It depends on how much you are looking to spend. I will say one thing, motion furniture just generally don't last as long as stationary furniture because the motion mechanisms will break after a while (and the act of motion puts much more strain on the fabric/leather). The best reclining mechanisms are made by Leggett and Platt and Universal. You can find these in any number of lower middle to high end brands and they generally will break eventually no matter what brand they are installed in. Lazyboy does lifetime guarantee their mechanisms. When they break eventually, you will have to replace the mechanism yourself or pay someone to do it though. They will only send you the parts. This is typical for most brands that offer a lifetime mechanism warranty.

If you just in general want high quality, Hancock & Moore is pretty much the gold standard of upholstery, but it is pricey. Despite their warranty, lazyboy is generally not considered to be well made any more, however, I would say they are likely not to go bankrupt in the next 10 years as income has been stable the past few years and they are sufficiently diversified. I'd stay away from Lane, Broyhill, and Thomasville (and any of their sister brands). Their parent company (Furniture Brands International) basically went bankrupt a little while ago and the pieces got bought out by an equity firm. The new owners have been closing factories and liquidating assets. My guess is that it will eventually go the route of outsourcing all product and just maintaining the name brands (similar to a lot of shoe companies and other products), but its still a little early to tell what is going to happen.

This post was edited by SirJohn on Fri, Aug 1, 14 at 19:45

Thank you, that is helpful.

If you are looking for reclining furniture in my opinion it is not worth buying a pricy brand. they all use similar mechanisms and most will use plywood frames. Look at the tailoring and cushioning and look for a good value.