The best office chairs at IKEA
The best office chairs at IKEA offer something for every budget. IKEA has a huge fan base thanks to its marrying of Scandinavian style with (largely) affordable prices. Office chairs are no exception and the Swedish furniture giant has a range of chairs that could make for a good home office set up.
Ikea office chairs offer a good balance between price and comfort, and they offer a range of different styles from formal, high-back office chairs to more casual options, conference chairs and gaming chairs. They have all been tested for durability and they almost always come with a ten-year limited warranty for peace of mind.
No, IKEA office chairs are not all the most ergonomic of chairs. For that, we recommend browsing our guide to the best office chairs for back pain and the best standing desks, which can also be good for your posture. And if you’re prepared to make a real investment, also take a look at our guide to the best Herman Miller chairs. However, the best office chairs at IKEA do offer a good trade-off in terms of value. You might also want to see our guide to the best office chairs overall, which does feature a chair from IKEA (number one in the list below).
The best office chairs at IKEA
IKEA’s popular Markus swivel chair is the brand’s most classic office chair. It’s hardly the most thrilling chair design-wise, but it’s a solid if utilitarian office chair that does its job well. It has features that make it a fairly ergonomic option for the price, with casters and swivel to help you avoid straining to reach things, in-built lumbar support for your back and adjustable height and back tilt. The breathable mesh back keeps you cool and is easy to clean.
Unfortunately, the armrests aren’t adjustable, although they can be removed completely. The automatic brakes on the wheels are a neat addition and like all IKEA products, it’s been tested for durability. For a more adjustable, slightly more modern update on the classic Markus, take a look at the Järvfjället below, but the Markus offers very good value for money.
Ikea’s Järvfjället may not roll off the tongue quite like the popular Markus swivel chair (see above), but this revamped version of the best office chair at IKEA makes several improvements that might be worth the higher price for some. Most of them are questions of adjustability, with the Järvfjället adding in an adjustable seat pan and adjustable lumbar support for improved ergonomics
The former can be easily adjusted using the bottom lever, then you just slide the seat pan back to create the right amount of space behind your legs (the edge of your seat should never push into the backs of your knees). For lumbar support, there’s a movable pad to support your lumbar back. The headrest is also adjustable, and you can order it with or without armrests.
It costs about $30 / £20 more than the Markus, but the additions do make the chair more adjustable to your own comfort and shape. The chair’s design is also a little more exciting than the Markus with a more modern look. The mesh back is high, with a slim frame and slightly rounded shape. The chair also features adjustable recline.
The Hattefjall office chair is very different to numbers one and two on our list of the best office chairs at IKEA. It has a much softer, rounded shape. It has a solid build, with a stylishly upholstered high-density foam seat and back. There’s built-in lumbar support, adjustable back height and seat depth, an automatic tilt mechanism, and the armrests can be adjusted upwards/downwards and forwards/backwards.
Another nice touch is that the casters have a pressure-sensitive brake mechanism that keeps the chair in place when you stand up and automatically releases when you sit down. The seat lips make for a nice looking design, but people who like to move about a lot in their sea may find they get in the way. Just check your measurements to make sure the chair will go high enough for your desk.
If the IKEA office chairs above are beyond your budget, the IKEA Flintan is a very reasonably priced chair that still offers back support for comfortable sessions at your desk. The height and tilt are adjustable – the tilt can locked and unlocked, and overall the chair feels like a quality solid build, especially for this price. It has the downside of fixed armrests (an optional extra) like the Markus above, but as long as you don’t mind that, it’s hard to pick a better IKEA office chair at this price point.
Most IKEA office chairs don’t offer much variety of colour options, but the Långfjäll conference chair is a bit of an exception coming in four shades (including a pink and blue). The foam seat is simple but does offer built-in lumbar support and a tilt tension mechanism. The seat height is adjustable but the back isn’t, nor is the seat depth of the arms if you choose to add them. This one might not be a chair for sitting in all day, but it will do the job very well for brief periods such as meetings, with the cold-foam seat fairly comfortable for a while.
The Matchspel is billed as a gaming chair rather than an office chair (‘spel’ means ‘play’ in Swedish), but it could be used as an office chair. In fact, the design is very reminiscent of the Markus and the Järvfjället at numbers one and two of our list of the best office chairs at IKEA. The nod to gamers is fairly discreet, taking the form of narrow racing stripes in red or blue, so this wouldn’t look too out of place as an office chair. It’s not a bad value, but the Markus and Järvfjället or sturdier chairs, so this is really only worth going for to save some money or because you like the touch of colour.
This is another IKEA chair billed as a conference chair. It’s simple and compact but boasts quite a unique design that will look good in the right setting. The natural white-stained oak veneer or black-stained ash veneer back has built-in curved arms that offer surprising comfortable support, although perhaps not for long periods. The fabric seat cushion is stuffed with high-resilience cold foam and the seat height is adjustable. Note that unlike the other chairs in this list, this one doesn’t have casters, so you’re fixed in one place.
Read more: