard work, commitment and excellence.
Below we’ve created a list of a few features that are easily used to point out Amish furniture. While these features are not exclusive to Amish craftsmanship, they are most commonly found in handmade pieces from the Amish.
Dovetailed Full Extension Drawers
Have you ever noticed the interlocked pieces on the inside of drawers? These are called “dovetailed drawers”. Essentially, instead of just nailing or gluing drawers together, they are first cut and made to fit into each other, ensuring a more secure fit.
Along with dovetailing, their drawers are full extension. This means that you don’t have to cram your hand into a drawer to reach the back, it is fully accessible. In even small aspects like this, the Amish let their attention to detail shine through in securing drawer interiors together as effectively as possible and providing maximum storage capacity to meet your needs
Interior Finish on Drawers
Have you ever pulled out a piece of clothing from a drawer and caught it on a wood splinter? We hate when that happens! That can be quite a common occurrence in furniture where the inside of drawers is left unfinished. The unfinished wood is more vulnerable to breakage and splintering.
With this in mind, our Amish craftsmen apply a finish even to the interior of our drawers. This creates a soft look and feel and protects your pieces from getting caught on any stray splinters. So much extra care is taken even on smaller aspects like this.
Self-Storing Option and Gear Slides on Dining Tables
If you own an extension dining table without gear slides or self-storage, we know your pain! Opening and closing a table top without gears can be such a pain and may require 2-3 people to operate.
With ease in mind, our craftsmen create their tables with super smooth gear slides. This makes opening up a dining table a one person job!
They also offer self-storage for leaves on most table styles. No need to try to find a random spot in the closet or under the bed to store your dining table leaves. Easily keep your table’s leaves available while stored inside the top.
Comfort Details on Dining Chairs
Have you sat in Amish dining chairs before? They’re hard to beat! With specially curved lumbar support and dips for your backside and legs in the seat, these chairs are tricked out with all the extra comfy features!
And guess what? If you have any personal needs that require a wider, shorter, or deeper seat, they can deliver on your special request. Talk to our expert team of design consultants to find your custom comfort options on dining chairs.
Convenient Special Features
We adore the Amish ingenuity put into special feature designs. From underlighting for nightstands to dimmers inside hutches and secret top and bottom drawers with locks, they do it all. The Amish are constantly challenging the status quo by designing pieces with unique and secret features for your ease and convenience.
Buttery Smooth Finishes
It takes no more than a swift movement of your hand across a top surface to know what we’re talking about. The 3 part conversion varnish finish on our Amish pieces creates a truly buttery smooth finish on all pieces.
From dining table tops to chair backs and legs and all bedroom pieces, you can expect a super smooth finish on all pieces. This offers up an incredibly luxurious look and feel instead of a rough, unfinished feel. The Amish truly aim to create a piece of art in each of their pieces of furniture, a piece you can proudly display in your home as a handcrafted heirloom piece.
*Keep in mind that barnwood and faux barnwood will be an exception to this as they are made to look and feel worn.
Availability to Customize
This may possibly be the greatest feature of them all. Most Amish furniture can be customized all around. From wood type, upholstery, finish color and style, size, and any other special feature. One of our favorite aspects of Amish furniture is the ability to truly cater to our customers, delivering one-of-a-kind pieces that fit their taste and needs.
Conclusion - Heirloom Pieces to Be Enjoyed for Generations
Because of the nature of Amish culture and lifestyle, we can guarantee the highest quality craftsmanship on all our Amish furniture. With unique features you’ll rarely find elsewhere, indulge in the unique details of our Amish furniture.
Next Blog: "4 Unique Bedding Styles for Rustic Homes"