The New Windsor Chair

I'm in the market for new dining room chairs, and I find myself drawn to the various new versions of a classic Shaker-style chairs. I've long-admired Design Within Reach's Salt Chair (above). Priced at about $100 per chair for a solid beech frame, I think it's a great value (in fact, I nominated Salt for Woman's Day's Great Value award when I was freelancing at the magazine). You can choose from white, black, red, or gray--personally, I like black. 

Serena & Lily recently introduced their own Shaker-style seat, the Tucker Chair ($158). To my eyes, it is nearly identical to the Salt, but it does come in a greater range of colors, including beach-y pastel hues like coral and pale blue.

Crate & Barrel's spin on the iconic chair is the Willa Chair, which comes in white, black, and peacock.Normally priced at $149, these dining chairs are now listed at $127 a piece. (These cuties also appeared on the September cover of Country Living magazine.)

West Elm's Spoke chair ($299) reverses the shape of the seat back fan, with the narrow side at the top. Up until recently, the company also made a chair called the Modern Windsor, but it appears to be sold out on the site.

The best bargain I have found for a contemporary Shaker chair is the Joslyn Side Chair by Safavieh. It retails for just $127 for two at various online retailers, including Waifair.com, which stocks it in raspberry (above), black, gray, white, and natural. The price is so good for these, that I think this may be the chair we end up purchasing.

The most creative reinterpretations of the Shaker chair that I have seen are Lina Nordqvist's Family Chairs for Design House Stockholm. Sold in black or white, the four chairs in the collection are each a unique twist on a fan-back silhouette. They're sold in pairs (Chairs 1 & 2 at left and Chairs 3 & 4 at right) for $400 per pair.

Update: The March 2014 issue of Country Living featured an article titled Whimsical Windsors. In addition to the chairs I've listed here, CL also featured two handsome options: Crate & Barrel's Riviera White Tall Windsor Side Chair and the J77 Chair by Hay Denmark sold through The Modern Shop.