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Lounge in style one of these tried and tested corner sofas to suit your living room style and budget
There’s nothing like a sprawling corner sofa to dive into at the end of a busy day – or indeed at any time of the day, we don’t need to find an excuse. By its very nature, this is a sociable furniture piece, designed for family or housemate interaction, especially when it’s wrapped around a low-sitting coffee table with drinks.
It’s ideal for movie night, too, whether you’re furnishing a dedicated media room or looking for suitable seating for your makeshift home cinema. Either way, you can pass the popcorn along that L-shape.
A corner sofa is rarely cheap so think of it as an investment. It’s also worth bearing in mind that this hefty unit has essentially replaced the traditional three-piece suite, so when looking at your budget, remember you’re getting two, three or even four-in-one seating here.
Some of the best L-shaped settees are luxuriously slouchy, giving us little choice but to crash in and relax. Look for designs with an integrated chaise longue or footstool if you value putting your feet up.
You’ll also need to consider your space and whether a corner sofa is best suited to left- or right-hand configurations as most are asymmetrical. However, some modular designs give you the freedom to position a chaise left or right, which is handy if you have a house move on the cards, or you simply like to rearrange the furniture from time to time.
We lounged our way through our list of top corner sofas, looking for exceptional craftsmanship and great design. We weighed up the quality of the materials and affordability, how easy the modular models slotted together and, ultimately, the perfect balance between comfort and support.
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As the name suggests, the squishmeister packs in a lot of cushioning, and that cushioning boasts a combination of feathers, foam and fibre. Beyond that, the frame offers homely comfort with luxuriously padded armrests, while the brand’s extra scatter cushions add to the pleasingly piled-up look. The sofa’s bulkiness is offset with smooth, tapered mid-century style legs crafted from solid oak. With a hefty corner sofa elevated off the floor, you get the aesthetic of a laid-back slouchy couch, but you won’t have any trouble getting out of it. This one’s super cosy and boasts excellent British craftsmanship.
With curves enjoying an interiors moment, we couldn’t ignore the voluptuous lilli sofa, designed exclusively for Heal’s by Danish brand Says Who. There’s so much to love about this high-end modular corner sofa. The shaping of its curved frame is echoed throughout the piece, from the rounded seating to the sloping armrests and even the sofa’s circular feet in pale ash, which are cleverly recessed to give the settee the illusion of floating. This one feels wonderfully enveloping, supportive and cosy, with foam cushioning throughout. And its rounded shaping brings even more of a sociable feel than right-angled corner sofas. Choose from a range of luxe Italian leather and velvet upholstery.
New to Sofa.com, the oswald is a boxy number that boasts clean contemporary lines and a fuss-free silhouette. But it’s not just about the statement shaping: its fibre-filled back cushions are soft and supportive in equal measure, while its cushion-free seat and chaise are pleasingly firm but ultimately comfy. We love the way the two pieces seemingly slide together, packed tightly into the sofa’s upright frame. This one’s made to order and, as such, comes in a huge range of fabrics and colour options. Choose from cotton-linen blends, velvet, tweed or leather and plump for natural neutrals or a bright mono colour pop. The choice is so vast it feels practically bespoke.
The althaea is commonly known as the marshmallow plant, which goes some way to explain this contemporary corner sofa’s choice of name. Indeed, it’s a dream to sink into with its luxuriously soft and bouncy seat and back cushions. While most corner sofas feature asymmetric shaping, this one’s pleasingly squared off – but it does demand a lot of floor space. Its sturdy frame is made from a mix of birch and engineered board, while cushioning consists of foam and fibre, with feather-filled scatter cushions further adding to the comfort. While this is a low and slouchy corner sofa, it does feature discreet black feet, which award it a bit of elevation. There’s also a good choice of upholstery fabrics, from boucle to cord to the family friendly easy velvet.
