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Swivel recliners accentuate the fact that the act of turning has been a staple of our collective pop culture vernacular for as long as entertainment has existed. From villains in movies slowly turning around to lecture the hero to heroes that have to learn to turn left to defeat the villain, through songs about spinning someone right ’round baby right ’round, we’ve spent a lifetime appreciating the motion that swivel chairs facilitate. 

The primary feature of a swivel recliner is not necessarily the ability to recline but the functionality of creating a 270- to 360-degree view just by pushing your legs around the floor. Swiveling is akin to spinning; if it doesn’t spin, it doesn’t swivel. From there, the variety in swivel recliners expands to include office chairs, classic recliners, rockers, accent chairs, and many more. But for the best swivel recliners of 2024, we picked five and made sure they swivel and recline to give you maximum mobility while you max and relax. 

How we chose the best swivel recliners

Since customers know best, we combined previous research on great recliners for both pleasure and pain relief with a search for the chairs that the customers are not only purchasing but also talking about. We mean four-star and above conversation, leaving the three-star and below recliners for the curb. We also call an audible occasionally, choosing a newer chair that might not be highly reviewed yet but comes from a trusted brand and is full of style. 

The best swivel recliners: Reviews & Recommendations

The best swivel recliners of 2024 have to at least recline and swivel. While there are different methods of reclining, there is no variation in swivel, as that construction generally requires similar parts. These five swiveling recliner chairs will keep you turning around to face your perceived realities until you have to recline out of dizziness.  

Best overall: Evolur Harlow Deluxe Glider Swivel Recliner

Evolur

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Specs

  • Material: Polyester
  • Recline type: Power
  • Swivel degree: 275°

Pros

  • Push-button recline
  • USB port
  • Solid construction

Cons

  • Limited swivel
  • Design is a bit bland

The Evolur Harlow Deluxe Glider Swivel Recliner comes in a few variations of gray, which can make for a bit of a dull chair. However, that just means it matches with all your other furniture, and you can always just get a chair cover. Regardless, it has the prerequisites of being both a recliner and a swivel chair and has hundreds of positive reviews. 

Features include a power reclining mechanism controlled by a button on the armrest. There’s a built-in USB port to charge up while you’re sitting down and some side pockets. While it doesn’t swivel all the way around, 275 degrees at least eliminates the side eye. Coming in at under $400, the Evolur Harlow Deluxe Glider Swivel Recliner is a best buy if you want to swivel and recline. 

Best splurge: Hershman Leather Swivel Recliner 

Hershman

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Specs

  • Material: Leather
  • Recline type: Manual lever
  • Swivel degree: 360°

Pros

  • Top grain leather
  • Solid wood construction
  • Mid-century modern style

Cons

  • Expensive
  • No charging ports
  • Ottoman instead of leg rest

Hershman Leather Swivel Recliner is very much a splurge, but there’s good reason for spending over $1,000 on a swivel recliner. It comes in orange, blue, white, and cream, so it immediately does away with the boring gray found in most chairs. It also focuses on ergonomics, with a manual recline and included ottoman. This is a sitting room chair, or at least one you’ll want to use as a centerpiece in the living room. 

Most importantly, it swivels an entire 360 degrees, so if you entertain a lot of James Bond types and own a hairless cat, this chair is a must-have. But really, it’s the style that counts. Full leather and a mid-century modern look make the Hershman Leather Swivel Recliner an absolute splurge.

Best design: CHITA Power Recliner 

CHITA

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Specs

  • Material: Faux leather / Fabric
  • Recline type: Power glide
  • Swivel degree: 270°

Pros

  • Ten color options
  • Power glide function
  • Extended footrest

Cons

  • Not a full swivel
  • No swivel lock when reclined

The CHITA Power Recliner has all those nice features you want in a swivel recliner, like lumbar support, USB charging, push-button recline, and rocking. That’s right; this is a swivel-rocking recliner, so you can rock, swivel, and recline. Fun times. But that’s not the main selling point of this recliner. 

Rather, that would be the two material selections in faux leather or fabric, along with 10 different color selections. That means that the CHITA Power Recliner is the perfect chair when you want to recline in accordance with your home design. 

