Sofas

Sixteen of the nineteen state a seat count: seven a 1-seater, eight a 2-seater, seven a 3-seater and one a 4-seater. Those figures overlap, because five sofas are sold as a single product with the seat count chosen on the page rather than as separate listings — so one product can appear in two of those numbers. Others work the opposite way, with each size listed as its own product under the same range name. Three state no seat count at all, and their product pages show what is known rather than an assumed configuration. Corner sofas, recliners and sofa beds are shelved separately.

Width is the number everyone checks. Depth is the one that changes how a room works, and it varies here more than you would expect: from 69 cm to 106 cm front to back, a difference of 37 cm between the shallowest and the deepest. Where a sofa faces a wall, that difference comes straight out of the walkway in front of it. Back heights run from 64 cm to 97 cm. A low back keeps sightlines open in a small room or an open-plan space; a high back gives more support and reads as a more solid presence. Seventeen of the nineteen give all three assembled dimensions on the product page.

A sofa rarely fails to fit the room. It fails to turn the corner at the top of the stairs. Measure the narrowest point of the entire route — the front door, the hallway, every turn, and the doorway of the room itself — and measure the diagonal of that doorway too, because a sofa goes through on its side more often than upright. Eleven arrive in a single carton and five come in two; three do not state a carton count. The heaviest carton in the category weighs 68 kg and the lightest 17.5 kg; at the top of that range this is a two-person lift with the route cleared beforehand, not something to improvise on the day. Assembly itself is minimal on every one of them.

The catalogue uses four upholstery descriptions that are easy to read as one thing: six in Bonded Leather, five in Faux Leather, three in Leather and one in Leather Aire. They are listed separately rather than grouped, because they are not the same material and we would rather not blur that on a page where it is the main thing you are choosing. On the softer side there are eight in Fabric and three in Linen. Each product page states the exact material it uses, and where a sofa offers a choice that choice is a variation on the page rather than a separate product.

Grey is the most common colour here, on eleven, followed by black on ten and brown on seven. Cream, white, navy, espresso and auburn red each appear once. Upholstery is the thing photography is least reliable about — the same fabric reads differently between two screens and again under a different light — so treat the images as a guide to the shade rather than a match to it. The weave and the sheen come through an image far better than the exact colour does.

Shelved separately from the sofas above.

• Corner Sofas 1 piece
• Recliners 5 pieces
• Sofa Beds 4 pieces