The Office Chair Hierarchy: Embody, Aeron or Gesture?

If you work from home, your office chair may be the piece of furniture you use most after your bed. It's also the one people most often skimp on, buying a $200 chair and then wondering why their back hurts by Wednesday. At the top of the market, three chairs come up again and again, from designers, ergonomists and people who simply sit for a living. They're all excellent. The question is which one fits the way you actually sit.

The big three

The Embody sits at the top of the hierarchy on price and ambition. Its flexible, spine-like back moves with you as you shift position, which owners who sit 10-hour days describe as transformative. There are fewer adjustment knobs than you'd expect, which is deliberate: the chair adapts instead of asking you to tune it. Its looks divide people, and it lacks a dedicated lumbar adjustment, but if you sit all day and fidget constantly, it's the one we'd choose.

The Aeron is the most famous office chair in the world and still one of the most sensible. A mesh suspension seat and back keep you cooler than upholstered chairs, three sizes ensure a proper fit, and three decades of production mean parts and refurbished examples are everywhere. The Gesture, from Steelcase, takes a different approach. Its arms pivot almost anywhere, and its upholstered seat is plush, making it the most comfortable choice for people who lean back with a phone or curl up with a tablet between bursts of typing.

How to choose

• You sit all day and move a lot: Embody.
• Your home office runs warm, or you want the best value: Aeron.
• You use a phone and tablet as much as a keyboard: Gesture.
• You're unsure about sizing: try an Aeron in person before ordering.

Consider refurbished, too. Because these chairs are built to last a decade or more, a professionally refurbished example from a reputable dealer can cost far less than new and still carry a warranty. That's especially true of the Aeron, which has been in offices since the 1990s. Whatever you choose, set it up properly: feet flat, thighs roughly parallel to the floor, and the desk at a height where your shoulders can relax. A great chair at the wrong height is still a bad chair.

“The best ergonomic chair is the one that makes you forget you're sitting in it by 3 p.m.”— Home Desk