My leather loveseat from sofa-in-a-box startup Allform is deceptively expensive-looking and took 30 minutes to assemble

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• Allform is Helix Mattress's direct-to-consumer sofa brand offering modular sofas and sectionals.
• We tested its leather loveseat to see how the bed-in-a-box brand fares at the sofa-in-a-box game.
• This sturdy, lifetime-guaranteed sofa is a solid buy because it's relatively affordable and as easy to assemble as any IKEA furniture.
• See also: The best sofas you can buy
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Table of Contents: Masthead Sticky

Allform's business model is the same as its parent company's, mattress brand Helix. Place an order, and wait for your furniture to arrive in a series of boxes. They're heavy, and they're bulky, but they're just manageable enough to be delivered to a city apartment.

I tested a simple leather loveseat and a pair of ottomans to see how Allform stacked up to the bed-in-a-box model that's become so popular over the last few years.

What is Allform?

The best thing about Allform right off the bat is that, apart from the highly competitive price for a quality sofa, everything is modular. It sort of fits together like a tinker set, and the screws that hold the whole thing in place come with handy handles, so it's both easy to assemble and rearrange should you want to shift your furniture around, or happen to move.

Selecting what you want is also that much easier thanks to the modularity of the brand's sofas, and particularly its sectionals. The checkout process is also decidedly seamless. Come to think of it, it actually reminds us of placing an order on Seamless.

First, select your couch style – that's up to you, and how much space you're working with.

Next, choose your fabric. All sofas and sectionals come in various fabrics and colors. We went with Whiskey and leather.

Then you'll select a leg finish. Depending on your floors, the shade you pick can make a big difference, and having the option to customize your couch's legs opens up the ability to match your existing decor in a way that a lot of other sofa brands don't take into consideration.

Next, you can choose to add pillows. We say take them or leave them, but the matching leather ones do tie the thing together.

And finally, you can choose an ottoman, or two. In testing, they're every bit as sturdy as the couch and fully support the weight of not one but two moderately sized human beings. They're pricey, and if you're looking to save a few bucks, maybe hold off.

Assembly

Apart from receiving the tracking information, you'll get notified ahead of time by way of a call when your delivery is about to arrive. That's a very good thing, because you're about to receive somewhere between eight and 12 boxes, and you'll need to be ready.

The hardest part of the assembly, it turns out, is dealing with all of the boxes (i.e., cutting them down and getting them to recycling). But then again, if you're used to this bed-in-a-box-style of furniture delivery, you know what to expect.

Once the boxes are out of the way, putting the couch together is as easy as can be. Think IKEA, maybe, but more intuitive. There are no tiny hex wrenches to fumble with, no complicated manuals, and you can pretty much figure out how to assemble the thing without looking at the unironically easy-to-follow instructions. Still, it's worth taking note of them.

Once everything was out of the boxes, and once the boxes were no longer occupying the better part of the room, we had the whole couch, along with two ottomans, assembled in under 30 minutes.

Review of the Allform Loveseat

At 63" wide, 38" deep, and 34" high, this a true loveseat and you're not going to sprawl out on it for a nap – know that. But if you're working with a small room or a tight corner – or a secondary sofa – the loveseat is always a sound choice.

Entirely made in the USA, Allform uses protected (coated) top-grain leather, which comes with a three-year limited warranty. The frame, which comes with a limited lifetime warranty, is made of Sustainable Forestry Initiative-certified (SFI) kiln-dried and laminated maple and poplar hardwood, and tempered steel suspension. A tempered steel grid suspension is, admittedly, not the best suspension method in sofa construction. It's set in place sort of like the way a trampoline is, with springs built into the frame. These can be a little noisy (though we haven't heard a peep out of this piece), and they are also, according to Houzz, wont to break. Still, also according to Houzz, it's a feature you'll find in many mid-priced sofas.

The fill fabric is "high-grade" polyfoam and fiber, which might not say a lot, but we see no sign that these cushions will start to slouch any time soon.

Despite the concerns about the grid suspension, we find Allform's loveseat to be plenty sturdy and quiet. Sitting on it, we find ample support, and while the cushions aren't packed with fibers and firm in the way that those on some higher-priced sofas of this design are, overall the loveseat is just right.

The leather is soft, has a pleasant sheen to it, and doesn't scratch easily. It's perfectly serviceable and presentable.

The bottom line

If you're looking for the absolute best leather loveseat, there are better and sturdier options out there – but they'll also be double, or even triple your budget.

But if you want a leather loveseat that will handle many a year and tuchus without breaking the bank, Allform might just be the best way to go. We'll continue testing in the meantime and report back with longterm notes down the line.

Pros: Modular, quality leather, made in the USA, good warranty

Cons: Grid suspension has the potential to be noisy and/or fail

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