If you’re right in the process of buying a new kitchen table, you must’ve been through the question of chairs about a dozen times. Trying to decide between the complete set and the table with separate chairs is one of the great debates of the decade. It’s not just the fact that the chairs are cheaper when they’re bought in the set with the table but the features that you’d miss. The same thing is true for the style. What if you like the table but can’t stand the chairs that come with it? You need to get serious about nailing this question down.

Kitchen set or chairs and a table? It’s entirely your decision, but you may want to see the benefits and disadvantages of choosing one or another at the same place to be able to take a good hard look at it once more. Neither option is perfect so you should expect to experience some frustration ever after you’ve made up your mind about the solution.

When you buy the chair set you’ll have the convenience of not having to get each one of them at different places. It can come real handy if you live in a small town where you can’t just skim through the catalogue of the local shop and pick one of the hundred different styles of chairs. The other big help will be that you won’t have to pick the chairs separately. No mixing and matching so your time can be used for more important things, such as doing something about the coffee maker or the countertop. Anything but for the things you’ll be sitting on.

You might want to choose chairs separately if you don’t trust the sense of design of the person who’s made the set. Of if you want to add a rocking chair to the mix for example. When you look at it like that, some set come with really hideous chairs to start with. Sometimes they don’t match the style of the table at all, or there are too few or too many of them for your taste. It’s usually not a problem, but for those who would like 2 more of the same chairs, it’s a complete deal-breaker. There is simply no way to get two more even if you pay extra. They come with that many of them and that’s it.

The second issue is when a chair is broken. You know what kids are like; they don’t really listen to people and jump at chairs all the time this is an important consideration if you’re going to be buying a wicker chair as these are more vulnerable to breakage from abuse. I know, I used to do the same thing when I was young and rebellious. If you proud yourself in being the conscious customer, pick them separately. If you don’t really want to be dealing with the choice at all, go for a set and don’t even think about it ever again.