The best rattan garden furniture – where to shop this timeless outdoor classic

The best rattan garden furniture will add timeless style to your outdoor space, with this classic choice offering good looks, practicality, and – depending on the materials you opt for – great outdoor durability.

These days most 'rattan' garden sets are made from weather-resistant PE-rattan, which is a plastic polymer woven to look like the real thing. That means rattan outdoor furniture is a low-maintenance option that requires very little upkeep. 

If you opt for rattan garden furniture with a rust and weather-resistant aluminium frame, then your investment will be particularly durable. Furniture with a powder-coated steel frame will be more affordable upfront, but less resilient when it comes to withstanding the elements, although storing it under cover when not in use will help prolong its lifespan.

Whether you're looking for a rattan garden table and chairs, a rattan outdoor sofa or a rattan bistro set, we've rounded up our top recommendations below, including affordable options from Argos and Very, and investment pieces from John Lewis, Homebase, and more. You'll find more outdoor seating options in our guide to the best garden furniture of the year, but, if you know that rattan is the look for you, you're in the right place.

Best rattan garden furniture

Where to shop

Our edit of the best places to shop for rattan garden furniture, including our top picks from John Lewis, Homebase, and more.

John Lewis rattan garden furniture

John Lewis offers a good range of timeless rattan garden furniture, including rattan garden tables and chairs, outdoor sofas, and rattan garden chairs. Price points are higher than the likes of Argos or Amazon, but reflect the fact that most of the brand's rattan outdoor furniture features aluminium frames. 

Aluminium is a rust-resistant metal that offers better weather resistance than the cheaper powder-coated steel alternative, so although you'll pay a little more upfront for aluminium-framed rattan furniture, it's likely to last longer outdoors which means it can work out the more economical choice in the long run.

Pricing: ££-£££

Shop the collection: John Lewis rattan garden furniture

Argos rattan garden furniture

If you're looking for affordable rattan garden furniture then Argos is one of our first ports of call. It offers budget-friendly own-brand outdoor furniture and stylish-yet-affordable Habitat garden furniture. There's also a good mix of both classic and more contemporary rattan styles.

In keeping with the low price points you'll find that most of Argos' rattan outdoor furniture has powder-coated steel rather than aluminium frames. This just means you'll need to factor in winter storage to protect your purchase from the elements if you want to prolong its lifespan.

Pricing: £-££

Shop the collection: Argos rattan garden furniture

Homebase rattan garden furniture

Homebase is one of our top recommendations for finding durable aluminium-framed rattan garden furniture at an affordable price point. 

Whilst the retailer offers a mix of cheaper rattan furniture with powder-coated steel frames, it also delivers a good mix of aluminium-framed furniture at very reasonable price points. So shop carefully and you could snap up a long-lasting and weather-resistant rattan garden table and chairs or outdoor sofa for far less than you'd pay many other places.

Pricing: £-£££

Shop the collection: Homebase rattan garden furniture

Very rattan garden furniture

Very Home's garden furniture collection is delivering some great outdoor options this year, including plenty of rattan seating and dining sets. 

Most of the brand's outdoor collection looks to utilise powder-coated steel frames under the PE-rattan exteriors, so you'll need to factor in storage or protection of some kind to prolong the furniture's lifespan. But, if you're looking for stylish yet relatively affordable rattan garden furniture then it's a great place to hunt out your summer seating.

Pricing: £-£££

Shop the collection: Very rattan garden furniture

Barker and Stonehouse rattan garden furniture

If you're looking for more of a luxury investment, then Barker and Stonehouse offers a wide range of high-end rattan garden furniture, including spacious outdoor lounge sets fully equipped with built-in fire pits or wine chillers.

Check the small print before you buy to ensure you know what materials your rattan set is made from, but most of the brand's lines feature long-lasting aluminium-framed construction which often means furniture can be left outside all year round.

Pricing: £££-££££

Shop the collection: Barker and Stonehouse rattan garden furniture

M&S rattan garden furniture

Marks & Spencer's rattan garden furniture collection features both classic options and more contemporary lines. There's also a good selection of outdoor seating for various patio sizes, from spacious outdoor corner sofas and rattan lounge sets that will create a focal point in a larger garden to more compact dining and bistro sets. 

Most lines look to be constructed from powder-coated steel frames so you'll just need to factor in storage space or an outdoor furniture cover to protect your purchase from the worst of the elements.

