What to Know About BenchMade Modern’s Editor-Loved Furniture

While it may have seemed like a foreign concept a few short years ago, buying a sofa sight unseen is now a fairly standard practice. Thanks to AI-backed visualization tools, free fabric swatches, customer reviews — and our Personal Shopper series, of course — you can make a very educated decision on a piece of furniture without ever trying it out in a showroom. There are tons of direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands that have taken advantage of this model, selling customizable sofas, chairs, and more, strictly on their websites, so it’s totally possible to find the couch of your dreams without sitting on it first. BenchMade Modern is one such DTC company, and their highly customizable pieces have been catching our eye for some time.

BenchMade Modern is an online, direct-to-consumer custom furniture company that makes a variety of furniture pieces — with 1,000+ styles, and 100+ performance fabrics and leathers — but focuses primarily on upholstered items like sofas, sectionals, accent chairs, and beds. Their sofas are constructed with durable, kiln-dried wood (the ideal frame material), they contain long-lasting unidirectional webbing or sinuous steel spring suspensions, and offer a range of high-performance fabrics that will withstand years of wear by pets, kids, and everyday spills. 

As you can tell by the numbers, the main selling point of the brand is the level of customization available on their sofas, which are relatively affordable compared to traditional fully-custom sofas. One of their best-selling three-seater sofas, for example, offers 100+ different fabric and leather options, widths from 60 to 100 inches, two different cushion fills, and four different materials for legs. Plus, multiple sofa lines are available in a range of depths and cushion types, so you can tailor your lounge experience to how you use your sofa.

BenchMade Modern prides themselves on custom-making each piece to order in Texas and California, which means they don’t over-manufacture products that sit in warehouses waiting to be purchased — and get thrown away if they are not. But this also means their pieces take a bit longer to arrive than other ready-to-ship options, and on average, their custom sofas take two to six weeks to ship. That said, we’ve found that this is a pretty short lead time compared to some other custom furniture companies, and customer reviews state that BenchMade Modern is reliably prompt. 

Unlike some totally do-it-yourself furniture brands, BenchMade Modern furniture does not require much assembly. Most of their pieces are shipped fully assembled but with the legs off, so for a sofa you’ll likely only need to twist or screw the legs onto the piece when it arrives. Sectionals break down into two or more pieces and include connecting hardware to keep the whole sofa tightly locked in place. If you upgrade to white glove delivery, the delivery team will dispose of the boxes and packing material for you. 

BenchMade Modern delivers upholstered furniture to your home with two different delivery options that accommodate different needs and budgets. Their standard (threshold) delivery starts at $149 and means that a delivery person will bring a boxed furniture piece into the front door or garage (aka, the first threshold) during a scheduled delivery appointment, but you’ll need to unbox the piece yourself and often complete a bit of assembly. White glove delivery is available for an extra charge starting at $299, though, and includes a delivery team bringing the piece into your home, unwrapping it, and disposing of remaining packaging. As for smaller items like rugs, lamps, and tables, they’re drop-shipped to your door in one to three weeks. 

We appreciate the comparatively affordable approach to custom furniture and the convenience of shopping from home, but if for some reason you don’t love the piece you purchase from BenchMade Modern, the brand also includes 100-day returns for all their products. This is certainly a helpful bonus for any DTC furniture purchased online that might not be an exact fit once it comes into your home. 

They also offer free fabric samples which we’d definitely recommend taking advantage of in order to make the right decision and avoid the hassle of returning. Says Editor Britt Franklin, “What I found so helpful about BenchMade Modern’s swatches were the stickers on the back of each one that let you know the name of the style, type of material, the rub count, the finish, and the cleaning code.” 

BenchMade Modern does not have stores or a showroom you can visit, but they have quite a few measures in place to ensure that online ordering is simple and transparent so you know exactly what you’re getting. They offer free swatches of their fabrics so you can feel and see them in person before committing to an upholstery material, and their fabric information page has full breakdowns of materials and use cases for each material.

In addition, during their sales, you can actually order a sofa before choosing a fabric, so you have some extra time to decide while taking advantage of a current promotion. They’ll also send you a life-size paper cutout of your chosen piece to ensure that it fits properly in your floor plan, and the site is densely populated with customer reviews and photos, which we’d recommend taking a thorough look at before making a decision. 

Yes, BenchMade Modern often runs sales like a 20% discount on Labor Day and Black Friday. They do not allow stacking promo codes on top of sales, though, so save your promo code for a later date. They also offer monthly financing through Affirm, and have a trade discount for professionals in the industry. 

Yes, we think BenchMade Modern furniture is worth it. The brand makes highly reviewed and well-constructed pieces that are priced competitively (and relatively affordably) for the level of customization they provide and the quality of the build.