While hunting for a modern sectional to purchase for our home, we noticed that it was hard to find reviews on West Elm sofas and the ones we did find were a little concerning, so we thought we’d leave a review that may be helpful to you in case you are furniture hunting.
We’ve also gotten LOTS of questions on Instagram about our living room sectional, so we’re detailing all our thoughts in this blog post!
This post may contain affiliate links, which means we’ll receive a commission if you purchase through our link, at no extra cost to you. You can read our full disclosure here.
Here is our review of the West Elm Andes Sectional after using it for almost 2 years.
2023 UPDATE: We included an update to our review at the end of this blog post!
STYLE: modern & minimal
It has a slim and low-back profile, so it doesn’t look bulky at all or take up too much space visually. This kind of style would be great in a small space or apartment since it has an airy and minimal look.
In our home, we have the sectional up against the wall, but it definitely looks amazing from the back too especially because of its low-profile look.
As far as style goes, it was exactly what we were looking for, and still love the look today! We absolutely love its modern and minimal style and were immediately drawn to its unique sleek, black metal legs.
FABRIC & WEAR: GOOD
There are many fabrics to choose from and you’re able to order free fabric swatches from their website. We ended up choosing one of the “quick ship” options in TWILL STONE which is a light gray color.
So far, after almost 2 years of daily use and entertaining guests every week, we’re happy to report that the fabric has worn very well!
As with ANY couch, rotating the cushions regularly helps it to wear evenly and we highly recommend doing this for both the back and bottom cushions. Otherwise, the cushions may start to look a little saggy in areas where you sit the most.
We do have a cat who likes to sometimes use the sofa as a scratching post and amazingly, it has never snagged! We did notice a little bit of pilling on just a few areas, but because the stone twill fabric has a heathered look to it, it’s not noticeable.
The Andes sofa does have removable cushion covers, which came in handy when we needed to wash the cover after our friend’s dog peed on it. After a machine wash on delicate, the material still looked as good as new.
We’ve been very impressed with how the fabric has held up and it really looks great even after how much it’s used every day!
COMFORT: 8 out of 10
At first, we were hesitant about the low back and whether the couch would be comfortable since it looks like it COULD be on the stiffer side. We tried out some sectionals from other stores at higher price points that had the sleek modern look that we wanted but were super stiff and so uncomfortable. This is NOT the case for the Andes!
Even though it’s not down-filled, it’s still comfortable to lounge around in because of how deep it is. The “standard” depth of 40 inches is pretty deep, to begin with, and they do offer an EVEN deeper version (46 inches), but the standard would probably be deep enough for an average-sized person.
We both rank it 8 out of 10 because of the low back, we wouldn’t say it’s the BEST movie night kind of couch or anything, but it is plenty comfortable. We would honestly say that it has the perfect balance between looks and comfort!
When the sectional was first delivered, the cushions were pretty firm but they did soften up pretty quickly after some breaking in.
SEATING: fits 7 people
We wanted to make sure there was plenty of seating for entertaining and love that the Andes L-shaped sectional fits 7 people comfortably! One thing that we really like is that instead of separate bottom cushions, both sides of the couch have one large cushion (no one likes to sit on the crack!)
CONFIGURATION:
There are many configurations to choose from, making the Andes very customizable for your needs!
WHAT WE SELECTED:
- Andes 3-Piece L-Shaped Sectional
- Fabric and Color: Twill, Stone
- Size: 108″ Length, 40″ Standard Depth
- Leg Style: Dark Pewter
- Sectional Depth: Standard (40″)
2023 UPDATE: Note that the available sectional sizes have changed since writing this blog post and the Stone Twill fabric is no longer available as a fabric choice.
COST:
For this configuration, we got it on sale for $2,638 (before tax & shipping). Because the look was exactly what we wanted and due to its ability to seat a lot of guests, we felt it was really worth the cost!
- Discounts & Sales: Look out for the West Elm sales which happen pretty often.
- Shipping: Note that you do have to pay for their white glove delivery where they will unpack, assemble, and remove packaging material for you. This added $249 to our total cost.
We were tempted to spend less for a different sectional to save money, but we’re so glad we ended up allocating more of our living room budget to the couch and saving in other areas of our design.
IN SUMMARY: HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Your sofa is often the largest piece of furniture in the living room and really impacts the feel and look of your home.
If we had to pick our favorite piece of furniture that we’ve purchased for our home, we would choose our sectional! The Andes has the perfect balance between style, function, and comfort. From our experience, the stone twill fabric has been pet-friendly and has worn very well even after daily use and entertaining guests on a weekly basis.
We hope to be able to take our West Elm Andes Sectional to our future house too (we love it that much)!
UPDATE: August 2023
Here is the update to this review with our most recent thoughts after having this sectional for 5 years:
We just moved into our new custom home and brought the Andes sectional with us! We’re still using it as our living room sectional but plan on moving it to Tim’s man cave and picking a different sectional that is even bigger to fit our large living room better.
Our Andes sofa is still in great condition! It’s been about 5 years of using this sectional every day and I’m actually pleasantly surprised at how great it has held up. The cushions are not saggy at all and we actually don’t fluff or rotate the cushions as much as we should just because we’ve been busy and forget to (but that is ideally recommended to do for even wear)!
The only thing I’d probably change is choosing a performance fabric for peace of mind especially now that we have a toddler (we originally chose a ready-to-ship in-stock Twill fabric at the time). The Twill fabric has been fine for us but I know West Elm offers Performance Twill and other Performance fabric options that I wish I considered more at the time of purchasing.