Pricing: ££-£££

Shop the collection: M&S rattan garden furniture

More options

Amazon: affordable rattan garden sets
B&Q: budget-friendly outdoor rattan sets
Bramblecrest: high quality rattan furniture
Dobbies: good range of rattan garden sets
Garden Trading: stylish rattan garden sets
Maze Living: outdoor furniture specialists
OKA: timeless rattan garden furniture
Robert Dyas: mid-range rattan furniture
Wayfair: huge selection of outdoor furniture

How to choose rattan garden furniture

Most modern 'rattan' garden furniture is usually made from PE-rattan or poly rattan rather than real, organic rattan. Both terms are slightly different names for the same woven synthetic plastic polymer that is fashioned to emulate the appearance of natural rattan.

Why not use real rattan? Although the natural fibre is what inspired the rattan look we all love, the organic material needs a little more TLC to survive outdoors, requiring protection from dampness and moisture, and needing to be shielded from direct sunlight and wind which can cause it to become brittle.

Plastic, as an alternative, is waterproof, UV-resistant, and frost-resistant, and requires very minimal maintenance in comparison, leading to it being favoured by manufacturers for low-maintenance outdoor options.

The downside is that, unlike biodegradable natural rattan, most PE-rattan garden furniture is currently unrecyclable at the end of its lifespan. Although some advances are being made in repurposing single-use plastics for the manufacture of the polymers needed to create the furniture in the first place.

Opting for the most durable PE-rattan garden furniture your budget allows can, therefore, become an important way to minimise some of the environmental impacts of polyrattan furniture, and that means considering the type of frame that gives rattan garden furniture its structure; namely whether it's constructed from steel or aluminium.

The most affordable rattan garden furniture will generally be made with a steel frame. This makes for heavier furniture, and you'll want to make sure you look for powder-coated steel. That's because steel is highly corrosive when it comes in contact with water, and the frame will rust quickly outdoors if moisture reaches the metal surface. This problem is 'solved' by powder-coating the steel in a dry paint powder that's cured through an electrostatic process to form a hardwearing seal from the elements.

The downside of powder-coated steel is that if that painted surface chips then rusting can occur quite quickly, so you'll need to repair any knocks to maintain that waterproof seal. Joints and fixings which are hard to thoroughly powder-coat and open to abrasion can also become a weak point, allowing moisture to penetrate and reducing furniture's lifespan.

As such, most manufacturers will recommend you store steel-framed rattan garden furniture in a sheltered environment during inclement weather to prolong its lifespan. This can be inconvenient if you don't have a garage or shed for storage, plus, steel is pretty heavy to move. A waterproof outdoor furniture cover will help to protect steel rattan furniture from the worst of the elements, although it's hard to prevent dampness from penetrating over time, so expect steel-framed options to have a shorter lifespan overall.

Aluminium is the alternative. This is a non-corrosive metal, meaning the surface oxidises to form its water barrier, so aluminium doesn't need any powder-coating or maintenance to maintain its integrity (although it may still have a powder-coated finish for aesthetic purposes). It's also a lightweight metal and much easier to move in comparison to steel if you're likely to be picking up your rattan garden chair to chase the sun.

The best news is that due to its enhanced weatherproofing, most aluminium-framed garden furniture can be left outside all year round, so you don't need to worry about storage. (That said, no material is completely impenetrable to the elements, so if you have the space then protecting your garden furniture over winter is still wise).

The downside is that these benefits come with a cost, with aluminium-framed rattan garden furniture usually the most expensive to purchase. Of course, the added durability that comes with this non-corrosive option can make it the most cost-effective in the long term, as long as you don't mind the initial outlay. And if you find an aluminium option on our garden furniture deals page, it will be well worth snapping up!

FAQs

What is the best type of rattan furniture?

The best quality rattan garden furniture will have an aluminium frame hidden under the decorative PE-rattan upper rather than just 'metal' or powder-coated steel. Aluminium is lightweight, rust-resistant, and weather-resistant which makes it a great choice for outdoor use and a durable, long-lasting investment.

How can you tell if rattan furniture is high quality?

When buying rattan garden furniture, don't just be swayed by its looks. Make sure you read the product details to find out what the furniture's frame is made out of too. Aluminium-framed furniture will be more expensive upfront but has much better longevity outdoors. That often also means you can leave the aluminium-framed furniture outdoors all year round, so it's a more hassle-free option as you don't need to worry about winter storage. 

In contrast, rattan garden furniture with a powder-coated steel frame is more affordable to purchase but is less durable to the elements so you'll need to store it indoors or undercover to prolong its lifespan. That means it may not be as cost-effective as higher-quality aluminium-framed furniture in the long run.

How we chose the best rattan garden furniture

You'll find full details of the Ideal Home review process on our How We Test page.

To find the best rattan garden furniture for all budgets we walked multiple miles around multiple outdoor furniture showrooms and sat down on the job to test out bestselling designs. We also dived into the specifications to sort the wheat from the chaff and took into account third-party opinions via online reviews.