Try moving it around. Do the chairs wobble? Good quality chairs don't (I've got a set of Henkel Harris Duncan Phyfe style chairs that proves you can't rely on brand name alone). Table legs can usually be tightened. Beds are notorious for being loose, but if they use old fashioned bed bolts, they can be tightened up. I usually equate good quality furniture with being sturdy enough for its intended function (and the very best uses construction techniques and fits that maintain their integrity for generations). Dovetails are a good constuction technique. Raised panel door construction is another. Mortise and tenon joints are strong and durable (and sometimes may be given away by wooden pegs driven through the tenons). If you look at tables with leaves, look at how the slides are constructed - the heavier and beefier the better. Look at the secondary woods, and how it is fastened and finished. Since this doesn't show, this is an area where a lot of lower quality goods may cut corners. Any secondary wood that isn't "real wood" would make me question the quality (though I have seen some very nice Baltic birch drawer boxes). Look at how the pieces are fitted together. On good quality pieces, there will not be any gaps or fillers. You also won't be able to easily tell where they have filled any nail holes. Finally, look at the visible wood. I like solid wood, because it is easier to repair and finish (look for continuation of end grain around the edge of tops to see if it is solid). But don't discount veneer - some of the best furniture uses veneer (just make sure it is firmly attached, smooth, and flat). Good quality furniture doesn't use finger-jointed lumber, nor will you be able to detect where surface defects have been repaired. Flat surfaces will be flat, not rippled like someone is trying to mimic hand-planing by doing a poor job at it. The finish should be smooth, without dust, runs, orange peel, or splotchy areas. Note that it is a lot easier to hide poor workmanship or wood under a dark stain. On the other hand, if your into refininishing, sometimes you find diamonds under layers of old paint or varnish. Trust your gut. Quality is sort of like pornography - hard to define, but you'll know it when you see it.

I think, perhaps, I would cancel my order unless you have the option of sending it back upon inspection. Our city had an Ashley Furniture move in, and I thought, "Oh Good, another furniture store!" However, I was very disappointed when we went through the store, to find the quality very poor. It seemed that there was a lot of plastic that looked somewhat like wood. Otherwise, it was mostly veneers. If quality furniture is important to you, I would not deal with Ashleys. I have not been back to the store again.

Thanks so much for all the replies so far... I knew the list was too long and somewhat messy since some of the listings with someone's name may be people/designers who have contracted with another manufacturer to produce a line with their "brand/name" stamped on it instead... but when I posted on the furniture forum I didn't get many responses when just asking for quality, so I thought it might help to have a list to jog some responses. Reviews mean a lot to me when making purchasing decisions, and I am coming at the upholstered world with very little knowledge. A few years ago after a lot of research back then, I purchased our first two pieces of upholstered furniture that were not "hand-me-downs" or cheap college purchases, and I went with Lee Industries. Unfortunately I think we only sat on that sofa and beautiful chair two times before we found out my husband's job required a major move, and since we had purchased them during a promotion, we were able to get most of our money out of them through Craigslist, which was better than paying mover's to transport our things and pay for storage since we'd be landing in a partially-furnished rental for the first year. Since then I have read a lot of conflicting Lee reviews, including on GW/nowHouzz, and so it feels like starting over, but I'm still leaning that way. I tend to like to spend money on experiences vs. things, so I really want to get as many decades out of our furniture purchases as possible, even if paying a little more on the front end for quality to make that happen. Though a poster above was spot on - they just don't make 'em today like they used to, do they... I wish they did! My favorite chair in our house is from my husband's 87-ish year-old-grandmother, and it was second-hand when she bought it many years ago, so I guess it's third-hand by now. There are a few stains, but it sits perfectly, and I would never recover the embroidered linen on it unless it wears through - I can't even imagine what that kind of fabric would cost today. Re: case goods... I know my standards on that front are only because my parents own a small mom-and-pop store in the Midwest that sells solid wood case goods, mostly Amish-made. While it isn't all my style, that is how we ended up with hand-me-downs, and so over the years my Dad has drilled into me to look for solid-built, solid wood quality. If not for the family discount on that front, my preferences might be different. To answer the question above about veneer - the reason why I excluded veneer is because they don't carry anything with particle board or veneer, but I also want to avoid veneer because in our current rental, two side tables that are not ours have nicks through the veneer that reveal the mdf or particle board underneath, and they just aren't wearing like the the 10+ year old coffee table we got from my parents, which still looks pretty perfect. Our pedestal breakfast table is the same one I sat at for dinner each night as a child, and other than the fact that it has been refinished once and that oak is currently off-trend, it looks pretty indestructible. I wouldn't pick the oak today, but the table has a nostalgia that will keep it with us. I hope to update the look a bit with upholstered chairs around it. If I could edit the thread list down after the fact, I would, but unfortunately it looks like the time window for changes has passed. Thanks again for all the reviews so far, it really helps to know what has worn well and what to look for... sounds like I may need to start looking at some estate sales and craiglist ads too...

I’m also in the PNW so can relate to the rain issues. I bought Cane-line (Danish company) furniture over 11 years ago and it still looks brand new. It’s a woven resin type that stays outside all year round. I do bring the cushions in over the winter and they are on a covered deck spring through fall. It wasn’t the cheapest furniture, I think about $2500 Cdn for a loveseat, two chairs and a coffee table, but averaged over 11 years (so far) I think it’s been worth every penny.