Room & Board

Honestly, this place should charge other brick & mortar stores for lessons on good customer service. Reasonable prices, gorgeous show room, good quality, (mostly) made in the U.S.A. pieces… awesome awesome service from start to finish. We got our dining room table from their annual floor sample sale and just got a sectional and dining chairs, as well. Love.

This store has the best customer service (sales associates a plenty) and an incredible amount of furniture to choose from. Prices are definitely reasonable too — not inexpensive, but in line with the quality you are getting. Bought a large media/​storage system from them. One piece came slightly damaged and they had it replaced within a week… no questions asked (they actually insisted on replacing it even when I suggested just touching it up).

Stylistically, Room&Board is definitely on point. I walked thru the entire story just repeating «I want, I want» while frantically pointing at everything in sight. But when it comes down to quality and overall comfort of the sofas and chairs, I am not a fan. For the pricepoint, I expect more.

I love this store. The furniture is very modern and well made. It’s perfect for those who are city dwellers and don’t want a traditional look. I am outfitting all rooms in my condo from this store. Carl is my favorite salesperson. Carl has help me design my living room and it looks fabulous. I can’t say enough about Carl’s talent and gift for design. I am going to keep shopping here.

A very progressive architect friend of mine recommended this store to me years ago. It took several years for the place to grow on me, but it has and now I’m a fanatic and here’s why:
Their style is decidedly modern, but not ultra-​modern or excessive. This type of modern is very human, and not so harsh. It has a soft and simple side with a decidedly retro post-​war feel. The great thing is they don’t advocate one particular style, it can be diverse and fit any type of home.
I’ve purchased a couch from here and 4 years later I absolutely love it. It holds up nicely and because of its simplicity, it is timeless. All of their furniture is made in North Carolina, NOT China. I bought a Thomasville couch years ago, went to pick it up to find it wrapped with Chinese stickers all over it. And it didn’t last more than 6 years. I should also add that their furniture is all hardwood, not veneer over mdf core. This means it will last longer, age beautifully, and is more sturdy. It’s «honest» furniture.
All their merchandise is sturdy and well made. Their lamps don’t wobble and look amazing when you get it home.
The staff here is nothing short of incredible. All of them, ALL of them know what they’re doing, have a sense of style and know how to decorate. They don’t hard-​sell you and take all the time you need. They’re great people.
Inexpensive! Now, people, let’s get this straight, they’re not Value City Furniture or Ikea. That’s cheap, not inexpensive, know the difference. If you compare this furniture in quality and design, to comparable styles and other manufacturers, you’ll find they are and extremely reasonably priced store.
The staff is a bit temperamental here, I recommend Oak Brook location. Nicer staff.

Everything is great about this store! yeah it is a little pricey but its worth saving up to get a fine piece of furniture and the customer service is by far the best in the city I just bought my third piece of furniture 2 months ago and I couldn’t be happier! my first piece was at the old location about 10 years ago and that chair looks as good as it did on my first day of purchase. Mia and Kevin were fantastic; mia knrw her stuff and helped me pick out the perfect couch, and Kevin– even though it wasn’t his sale –helped me change the legs on it after 2 weeks. i have aalways been impressed with the folks that work here. this is a great group of associates and they know their materials as well as they have history with the company. i come in here a few times a year just to lookand i think the couple of negative reviews below are completely bogus.

I love room and board. Great quality, American made. I bought a sectional 6 years ago and still looks like new. Excellent quality.

I cannot recommend this store enough. We recently moved to a two bedroom apartment and pretty much got our entire dining and living room set from here. Got a couple of sectionals, dining table with chairs and recliner. The customer service goes above and beyond and they are super duper helpful. We deal with Mia and she was the best– as are the guys who come to deliver and assemble (if needed) your furniture.
Yes, it’s pricey but if you’re looking for high quality furniture– then this is your store.

I have to say, so far so great with our Room and Board experience. If I could afford it, I would get every piece of furniture from here. It seems very high quality, good style but without being impractical. We bought our table and bed frame here. They have a nice design room where you can pick out your fabric. This was so helpful for me to visualize it. Also our design consultant Connie was awesome. She was so friendly, not pushy at all. She made us feel really comfortable and spent just the right amount of time with us, but also gave us space to explore the store a bit.
We ordered the bed in store, but couldn’t decide on the table length. They have a lot of custom options, so you can get just the right size. We settled on a standard size, called up and was able to add it to the same order no problem. The gentleman on the phone was very helpful. Same delivery date and everything. If you custom order, it will take a fair bit of time. I do like the idea of getting a table that was manufactured in Minnesota.
The delivery: excellent experience. The guys were polite, they took their shoes off without being asked despite carrying very heavy things in the house. They were also very quick and they added felt to the table. They also instructed us on how to clean our items! Very helpful.
We are very happy so far with the furniture. The way the table is made is very impressive. It is a bit expensive I won’t lie but it’s only a bit more than other comparable stores and the experience is far superior. Furniture shopping can be overwhelming but honestly Room and Board was such a joy.
If you go though, I would be careful were you park because it is so expensive around there. If I had to go again I’d take transit.

