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Best places to buy patio furniture online
Castlery
Spring is here, and summer is just around the corner. So now’s a great time to get your patio, balcony, porch or backyard ready for outdoor lounging, dining and just vibing. Whether you’re outfitting your outdoor space for the first time, or are looking to level up your current situation, we’ve rounded up the best places to buy patio furniture online, as well as our favorite pieces of furniture from our selected retailers.
Read on to see our favorite pieces from Wayfair, Walmart, Pottery Barn and more, which will suit patios and budgets big and small. And if you’re in the market for a grill as well, check out our roundup of the best charcoal grills. Do you have a pool? We also got you covered with the best outdoor speakers.
Best places to buy patio furniture online:
Best overall place to buy patio furniture online: Wayfair
Wayfair
Wayfair’s selection of outdoor furniture is vast, making it a great place to shop for patio pieces of all sizes and styles. The brand has shopping categories dedicated to patio furniture sets, including small-space patio furniture, patio bar furniture and more. You can filter your selection by material, such as wood, metal, wicker/rattan and plastic/resin.
We really like this affordable, three-piece conversation set that includes rocking chairs and a bistro table, perfect for the couple that loves having their morning coffee on the porch. There’s also this larger, nine-piece patio dining set that comes with two built-in fire pits, perfect for summertime s’mores with family and friends.
Another thing to like? At Wayfair, shipping is typically free (and fast). Professional assembly of your new Wayfair furniture is available at an extra cost.
Most affordable patio furniture online: Walmart
Walmart
Those on a budget will appreciate the selection of affordable patio furniture at Walmart. You can score big patio furniture sets for less than $1,000, which is often a starting price at higher-end retailers. This seven-piece outdoor sectional set, which includes a glass-top table and can be configured into multiple different seating arrangements, is $586. It comes in three colors and is made of all-weather wicker.
We also like this stylish medium-sized set that has two end tables conveniently built into the sofa. You and your guests can set your drinks down there, or on top of the metal slat table the set comes with.
There’s also our readers’ favorite rattan patio dining set from Costway, which includes two lounge chairs, a loveseat and a glass-top table. It’s available in five colors. This bestseller is currently on sale for $189, a whopping 48% off.
Shipping is free for most patio furniture at Walmart. (Check individual listings for confirmation that shipping is free to your address.)
Best place to buy single patio furniture pieces online: Pottery Barn
Pottery Barn
Pottery Barn is perfect for people who want an eclectic patio furniture set up, or for those who are looking to buy a couple of extra pieces for their space instead of an entire set. The brand has a great selection of seating arrangements, such as this Parisian-inspired outdoor bistro chair and this beautiful outdoor wicker dining bench for two. You’ll also find a nice selection of outdoor rugs, cantilever umbrellas, end tables and even some fire pits.
As for sets, there are some, and they’re stunning. These include this nine-piece dining table set, which includes eight chairs and a table, the top of which is crafted from teak. Teak is considered the best wood to use for outdoor furniture, as it won’t get significantly damaged while sitting out in inclement weather. There’s also this smaller, five-piece teak patio set, which comes with two cushioned chairs, accompanying ottomans and a table.
Best place to splurge on patio furniture: Frontgate
Frontgate
Frontgate is an elegant home brand that comes with a high price tag, but the quality and style of its furniture and products are worth the splurge. The brand has a wide range of eye-catching outdoor pieces, including this unique circular couch that can seat about seven people, and this three-piece, handwoven teak and resin wicker set that can seat four.
Frontgate also stands out for having a selection of outdoor kitchen furniture. This includes outdoor bar carts and entertainment stations such as the Westport Teak, which includes a built-in beverage hub, an umbrella holder, plenty of counter space for snacks and drinks, and trash cans that are concealed behind cabinets.
For the home chef who would love to cook outdoors, this Westport aluminum outdoor kitchen, complete with a grill cabinet, would be perfect for summer family barbecues.
Stylish patio furniture on a budget: Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond
Bed Bath & Beyond is an often slept-on retailer compared to Amazon and Wayfair, but we think it’s a treasure trove when it comes to affordable furniture. Bed Bath & Beyond has so many pretty patio tables, chairs and more that will excite those looking for furniture that is both fashionable and functional. These include these rattan papasan lounge chairs, this very affordable rattan bistro set with black cushions and this striking white woven chaise lounge set from Safavieh.
The brand also has some unique furniture options that we can’t say we’ve seen from other retailers. We love this fun wicker egg chair and this unique patio bench, which has two Adirondack chairs that are attached together via a center table. There’s also this super fun swinging daybed, which is perfect for people who enjoy taking naps outdoors during the summer.
