Knoll is an outstanding brand in the market of ergonomic chairs. For five decades, the company has advanced the evolution of open office systems. In this article, FittingChairs will give you a full look through the Knoll Life Chair review. Hope you enjoy it!
Knoll Life chair review snapshot
Knoll Life chair review: What’s special about its design?
With an array of colors and finishes available, you could fit out an entire office multiple times over and still have no two Knoll Life Chairs be alike.
Knoll, maybe best known as a purveyor of classic furniture from renowned 20th Century designers, is up to the challenge of backing up its chair’s name.
The Knoll Life Chair was introduced in 2002 and immediately began racking up design awards at industry events like NeoCon and IIDEX.
The look of the Knoll Life Chair is its most striking quality at first, but if you are looking to reap the benefits of an ergonomic chair, its look is probably secondary to how it feels and moves while sitting in it.
The Knoll Life Chair is a sleek mesh chair that makes all day sitting easy. The active mechanism and flexible back move naturally with the user so that there is no need for manual adjustment.
It is also approved for 24/7 multi-shift environments, making it perfect for almost any office situation.
Efficiently made using minimal materials, recycled and recyclable content, and easily replaced components, the Life Chair was crafted, taking its complete life cycle taken into consideration.
It has received Gold Certification according to the SMaRT Consensus Sustainable Product Standard – the first in the industry to achieve this.
This chair available with fixed plastic arms, fixed aluminum arms, height adjustable, and armless. Fixed arms are worse than no arms, but these options are available if you want.
In this Life Chair by Knoll review, we want to emphasize that this ergonomic office chair also has an available two-part magnetic lumbar support that you can put at whatever height you want.
However, the frame at the top of the back is a bit thick and if you tend to stretch by making a “T” with your arms and moving them behind you, you won’t be able to do so in this chair.
The casters are cool-looking. They’re slightly barrel-shaped and slide easily wherever you want to go.
Technical specifications
| Chair height | 38.5″ – 43.75″ |
| Chair width | 26.5″ |
| Chair depth | 24.5″ |
| Arm height from floor | Fixed arms: 25.375″ – 30.5″ Adjustable-height arms: 22.25″ – 31.25″ |
| Base diameter | 26″ |
| Weight | 36 lbs (Aluminum base adds 1.5 lbs) |
| Backrest | 18.25″ W x 25″ H 24° tilt range |
| Seat height (Standard cylinder) | 16″ – 21.5″ (Seat topper adds 0.5″ to seat height; Ultra seat topper adds 1″) |
| Seat depth | 15″ – 19″ |
| Seat width | 18.75″ |
| Distance between armrests | Fixed arms: 17.75″ Adjustable-height arms: 18.75″ High performance arms: 17.25″ – 19.75″ |
Mesh colors
All Knoll Life chairs come standard with a mesh suspension fabric that is durable, flexible and available in a wide range of colors.
Lumbar support
The Knoll Life chair provides built-in lumbar support that amounts to your chair with magnets and features slow-recovery foam covered in your choice of three fabrics.
Head rest
A black urethane headrest can be attached to your Knoll Life chair to add extra neck and head support. However, the headrest is not compatible with a back topper.
Arms
The Knoll Life Chair is available in three different types of armrests, or you can opt for no arms.
Leather arm pads
Knoll Life chair arms are available in Sabrina or Volo Spinneybeck leather upholstery. This custom option will add two weeks to manufacturing time.
Seat topper
The Life chair ships standard without a seat topper, but you should purchase a seat topper for your comfort, especially if you sit for longer than five hours a day.
The standard foam seat topper is 1.75″ thick. The seat and back toppers are also available in any Spinneybeck leather, and optional perforations are available.
Knoll Life chair review: How can it help you improve your health?
The Life Chair’s slim, streamlined design is matched by its ease of adjustment. The flexible mesh back moves intuitively with your body as you go from reclining to working, giving you constant support as you shift your body weight throughout the day.
The seat pan is flexible as well, and this coupled with its waterfall edge and four inches of depth adjustment help to relieve pressure points and promote good circulation.
The Life’s seat is very comfortable, and after spending hours seated in this chair, there was no soreness, numbness, or fatigue. The seat depth can also be adjusted, so the seat doesn’t stick out too far.
Life features a synchronized recline mechanism with auto-balanced tension. The fluid, natural movement of the mechanism uses your body weight as an ounterbalance, supporting reclined, upright and forward seated positions without the need for manual adjustments.
– Knoll
However, there is a lever in the back of the chair that can be adjusted when the chair is upright. The front of the seat will flex if you lean forward so it doesn’t cut into the back of your legs.
Another of the many unique features of the Knoll Life Chair is its lumbar support – both its built-in support and its optional adjustable lumbar support.
You can also add the slow-recovery foam adjustable lumbar support, which attaches magnetically for easy addition and removal.
There are 3 types of armrests and additional choice for you to choose:
- No arms
- Fixed arms
- Adjustable arms
- Leather arm pads
The Life Back Suspension Fabric (BSF) is an exclusive elastomeric knit that is soft, resilient and durable. Coupled with the curve and flex of the back frame, it provides integral pelvic, lumbar and shoulder support.
– Knoll
See how to adjust the Knoll Life chair in the following video:
Knoll Life chair review: Customer review
Here are some of the customer reviews on Amazon about the Knoll Life Chair:
Positive review
Eric S.: “Mostly a nice chair but one issue for me.”
Good chair; has many ways to adjust the settings and I found it to be more comfortable than the HM Aeron chair. My only complaint is probably odd, but the mesh back is rather coarse. Like sandpaper coarse. I noticed on four or five of my dress pants that one specific belt loop was consistently being worn out. I ultimately realized the chair was causing it. My only resolution was to get a thin pillow and wear that away instead of $70 pants.
Show more +Negative review
Louis: “No back support. It hurt my back.”
This chair has no back support at all. It hurt my back whenever I sit in them for more than 10 minutes. Unfortunately, our company has already bought lots of them and this is the only chair I can sit in.
Show more +Bottom line
In short, aside from the expensive price, this is a good ergonomic chair for you to sit for long hours.
As mentioned above, the Knoll Life Chair has many distinct features that support your back as well as your sitting post. There are also many choices for the armrests, seat pads, and it comes with lumbar support as well.
All ergonomic office chairs have their pros and cons. It depends on your need and requirements to decide whether you should buy this or not.
See more:
- Herman Miller Mirra 2 review
- Steelcase Amia review
- HON Ignition 2.0 review
- Steelcase Think chair review
- Herman Miller Sayl review
Above is all about Knoll Life Chair review that FittingChairs would like to share with you. Hope that our article can help you in considering buying it or not.