Best value: Abingdon Upholstered Swivel Recliner 

Abingdon

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Specs

  • Material: Polyester blend
  • Recline type: Glider
  • Swivel degree: 360°

Pros

  • Full recline
  • Also a rocker
  • Easy to clean

Cons

  • Low weight limit
  • Kind of small

Another gliding rocker billed as a nursery chair, the Abingdon Upholstered Swivel Recliner will also suffice as a regular recliner. Plus, it’s a rocker as well. You get a full recline, and it’s moderately cheap. It’s not a flashy recliner with a ton of color options or a necessarily big poofy recliner, but it does what it sets out to do. 

And isn’t that the real value of a recliner? Serving as a place to rest your weary bones after a long day of dealing with humanity? And sometimes all you need is a simple chair like the Abingdon Upholstered Swivel Recliner to set your feet up, swivel around to watch TV, and wait for the day to close.

Best budget: Sweetcrispy Swivel Rocking Recliner 

Sweetcrispy

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Specs

  • Material: Linen fabric
  • Recline type: Manual
  • Swivel degree: 360°

Pros

  • Adjustable recline
  • Full 360° swivel
  • High backrest

Cons

  • A bit narrow
  • No electronic functions

The Sweetcrispy Swivel Rocking Recliner comes in at around $200, which should fit nearly any chair-related budget. This is not a complex chair; it sticks to the basics. There are no massage functions, USB charging, automatic recline, or heating, but it does swivel all the way around. This is a chair your kids will spin in until you lose your patience and kick them outdoors.

This is a sturdy little chair, and there’s the only real downside. It’s a bit narrow, so it’s not suited for bigger folk. But it holds its own with an adjustable recline, so you don’t have to live in the black and white of reclining all the way or not at all. The Sweetcrispy Swivel Rocking Recliner is a budget chair for sure, but without being budget quality.

What to consider before buying one of the best swivel recliners

Before you purchase a swivel recliner, you’ll want to hone in on at least three particular points:

Swivel degree

Most swivel recliners have a 270- to 360-degree radius. But that 90 degrees makes a huge difference. Without that last right angle, you won’t be able to turn all the way around. Peripheral swivels are nice and all, but sometimes we want to be able to go the full 360 degrees because it’s super fun.

Material

You’ll want to search for a fabric chair if you are looking for multiple color options outside the beige, gray, and black found in faux leather chairs. Both are easy to clean, as is polyester. Pure leather will be the most expensive and sometimes offers some interesting color choices. And it looks the best. 

Features

Chairs vary in their available features, and it’s rare to find a swivel chair with plug-in features such as massage and heat. However, you’ll find plenty with electronic recline, USB charging, and lumbar support. These common features make each chair more appealing, especially when you can charge your phone while nowhere near an actual outlet.

FAQs

Q: Which is better: manual or electric recliner?

It’s completely subjective, but electric obviously requires a power source. Plus, it adds a higher chance of something breaking in the future. But one of the best things about an electric recline is that it offers you more available positions. Manual usually is either reclined all the way or not at all. However, there are some manual recliners that allow for adjustable recline.

Q: Are swivel chairs safe for elderly?

Swivel chairs are safe for anybody as long as there are no mobility or vertigo issues. However, the elderly usually prefer stable, non-spinning chairs because of the aforementioned issues. 

Q: What is the average cost of a good recliner?

A good recliner can cost anywhere between $200 and thousands of dollars, with the average generally hovering around $400 to $500 for a standard recliner. There are so many brands on the market these days that it’s easy to find a good recliner that fits your needs and your budget.

Final thoughts on the best swivel recliners

When choosing the best swivel recliner, knowing your swivel degree is important because that’s the most entertaining part about these chairs. We don’t spin because we have to; we spin because we want to. Plus, if we can recline a bit, maybe rock, while doing so, even better. The best swivel recliners make us feel like the world is spinning, but without having to run in a circle. 

Why trust us

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now.

Our writers and editors have combined decades of experience covering and reviewing consumer electronics. We each have our own obsessive specialties—from high-end audio to video games to cameras and beyond—but when we’re reviewing devices outside of our immediate wheelhouses, we do our best to seek out trustworthy voices and opinions to help guide people to the very best recommendations. We know we don’t know everything, but we’re excited to live through the analysis paralysis that internet shopping can spur so readers don’t have to.