I have microsuede chairs and I can't kill them. I am ready for a new color but they still look great....can't justify it yet. They are pale blue and early on, my kid dumped a big bowl of tomato soup on one of them. Cleaned up like a dream.

You can get outdoor fabrics (like Sunbrella) in a lot more patterns than you might think. I was impressed with our local fabric store's selection last time I was there. You might check that out.

We have a window seat/banquette in our kitchen and the seat cushion is covered in a dark red/green blend chenille, and although I guess we haven't had any major spills, the seat is about 5 years old and still looks good as new. I thought we'd need to recover it every couple of years, and I'm actually disappointed that it looks so good because I'd love an excuse for a change! ;)

I can't advise on fabric, but as the mother of 3 boys and 4 grandsons, I wouldn't think of replacing either the table or chairs for 15 years. Just keep recovering the seat cushions in something durable and easy to clean. I'd put pads on the table with a tablecloth you can wash to protect the cherry.

I just purchased a new dining set. The seat and the back of the chair that you lean on is leather. The back of the chair on the outside is fabric, which gives it a more formal look.

Leather works best for us. The kids made a mess of our fabric covered chairs.

A lot of restaurants actually use vinyl for banquette seats and chair seats. There are a number of companies that make vinyl that feels a lot like leather. (Design-Tex, for example).

Leather seats is what I chose for my custom order chairs, my child is older and my wiener dogs are too short to get on them but I still wanted them to be family friendly since some of my friends still have young ones. On my ready to fall apart chairs that I am replacing vinyl has been super functional!

Thanks for the recommendations!

I use a hard chair (no cushion) for the younger ones. When they get better at not spilling they "graduate" to a chair with a cushion.