Long summer days means longer hours spent relaxing and unwinding under the sun—and comfortable outdoor patio chairs from which to do it. Innovative materials, ergonomic shapes, and summer-ready colors are all part of the recipe for our favorite modern outdoor furniture designs that range from Mid Century classic to contemporary cool.
Modern Outdoor Dining Chairs
Top 10 Modern Patio Chairs
The Best 21 Modern Outdoor Dining Chairs
Pull up a chair and explore 21 modern outdoor dining chairs that will have your patio, garden, veranda or poolside not only looking on point, but ready for relaxing and entertaining. From aspirational chairs to hardworking performers, pair a set of these chairs with an outdoor dining table and create the oasis you deserve.
Finding the perfect outdoor dining chair
Outdoor dining is one of the more enjoyable perks of warm weather, and if you’re lucky enough to have a deck, patio, or garden, you’re already halfway towards creating a beautiful outdoor dining room in which dinner or drinks under sun or stars becomes a highlight of summer. An outdoor table and chairs will, of course become priority when you begin furnishing your deck or patio, and finding smart, comfortable, and affordable outdoor dining chairs may present more of a challenge. Before purchasing any outdoor dining furniture, be sure to answer the following questions:
Popular Outdoor Dining Chair Colors
How many outdoor dining chairs should I buy?
This may seem like an obvious question, but, depending on the style and material of the modern outdoor dining chairs you select—if they’re lightweight and stackable, for instance—you may consider buying a few more chairs than fit around your dining table, ready for those occasions when extra seating is needed. But, as a rule, it’s best to limit the number of dining chairs you buy to those that fit around your dining table comfortably—unless you have lots of outdoor space to spare.
Is material important when selecting contemporary outdoor table and chairs?
When it comes to outdoor furniture of any kind, material is important for a couple of reasons. Ideally, you should be selecting furniture—whether patio table and chairs or garden table and chairs—that perform well under most weather conditions. If at all possible, outdoor dining furniture should be low-maintenance and durable, making outdoor living easy and breezy, befitting the season. The material of your modern outdoor table and chairs is also important as it relates to weight. Some material, like wood and wrought iron, tends to be heavy and not particularly portable, while aluminum and plastic are easy to move around. So, depending on how versatile you want your outdoor dining furniture to be, material matters.
How important is comfort when choosing modern outdoor dining chairs?
Uncomfortable chairs are no fun, but you don’t need to go out of your way to find the world’s most comfortable outdoor dining chairs. The simple reason is that they tend not to be the chairs in which people sit in for hours, as they would in, say, a lounge chair or sofa. So, keep the comfort level on par with the overall function of outdoor dining furniture. Whether patio table and chairs or any other outdoor furniture, find that balance between style, comfort and functionality.
Should my modern outdoor table and chairs be a matching set?
Not necessarily. As it is with indoor furniture, shopping for outdoor furniture is rarely about hard and fast rules. Whether you’re in the market for a garden table and chairs or a set of outdoor chairs alone, don’t worry about matching furniture up exactly. A case can be made for an eclectic grouping of contemporary outdoor dining chairs, which may create an interesting visual arrangement, as much as for an identical set of chairs, which may look more visually refined. Either way, personal preference, more than anything, should help you decide on whether your outdoor table and chairs are part of a complete set, or a combination of different styles.