And if you look hard enough, you’ll even find furniture that looks like its from a higher-end retailer, such as this impressive CB2 look-alike by Christopher Knight home, which is $558 less than the CB2 model.
Best place to buy modern patio furniture: Castlery
Castlery
If you’re looking to add some modern flair to your outdoor space, be sure to check out the furniture available at Castlery. You’ll find weather-resistant lounge chairs, outdoor loveseats, dining sets and more for your outdoor space in a variety of materials (acacia wood, aluminum, teak, rattan).
One of our favorite Castlery sets is the Maui outdoor loveseat, two lounge chairs and acacia wood table set ($2,249, reduced from $2,646) seen here. You can add a side table or protective cover for an additional charge. We also like the teak Rio line, defined by its modern, angular look. You can get a Rio sofa, lounge chairs and table set for $4,445. (You can add on individual pieces too, like a chaise sofa ($1,299) or L-shaped sectional ($3,697).
Castlery offers three delivery service options: standard, room of choice and white glove. Standard shipping is free to select cities with a purchase of $999 or more.
It’s been said the best meals come from the heart, not from a recipe book. But at this USDA kitchen, there’s no pinch of this, dash of that, no dollops or smidgens of anything. Here, nutritionists in white coats painstakingly measure every single ingredient, down to the tenth of a gram.
Sheryn Stover is expected to eat every crumb of her pizza; any tiny morsels she does miss go back to the kitchen, where they’re scrutinized like evidence of some dietary crime.
Stover (or participant #8180, as she’s known) is one of some 10,000 volunteers enrolled in a $170 million nutrition study run by the National Institutes of Health. “At 78, not many people get to do studies that are going to affect a great amount of people, and I thought this was a great opportunity to do that,” she said.
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It’s called the Nutrition for Precision Health Study. “When I tell people about the study, the reaction usually is, ‘Oh, that’s so cool, can I do it?'” said coordinator Holly Nicastro.
She explained just what “precise” precisely means: “Precision nutrition means tailoring nutrition or dietary guidance to the individual.”
The government has long offered guidelines to help us eat better. In the 1940s we had the “Basic 7.” In the ’50s, the “Basic 4.” We’ve had the “Food Wheel,” the “Food Pyramid,” and currently, “My Plate.”
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They’re all well-intentioned, except they’re all based on averages – what works best for most people, most of the time. But according to Nicastro, there is no one best way to eat. “We know from virtually every nutrition study ever conducted, we have inner individual variability,” she said. “That means we have some people that are going to respond, and some people that aren’t. There’s no one-size-fits-all.”
The study’s participants, like Stover, are all being drawn from another NIH study program called All Of Us, a massive undertaking to create a database of at least a million people who are volunteering everything from their electronic health records to their DNA. It was from that All of Us research that Stover discovered she has the gene that makes some foods taste bitter, which could explain why she ate more of one kind of food than another.
Professor Sai Das, who oversees the study at Tufts University, says the goal of precision nutrition is to drill down even deeper into those individual differences. “We’re moving away from just saying everybody go do this, to being able to say, ‘Okay, if you have X, Y and Z characteristics, then you’re more likely to respond to a diet, and somebody else that has A, B and C characteristics will be responding to the diet differently,'” Das said.
It’s a big commitment for Stover, who is one of 150 people being paid to live at a handful of test sites around the country for six weeks – two weeks at a time. It’s so precise she can’t even go for a walk without a dietary chaperone. “Well, you could stop and buy candy … God forbid, you can’t do that!” she laughed.
While she’s here, everything from her resting metabolic rate, her body fat percentage, her bone mineral content, even the microbes in her gut (digested by a machine that essentially is a smart toilet paper reading device) are being analyzed for how hers may differ from someone else’s.
Nicastro said, “We really think that what’s going on in your poop is going to tell us a lot of information about your health and how you respond to food.”
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Stover says she doesn’t mind, except for the odd sounds the machine makes. While she is a live-in participant, thousands of others are participating from their homes, where electronic wearables track all kinds of health data, including special glasses that record everything they eat, activated when someone starts chewing. Artificial intelligence can then be used to determine not only which foods the person is eating, but how many calories are consumed.
This study is expected to be wrapped up by 2027, and because of it, we may indeed know not only to eat more fruits and vegetables, but what combination of foods is really best for us. The question that even Holly Nicastro can’t answer is, will we listen? “You can lead a horse to water; you can’t make them drink,” she said. “We can tailor the interventions all day. But one hypothesis I have is that if the guidance is tailored to the individual, it’s going to make that individual more likely to follow it, because this is for me, this was designed for me.”
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Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Ed Givnish.
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