Over the past 10 years, I have purchased many items from here. I find their selection and quality to be very good. Their accessories are particularly interesting and very nice. I own many of their picture frames, and they’re beautiful and well made. Lamps, rugs, vases and especially BEDDING are unique and gorgeous. I think it’s expensive, to some degree, but worth the investment. I also like that stylistically, there’s something for everyone there.

When I was in the market for new bedroom furniture, I tried almost all of the popular mainstream stores and came up with little success. I figured I’d just stop the search and purchase something I wasn’t in love with, then I found Chicago Room & Board while walking around the city and decided to give it a shot. I was thoroughly impressed with the vast selection of everything they had to offer and found exactly what I was looking for in a few minutes. The show rooms are very large and have 3 floors of various furniture and styles to select from. The sales person was very helpful with showing me different options and setting up my account and delivery. I purchased a full dresser, knight stand, and a large floor lamp, which was a little pricier than I expected, but it is higher end, more quality furniture. The delivery couldn’t have been easier– the delivery gave me a 2 hour window and showed up on the front end. The delivery employees were extremely nice and quick with the set up of my dresser, knight stand, and floor lamp.
In the future, I definitely won’t be going anywhere else when I am in the market for anything furniture related. Overall, I am completely satisfied with my experience at Chicago Room & Board and recommend anyone looking for higher end furniture to check them out first, you won’t be let down!

«A Nightmare on Ohio Street.» If I was writing a script about my experience with R&B, this would be the title. I’ve never experienced such a lack of quality control and customer service (other than shopping with my dad at Walmart).
I walked in with a floor plan, measurements and a goal to decorate my new River West condo in mid-​century modern. I’d been dreaming for several years about the Mad Men look. Johnny D. (name changed to protect the innocent), one of their design consultants, offered to help. Unfortunately, he was new and hadn’t been trained how to correctly input my data into their layout program. More on that later.
I ordered six pieces of in-​stock furniture and two custom items. The coffee table, end table, desk and bookcase were delivered on time, and I love each one of them. (By the way, R&B’s delivery guys are the best.)
My nightmare began with the sofa, dining table, chair and ottoman. Within a few weeks, I was dreaming about Freddy Krueger instead of Don Draper.
I told Johnny the sofa size he recommended was too long for my space, but he insisted it wasn’t. When delivered, it was 18″ too long, so I RETURNED SOFA #1. Ordered the smaller size, delivered a few weeks later very, very wrinkled, and I RETURNED SOFA #2. R&B asked me to give them another chance, and I said okay since I loved the design. It arrived not only wrinkled, but with crooked seams. RETURNED SOFA #3, and I cancelled the sofa order.
The dining room table was delivered with four other pieces, and I didn’t notice until just after the delivery guys left that it had a big black mark on the top. R&B insisted I email them photographs, then argued that it was «integral to the wood.» My professional decorator buddy strongly disagreed. SWITCHED OUT TABLE FOR A NEW ONE, A KEEEPER.
My most favorite, and most pricey purchases, were their Callan chair and matching ottoman (as striking as anything at Design Within Reach). Johnny quoted me six weeks for delivery. After seven, I offered to change my custom fabric to one in stock, but they refused. Finally, after nine weeks, they admitted they had absolutely no idea when they could produce the two pieces. CHAIR AND OTTOMAN CANCELLED BY R&B.
After all of this, they screwed up the billing on my credit card, and it took me six months to straighten it all out. I eventually had to meet with the store manager, normally not that big a deal except I had to hobble in with a soft cast on my foot from a work-​out mishap. This ended up being the most time consuming hassle of all.
THE HAPPY ENDING. The thought of starting a new search for a sofa and chair was frightening. I had no time, but I had no choice either. I’d donated most of my furniture before I moved, and the dining room chair I’d been sitting on for months was starting to feel like a claw in my back. Luckily, my decorator friend helped me pick out an awesome mid-​century sofa and chair at her favorite store. They even gave me a free loaner sofa to use until mine was ready! (I reviewed that store, too, if you’re interested.)
Room and Board has an excellent return policy, if it’s within the first few weeks, and I took advantage of it. But after everything they put me through, they didn’t offer any concessions or even throw in a pillow as an apology. That says much more about their commitment to customer service than anything they claim on their website.

