To Rent or To Own Kitchen Furniture

An increasingly popular trend in apartment living these days is that of renting furniture. A young professional can often rent an entire apartment full of furniture at a low cost per month until he moves out of the city and gets his own house and a mortgage to pay for. Almost all types of furniture can be rented these days, from entertainment units in the living room to kitchen table and chairs for the kitchen and many people like to do this instead of buying the furniture out right but is it really a good idea? What are the costs of renting furniture as opposed to purchasing it and which option is right for you?

Why Rent?

Let’s look at kitchen furniture as the main example of furniture renting. One of the benefits to renting this particular kind of furniture is that you can get a higher quality item for lower prices. Let’s say you plan to live in your apartment for a total of 4 years and it costs $10 a month to rent that gorgeous modern kitchen furniture set you’ve had your eye on since undergrad. If you were to go into the store and buy that table and chair set outright you are likely to spend about $800. If you rent it for 4 years you are only going to be spending $480. That’s almost half the cost of the table.

You have to look at renting furniture like you would lease a car. You may have to pay money every month and you have to give the items back when the lease is up but you end up spending less over time. However, the opposite can also be true. You can end up spending more money over time on rented furniture than you would if you just bought it because you might miscalculate and need the furniture for an extended period of time.

Why Buy?

If you have the money to buy the piece of furniture outright it is always recommended to do so. If you buy the furniture you can do whatever you want with it and you can sell it off when you’re done with it. You might have to get a lower quality piece to fit your budget but you will at least have that asset later on.