Raft’s offering is the ultimate in low-down, luxurious lounging. The contemporary L-shaped modular sofa is, in fact, made up of four units, including the footstool, which allows for versatility. The columbus boasts generously deep and wide seat cushions, while the backrest cushioning is equally plump and supportive. With its low, boxy armrests and open footstool section, the settee is designed for whole-family lounging and can be enjoyed (and slumped upon) at all angles. This one comes in various upholstery fabrics, from earthy neutrals to vibrant hues. And you’d be wise to plump for a stain-resistant velvet or easy-clean chenille if kids or dogs are part of the brood.
Offering incredible value for money is this chic, mid-century-inspired number from Dunelm. The zoe features tufted, sprung seat cushioning, which gives the piece a delightful texture, while the slimline frame supports its trio of pleasingly firm, fibre-filled back cushions. The corner sofa is elevated off the floor with tall, tapered wooden legs, while a cylindrical bolster cushion at either end of the settee completes the look. In rich velvet, this one screams luxury, despite its affordable price tag. Choose from steeple grey, luxe navy or honey.
If you think you haven’t got space for a stylish corner sofa, think again. Bed-in-a-box brand Snug’s offering is a perfectly compact take on the classic L-shaped couch. But the beauty of this modular sofa is that it can be added to over time. The small rebel corner sofa is, in fact, a configuration of two 1.5-seater snugglers and one corner piece. It comes in a choice of muted earthy tones and easy-care polyester velvet with neat, pointed legs in solid wood. Its seat cushioning features pocket springs enveloped in foam and fibre for extra comfort, while the removable back cushions are pleasingly firm and supportive. This one is small but perfectly formed.
This is another sofa-in-a-box brand whose new model 06 can be transformed into a corner sofa with the simple addition of a boxy chaise positioned left or right. We love this one for its plump cushioning and contemporary forms, its pillow-like back cushions and generously deep and wide seat pads – a move away from Swyft’s leaner, more upright mid-century-inspired settees. Thanks to its open design, this one feels luxuriously slouchy and laid-back. As with all Swyft sofas, the 06 comes in a range of earthy tones, including vine, moss and brick. The corner sofa also proves incredibly durable, upholstered as it is in stain-resistant fabrics designed with messy families in mind. And, of course, it’s child’s play to slot it all together.
Corner sofas are a trending and popular style for 2023, for both inside the house and garden furniture. Delving deeper into outdoor furniture, rattan sofas are proving to be popular searches this year.
According to Furniture Choice, smaller spaces benefit from items of furniture that serve multiple purposes. Sleeper sofas or sofa beds are ideal as they can act as comfortable seating throughout the day and transform into a spare bed for any overnight guests.
While L-shaped sofas are quite popular, they’re more suited to bigger homes, particularly when you want to either fit them into a corner of a room or use them to segment a larger space.
Sectional sofas can often suit modern living spaces that are open-plan, more as they allow you to divide a larger space and give an empty room a bit of character. An L-shaped sofa, however does tend to create a more comfortable, warm and homely feel to a room so you might want to stick to three-seated sofas with a chaise or ottoman attachment if you’re going for a more minimalist decor scheme.
A sofa is a pretty big item to transport home yourself so most people prefer to organise home delivery (whether you order in-store or online) – particularly as this often includes a sofa set-up, too.
Frustratingly many homeware stores charge for large items to be delivered to one’s home, or exclude furniture from free delivery. However, John Lewis offers free home delivery when a customer spends £50 and over – which any sofa purchase is most likely to be – and doesn’t exclude furniture from the list.
If you’re making a purchase of over £5,000 from Heal’s, the retailer offers free delivery, too. Wayfair is another retailer that offers free home delivery based on the total cost of the order; offering free shipping for orders of £500 and above.
We loved Loaf’s squishmeister corner sofa for its unapologetic abundance of cushioning. It’s cosy but, importantly, supportive. It strikes the perfect balance between a slouchy couch and one that’s elevated and easy to get in and out of. We were also impressed with both bed-in-a-box brands, Snug and Swyft, for their L-shaped settees, both fitted together in a doddle and looked every bit as if they’d been delivered in one piece.
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