Matty sent in a good question: I'm getting a bigger kitchen table so I can finally have a dinner party for six people, but I only have 4 chairs. The chairs happen to be Ikea's OGLA chairs, which are a modern twist on the iconic Vienna café chairs.
However, Ikea has stopped making them!
I am slightly devastated, and no amount of searching on Google, Craigslist, or eBay has turned up any more. Do you have any suggestions for where I can find discontinued Ikea chairs, or where I can find similar black Vienna café chairs?
Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to:
sf(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com)
Any ideas for Matty? Let him know in the comments below...thanks!
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Comments (12)
There have been a lot of cool posts lately about mismatched chair sets. As a last resort, why not try finding 2 more chairs that are completely different but complimentary, rather than something similar? Not sure your table configuration but I can see it working well two ways:
-split the 4 current chairs into two pair for the sides, and new compliment chairs at the two open ends (heads of the table)
-3 chairs on each side, with the old chairs on the outside and the two new complimenting chairs in the middle.
If you have a rectangular table, you could always use a different style of chair for the two "heads" of the table. I think that often looks nicer than six of the same anyway.
This seems like an easily surmountable hurdle, as decorating problems go. If you haven't the patience to locate a pair of used Ikea OGLA chairs (of which thousands must exist), why not buy some Thonet-style cafe chairs, which appear to be almost identical? (As common as dirt, from restaurant supply places.)
http://www.kpetersen.com/bentwoodchairhpdetail.htm
Ta Da!
Plus these will be nicer than the ikea ones.
www.eaglechair.com/chairswood.htm
Complete them with two antique ones.
I think I would get two new chairs that are totally different before I would get two that are sort of the same but not a true match. That slight difference would bug me forever, personally. Better to just be deliberate and unmatched, or wait until another pair pops up on CL.
A restaurant supply wholesaler. Wholesaler will usually have a catalog of chair suppliers. I had a cafe and I got those chairs through an auction that the supplier knows about or your local classified. Best prices are through some one who is selling their inventory. Check your local for sale ads from business in the food industry. Good luck!
truly iconic
you know you can't get these in the East...there's cane, rattan and wicker, but no bentwood...probably one of the very few mass-produced items where the technology transfer just isn't feasible
there are passing imitations made with bent metal tubings but you just wanna take a chainsaw to them
I'm not sure what khanzen means by the East, but chairs of this type are available on the Bowery, here in NYC, although you might have to buy a minimum of 12.
I own a chair of this type, and although I like its looks, I find it uncomfortable. A round pad on the seat would be most welcome.
Conran Shops sell the real thing by Gebruder Thonet for about $250 a chair. Less expensive than a high design dining chair, but more expensive than Ikea. Personally think it's worth it- the real ones are very elegant!
Also- an American company made copies for Restaurant use. Try Ebay or some restaurant supplies on Bowery. I found a couple for a client on Ebay for 20$ each. Needed some sanding and new seat pad, but that took all of a weekend.
SHerwin Enterprises - that's the company name that made the cheaper versions - usually out of oak instead of beech.