If you want beautiful furniture, but aren’t interested in saving it for generations, I think Room and Board may be for you. I do love Crate and Barrel, but at times their style is very neutral and prices are a bit higher. Design (not)Within Reach is for other consumers. They may trot from the Mart to DWR. Room and Board is probably not their cup of tea.
Much of the furniture is timeless and there are also a lot of mid-​century throw backs as well as certified and very good replicas of Herman Miller, et al.
I have purchased two bedroom sets, a Noguchi table, two leather arm chairs, and an Eileen Gray table there over the last ten years. My master bedroom set, which was not terribly expensive, should have worn better than it has, in my opinion. Everything else has been excellent.
The last representative I worked with was Judy, at the Room and Board downtown Chicago. She is patient, gracious and has very good ideas and was able to understand the style, texture and color I wanted to bring to the room. It ended up that she steered me in a direction which I would have never had gone and kept me in my comfort zone; t I got a wonderful couch and a great experience. Thanks Judy!

You Get What You Pay For
Room and Board is by far my favorite furniture store. The prices may be high, but the service they offer and quality you get are by far the best out there. The sales staff makes the entire process extremely. When my pieces were delivered the 2 men making the delivery took their shoes off upon entering and took the time to install felt on the bottom of all the pieces to protect the wood floors. Don’t be weary if the prices seem high, this is still a GREAT store to browse for decorating ideas. One thing Room and Board offers that many other furniture stores do not is the plethora of sizes in their pieces. If you live in a smaller dwelling, they likely have a custom order size that will fit in your space perfectly.

Quick notes on furniture shopping:
I didn’t find a lot of furniture here comfortable — but I love love love their accessories such as mirrors, photo frames, pillows, lights.

We have a few pieces of furniture from Room and Board, so we are fans. However, we will stop buying from R&B because our Linear cabinet top cracked and an independent carpenter we had look at it said it was due to the glue they used failing. He said R&B should actually have replaced at least the top of the cabinet.
This particular piece was poorly-​built and we received poor customer service. After all the purchases we’ve made, we expected Room and Board to be a cut above the rest… and stand by its products. But now they told us they will not stand by their furniture. And we know for a fact that we got a defective product because our other R&B furniture has not suffered any cracks, so we know that the glue failure is NOT from regular wear and tear, and it’s not because of environmental conditions because all our furniture is on the same floor with the same temps and humidity levels, and only this piece has cracked. I have a matching Linear piece that is nearby and is just fine. We just wish R&B stood by the defective cabinet. To add insult to injury, when R&B sent their own person to look at the cracked wood top, he pushed down VERY HARD RIGHT ON TOP OF THE CRACK and made it worse! We don’t see how further damaging my furniture helps anyone do an inspection. That was straight up negligent property damage on Room and Board’s part. We believe this is simply wrong because now, we are even worse off than before.

I can’t gush enough about the customer service at this location, and also the pickup/​delivery teams. I had a sofa that needed repairs twice, even after several years, they eagerly honored their satisfaction guarantee without a blink or hesitation. Because of a product defect it never was comfortable, and after mentioning it to an employee on a return visit, they suggested that I return it. I had never considered it as an option. They made the return easy and and gave me a more than fair refund (minus wear and tear). And the credit happened in days… not weeks.
I wish all corporations would standby their products like this, and empower their employees to provide excellent customer service. I will definitely be purchasing more items from this company. I know their items have a higher price point, but you truly get MORE than you pay for at any other home furnishings store I’ve found.

I visited for the first time recently and while I liked that there were plenty of staff there, I also liked that they didn’t hover and didn’t insist upon wandering around showing off their furniture. This store is nicely set up and has some neat things.
I do think it’s interesting that some items are very reasonably priced while others are expensive (a small table for $ 600 bucks while an entire couch can run you $ 1200. There seems to be a discrepancy here… but hey, I had a nice time wandering around the store and they had some viable options for me, so I might be back!

