A short guide to sofa dimensions

A sofa is described, on paper, by three numbers: length, width, and height. Sometimes a fourth: seat depth. These numbers are deceptively simple. They decide whether the sofa fits — physically through your door, and visually inside your living room — long before anyone has sat on it.

Here is what each one is doing.

Length is the overall side-to-side measurement, arm tip to arm tip. Our two-seater configurations sit between 1,500 mm and 1,650 mm. Three-seaters between 2,050 mm and 2,150 mm. The variation across our six models is small in length but significant in feel — an Avilanji three-seater is 51 mm longer than a Kanthalloor three-seater, which sounds trivial until you put them in the same room.

Width is the front-to-back measurement. This is the number most rooms get wrong. A wider sofa (1,100 mm and up) needs more clearance behind it and pushes the coffee table further into the room. A narrower one (865 mm to 940 mm) sits comfortably against a wall and feels lighter in the room. Our Kaveri model is our deepest at 1,118 mm. Our Yercaud is our most compact at 865 mm.

Width changes how the room feels more than length does.

Height matters most for the back of the sofa and the line it cuts against the wall. A taller back (890 mm) is more upright and reads more formal. A lower back (665 mm — our Kodaikanal) is contemporary, architectural, and visually quieter. If the sofa sits in front of a window, a lower back lets the light through.

Seat depth — usually 580 mm to 650 mm — is how far back you can lean before your knees stop bending. A deeper seat invites you to lounge. A shallower seat keeps you upright. Neither is right or wrong; both are choices.

When in doubt, sit on one. That is what the showroom is for.