Chivari Church Chair Buyer's Guide: Where Strength Meets Spirit

When it comes to furnishing sacred spaces, no detail is too small. Every thread, every frame, every choice in design contributes to the atmosphere of reverence, welcome, and community that defines a place of worship. At Chivari, we understand that. That’s why our Church Chairs (also known as Sanctuary Chairs or Worship Chairs) are not just functional, they’re transformational.

Built with parishioners in mind. Beautifully engineered to last and crafted to complement the spiritual soul of your space, Chivari Church Chairs offer the highest caliber of seating available to congregations today.

Timeless Beauty Meets Commercial-Grade Strength

From the first glance, you’ll notice a difference. Our Church Chairs don’t look like typical commercial seating, they look refined. Thoughtfully upholstered in your choice of soft, inviting fabric or easy-to-clean commercial vinyl, our chairs are available in six elegant color options to suit a wide variety of interior aesthetics.

A Multitude of options to suit your purposes.

• Cutaway backs for a light, modern profile or full backs for a more traditional appearance.
• Add arms or opt for armless configurations for maximum seating capacity.
• Choose between 18.5" and 20.5" size options with differing degrees of foam cushions.
• And, for the first time ever, select a right-arm only or left-arm only design for a refreshing, modern take on pew seating (more on that revolutionary feature below).

Every chair features plush, high-resilience polyurethane cushions with waterfall-edge seats to reduce leg fatigue during long services. Generously padded and meticulously stitched, our cushions rest atop plywood backings and are affixed using metal T-nuts, a far stronger connection method than traditional wood screws. It’s these small upgrades that yield major gains in longevity and comfort.

Durability That Endures Service After Service

Churches are dynamic spaces. They fill with life and activity day after day, season after season. Our chairs are made to meet that level of demand.

Each frame is precision-welded using customized robotics in our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. Then, every piece undergoes a multi-step powder coating process, including shot blasting, electrostatic epoxy application, and high-temperature curing, resulting in a stunning, matte-finish frame that resists scratching, chipping, and corrosion.

•    Frame Material: 16- or 18-gauge commercial-grade steel
•    Weight Capacity: Tested to support 800–1000 lbs.
•    Glides: Plastic rocker glides protect floors and allow smooth repositioning
•    Stacking: Stackable up to 13 high for space-saving storage
•    Fire Retardant: Foam and fabric meet or exceed CAL 117 safety standards
•    Warranty: Backed by a commercial-use limited warranty

Chivari Church Chairs are not only built to last, they’re built to evolve with your congregation. That's why we're able to confidently offer a 10 year warranty on all Church Chairs (click here Warranty for more details).

The Future of Pew-Style Seating: A Divine Innovation

Sometimes the best innovations come from a single question: “What if?”
For centuries, pews have defined worship seating. They offer a sense of unity, shared presence, and spiritual togetherness. But they also come with challenges: discomfort during long services, immobility, and inflexible layouts that don’t suit today’s ever-adapting church events.

On the other end of the spectrum, plush, individual armless chairs offer exceptional comfort and flexibility, but lack the emotional warmth of traditional pews. Dual-arm chairs provide structure but are often too bulky and make seating feel isolated.
So we asked: What if we could create a system that preserved the communal nature of a pew… but offered the comfort and versatility of modern seating?

Enter Chivari’s Customizable Sanctuary Rows

In a stroke of true innovation, Chivari introduced the one-armed Church Chair, available in right-arm and left-arm designs. When paired with armless chairs between them, this system allows you to create seamless rows that look and feel like traditional pews… without the drawbacks.

•    Use a right-arm chair to begin the row
•    Place armless chairs in the middle to provide comfort and space efficiency
•    Cap it with a left-arm chair at the end

The result is a unified seating configuration that mimics the visual and emotional experience of a pew—but with the modular benefits of stackable, movable chairs.

Why It Matters

•    Community Feeling: Recreates the shared-space experience worshippers associate with pews

•    Comfortable for Extended Services: Cushioned, ergonomic design beats even padded wood pews

•    Flexible Layouts: Rearrange your sanctuary for weddings, special services, concerts, or community events in minutes

•    Space Efficiency: Remove or add chairs to adjust seating capacity without losing visual cohesion

•    Increased Accessibility: Combine pew-style ends with dual-arm or armless chairs to accommodate those with mobility needs

•    Creates Defined Rows: Ganging brackets and alignment bumpers keep seating organized and orderly

In short, Chivari’s single-arm church chairs solve problems most churches didn’t even realize they had, from uneven seating arrangements to strained backs and rigid sanctuary layouts. Now, you don’t have to choose between tradition and transformation. With Chivari, you get both.

More Than a Chair—A Smarter Seating System

Your sanctuary deserves more than just “good enough.” Chivari Church Chairs help you elevate every service, every gathering, and every sacred moment. With unmatched beauty, performance-grade durability, and the visionary left-arm/right-arm seating innovation that redefines what’s possible in sacred design, there’s no better investment for churches that want to serve today while planning for tomorrow.

This is where comfort meets community. Where flexibility meets faith. This is Chivari Church Seating, the pew, perfected.