I honestly can’t imagine a better experience shopping for furniture. I had purchased a bookshelf and dresser about a year ago for my studio and the sales associate was so helpful, and also sensitive to my budget. A lot of places will give you an attitude if you tend to want to see the cheaper stuff but she was more than eager to help, and even (this is shameless, I know) showed me some of the pieces in the children’s collection which sounds silly but with the right finishes and some new drawer pulls was an awesome choice for my place. They delivered the pieces and assembled them right around the time they quoted me. And the Woodwind bookshelves in cherry are awesome; they start off a very light natural finish but darken over time. After a year they look even better than when I first go them.
Fast forward a year later: I’m moving into a bigger one bedroom and need to furnish a living room, so I walked through the store one day for some ideas and Angie, the woman who helped me last time, not only remembered me but remembered my order! It made me feel great about coming back and I knew this was where I wanted to buy my new shelves and sofa. Now that I had a little more money and a lot more space shopping was even more fun.
I cannot stress this enough: Visit the store, make a list, go online and read the reviews of EVERY SINGLE PIECE you’re considering, then visit the store again and finalize. I learned a lot about the quirks and downfalls of certain pieces that steered me toward my choices. I went back on a day that Angie wasn’t working and worked with Connie this time, who was amazingly patient, walked me to two versions of every single thing on my list waited while I deliberated. I ended up getting the Metro couch in leather, the Quinn chair and ottoman and the Pisa leaning shelves. I knew to expect a wait on some of the fabric options so I ordered early and the timing works out perfectly with my move. Always give yourself 6 weeks of leeway when ordering from here! When they say «allow extra time» for some options they’re not kidding!
They gave me the option to have half the things delivered that were in stock and then do a second half price delivery of the other items. I opted to just wait and have them all delivered to my new place (less for me to move, woohoo). I told her to hold all of my items for a day while I compared the swatches with paint cards etc. When I came back Connie was busy but another associate helped me take out a shelf and add a bed. She swapped the order and gave me a new quote in just a couple minutes. I asked to make sure Connie would still get the commission because she was so helpful earlier. I found out they don’t work on commission, which is why everyone at the store was so helpful even if I wasn’t their client.
I would also like to dispel a nasty misconception that people have about furniture that makes them think Room & Board is expensive. This is in the tier of mid-​price point furniture. Yes it is more expensive than Target or Ikea but it is also higher quality, comes with better service and delivery, and will last longer. And anyone that thinks that Room & Board is expensive should walk a few blocks west and walk through Lignet Roset or Orangeskin or Luminaire. After walking through those stores R&B will seem dirt cheap.

In my first review I talked about the lack of customer service from the sales lady and I only removed one star. I wrote the review before our sofa had been delivered.
Our sofa arrived and the delivery guys set it up… only one problem it was completely reverse from what we ordered in the store.
Are you kidding me? Really?
I called up a manager to explain to her what happen. I also told her in no way did I want to ever talk to the sales lady who helped us. She treated us rudely and like shit. Honestly my wife and I should never be treated like that by anyone with the amount of money we spent on that couch. The sales lady was bad at her job and should not even be in customer service!!!
How hard is it to understand this? We pointed to a sectional couch on the floor and said, «We want this couch with chasis on the other side!»
We were delivered an attached chassis lounge on the left side of the couch.
The delivery guy said, «That is what you ordered!»
I said, «No the one in the store had it on the left side. We wanted on the other side!»
The deliver guy said, «When it comes to furniture we use stage terms! So it is stage left you wanted!»
I looked at the guy and said, «Honestly! Why didn’t the sales lady tell us that? Because we would have understood those terms!»
The delivery guy told us there was nothing he could do and to call the store to figure it out.
So she delivered a chassis that was Stage right even though we wanted it on the opposite side of what was on display in the store. How difficult was that?
So when we signed off on the paper work and it said, «Right Chassis Lounge… we were fine with it because when we looked at the couch the chassis was on the right side!» We had no idea that they used theater terms in furniture. W. e actually wanted it on Stage Left but had no idea it was suppose to say that. Yes this is sounding like an episode of Seinfeld
The manager was very helpful with me but I should have not been put through this type of trouble. In fact, the manager waived the deliver fee for our second delivery. Funny but in my first review the sales lady said that could never be done. Liar!!!
Of course the sales lady wrote me an email…“I heard we had a little misunderstanding… please call me if you want to talk about it!“
She sent me an email… maybe a phone call with a message would have been more personal but no she sends an email with call me. I really do not want to call you. You treated us terrible and your manager had to clean up your mess. I bet at the end of the day you didn’t even know that the furniture business uses stage left and stage right.
I was extremely upset by the lace of professionalism by this sales lady. The only reason we were working with her is because our original sales lady was off of work with a broken bone. The new sales lady told us that she was on vacation. Yeah that is some vacation!
I am sorry we spent our money here but my wife had been looking for the perfect piece for our living room and this couch was it. So we were stuck with it. Not to mention we had to wait for another delivery to fix the problem.