In case of any spills, our new preferred method of cleaning the Andes is with our life-changing Bissel cleaning machine which cleans stains out amazingly! The Bissel cleaner is so handy to have at home for cleaning rugs and other upholstered chairs – it’s just a must-have in general!
Even while I’m browsing other deep sectional sofas for our new living room, I’m still drawn to the sleek modern style of the Andes sofa which elevates the living room instantly!
We are big fans even after all these years and would still highly recommend this sectional!
Follow on IG @vivandtim.home for more modern home inspiration!
PIN & SAVE FOR LATER:
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:
- 15 Deep Sectional Sofas for Ultimate Lounging
- 11 Best Modern Leather Sectionals to Buy
- Our Modern Living Room Furniture and Decor Sources
- 12 Best Swivel Chairs to Style in Your Living Room
I think your review of the sofa is paid for by West Elm. While the size and shape of the sofa are nice, the fabric is cheap and pilling is a real problem..
I just ordered this piece and I cant wait to have in my living room . Your review was so helpful , Thank You! I would like to know, where did you get the rug from??
Thank You kindly.
Be weary of the pilling on this sofa.. It is going to be a real problem in 12 months. it makes light color sofa look dirty..
Joseph Lewis what fabric did you purchase?..I think it have alot to do with the type of fabric you purchase.
Thank you for the nice review!
I have a question.
I see that you are rotating the back cushions to keep the shape but can you do the same with the seating cushions?
Thank you
The bottom cushions can be flipped over if you get the L shaped Andes where you would flip but have to swap sides, if that makes sense!
Thanks so much for this review – it’s super been super helpful! How does the texture of the twill feel? Is it scratchy at all? I have some other swatches from west elm- does it feel similar to any other of their fabrics?
Thank you so much!
Hi! I wouldn’t say it’s scratchy but it’s not the softest fabric either.. If you’re picky about fabric, definitely order a swatch of the twill before deciding to make sure!
I bought the 3 piece chaise sectional in Chenille Tweed back in December and unfortunately have not been pleased with it. The cushions are hard, both the cushions and the material leave an indent each time you sit on it and does not bounce back making the couch look old and very used. Because of that, it does not have the sleek look as in pictures. It’s a beautiful couch and it took me a long time to finally choose a couch so I’m pretty disappointed.
We also do have indents after sitting but found that it’s pretty easy to smooth out. What also helped the back cushions is rotating and “refluffing” every so often to make sure they have even wear and keep it looking pristine.
Contact West Elm customer service. I have the same problem (hard cushions, indentations, etc…) with my Andes and I’m in the process of setting up a return/exchange, despite it being a custom order. Although the sofa was nowhere near as nice as the floor model, I have to say I’m very thankful that West Elm is standing behind their product.
Thanks for a most excellent review! I too love the single bottom cushion look but I’m curious how the cushions have held up and if they shows indentions where you sit most of the time – we have a ZGallerie sofa now that is similar but it is tufted and has worn well. Also, when you said the cushions are reversible- does this include the bottom cushions? Can they be flipped over?
They do show indentions where you sit because of the long single bottom cushion but it can be smoothed out easily. The bottom cushions can be flipped over if you get the L shaped Andes where you would flip but have to swap sides, if that makes sense!
Such a helpful review! Ours is on the way and we can’t wait to get it in our new home! I love the leather poufs too. Would you kindly share where you found those? Thanks!
Thank you so much! The poufs are from CB2 and you can find links to all living room sources here: https://www.vivandtimhome.com/modern-minimalist-living-room/
Hi!! We just ordered the same couch and your review has helped so much! We were worried about spilling/stains on it. Did you use any type of fabric guard spray or protectant on it? Also, you mentioned pilling…did the pilling come on easily or did it take awhile for it to materialize? And was it easy to fix? Thank you so much! 😊
Hi! I’m so glad it was helpful 🙂 We didn’t use any fabric guard spray but that would probably be a good idea now that you mention it! For spills, we did machine wash on delicate and air dried, and the fabric was as good as new. I also know some people who used the Bissel cleaner on the Andes which had good results too! I think the pilling was over time and we never really bothered to do anything about it because unless you look closely you can’t tell just because our stone twill fabric has a heathered look to it, so we didn’t think it was a big deal.
Hey there! I have the twill stone sofa as well and want to wash one of the seat cushion covers but am hesitant to because I don’t want to ruin it! Could you tell me what fabric softener/detergent you used for it? Thanks so much!
We just used a tide pod, washed on delicate and air dried 🙂
Ahh thank you so much for your response!
My husband and I brought this exact sectional about three years ago and agree fully with your review! Us and our cat 🙂 have very much enjoyed it over the years and it’s holding up great. You mentioned you machine washed a cover – did you let it air dry or what did you do after it ran through the wash cycle, worried about it shrinking! Thank you.
Haha our cat enjoys the Andes too! We washed on delicate and then air dried because we also were worried about it shrinking. Air dry would probably be the safest!
Great, thank you so much!
Hi Megan. Did you try the wash in the end. Same fear here regarding the shrinkage!
The sectional is beautiful! We’ve been looking at the same one. The Twill Stone swatch we have has a lot of cream ad black specks but your sofa seems like a soft grey. Are the swatches from the website off?
Thanks!
It does seem like online it looks more cream colored but in real life the Stone Twill is for sure an overall light gray color! If you’re looking for a light gray sofa, stone twill is a safe option 🙂