As the two most dominating types of garden furniture in the UK market, it can be difficult to choose between rattan garden furniture and aluminium garden furniture. What’s best for you and your garden? Here, we weigh up the pros and cons of each to help you decide what material is best for you.
"Thorough research into where you are buying from and the materials used is crucial."
- White Stores
Rattan Garden Furniture
The rattan used in the UK is a synthetic wicker, with the highest quality being made from HDPE. This is because authentic/natural rattan would rot in the UK’s damp climate. High quality synthetic rattan furniture is also made with powder coated aluminium framework which ensures the furniture is fully weatherproof for a UK climate.
Advantages of Rattan
1. Rattan is so suitable for the UK’s varying weather because it be left outside all year round without becoming brittle in cold temperatures, rusting in damp conditions or melting in the heat.
2. Rattan is incredibly low maintenance and requires absolutely no treatment in order to leave it outside all year round.
3. Cleaning the furniture is easy, a bucket of soapy water and a soft bristle brush or a jet wash can be used to clean the rattan and the cushion covers can often be removed and machine washed (this is definitely true for White Stores rattan).
4. The furniture is long lasting and often comes with lengthy guarantees giving you peace of mind.
Disadvantages of Rattan
1. In order to truly get the benefits of rattan you have to ensure that you get high quality rattan made from HDPE with aluminium frames. If you go for steel frames and PU rattan, all of the advantages mentioned above will be mute. To ensure good quality you may have to spend a little more.
Aluminium Garden Furniture
Aluminium garden furniture offers more modern styling than rattan garden furniture and is also incredibly weatherproof. However, the furniture can heat up in hot weather, making it unbearable to sit on unless you have thick padded cushions (these are included with White Stores’ aluminium furniture).
Advantages of Aluminium
1. Aluminium is a sturdy yet lightweight material that can be moved around easily, ideal if your garden enjoys sun in one place in the morning and another in the evening.
2. Aluminium is very resistant to extreme weather conditions, allowing you to leave it outdoors.
3. Because of the casting process, aluminium furniture should always arrive pre-assembled and ready to use straight away with no assembly required.
Disadvantages of Aluminium
1. Like all metals, aluminium has a breaking point and continuous use or heavy weight can cause the metal to bend beyond repair.
2. Not all aluminium is weatherproof and sturdy, you must ensure you have powder coated aluminium, and this may cost more. Additionally, paying more will decrease the chance of the furniture being too lightweight and being at risk during high winds.
To conclude, both materials have their own pros and cons, but in order to ensure good quality in each material, thorough research into where you are buying from and the materials used is crucial.
At White Stores, we have several showrooms located around the UK which allows customers to view and test the furniture for themselves as well as getting helpful knowledge and advice from our sales advisors.
