Product Review

I Bought The $350 High Chair Everyone Told Me Was "Ridiculous." Two Years Later, I'd Buy It Again.

The Stokke Tripp Trapp costs as much as a small sofa. Here's why I don't regret it — and when you should buy something else.

When my mother-in-law heard I spent $350 on a high chair, she said — and I quote — "That's more than my first car payment." She wasn't wrong. But here's the thing she didn't know: that same chair is now being used by my 3-year-old as a desk chair, and when she outgrows it, I can use it as a regular chair at the kitchen island. The chair adjusts, and so does the math.

I didn't just buy the Stokke blind, though. I tested it against three other popular high chairs at friends' houses and my sister's place. Here's how they actually compare after months of real use — not just unboxing videos.

The Contenders

• Stokke Tripp Trapp — $349 (chair only), $399 with baby set. Grows from newborn to adult. 4.8★ (12,000+ reviews)
• Graco Blossom 6-in-1 — $149. Converts to booster and toddler chair. 4.7★ (22,000+ reviews)
• Ingenuity Baby Base 2-in-1 — $59. Booster that straps to a dining chair. 4.7★ (18,000+ reviews)
• IKEA Antilop — $25 (chair + tray). The minimalist legend. 4.5★ (everyone on Earth)

Stokke Tripp Trapp: The Buy-It-For-Life Argument

Let me be real: the Stokke is not a chair you "assemble." It's a chair you build. My husband spent 35 minutes with an Allen wrench muttering Norwegian curse words. The footrest and seat adjust with hex screws — this is not quick-release stuff. Once it's set, though, you don't touch it again for six months.

What makes it different: the footrest. Most high chairs let babies' feet dangle. The Tripp Trapp positions their feet flat on a platform, which pediatric occupational therapists say supports better posture and actually helps with feeding. My daughter went from slumping in her Graco to sitting up straighter in the Stokke within a week. Not saying it's magic — but the posture difference is real.

The newborn attachment ($199 extra) let us pull the chair up to the dinner table when my daughter was 2 months old. She'd watch us eat, and I credit that with her being a shockingly adventurous eater now. Correlation or causation? Who knows, but I'll take it.

At 3, she now sits in it without the baby set — just the chair, pushed up to the table like a normal human. When she's 8, I'll lower the seat. When she's 14, she can sit in it to do homework. When she moves out, I'm keeping it. $350 divided by 15+ years is about $23 a year. That's less than takeout sushi.

Graco Blossom: The Swiss Army Knife

My sister has this one. It converts from infant high chair → toddler booster → youth chair → two seats at once (one for a baby, one for a toddler). For $149, you're getting a lot of plastic engineering.

The catch: cleaning it. There are crevices. So many crevices. After spaghetti night, my sister texted me a photo of orange sauce in a seam she swears she'd wiped three times. The seat pad needs to be removed and machine-washed — which is fine until you realize you need to do it twice a week. And the re-assembly of the straps after washing is a puzzle I failed at least three times.

If you have twins or two under two, the double-seat mode is genuinely useful. For everyone else, the cleaning alone made me grateful for my Stokke's wipe-clean wood surface.

Ingenuity Baby Base: The Budget Booster

For $59, this straps to an existing dining chair and does the job. It has a tray, it's reasonably easy to wipe down, and it folds up when not in use. We keep one at my mom's house for visits.

It's not going to last years. The straps started fraying after about 10 months of weekly use. The tray is small — my daughter figured out how to push food off the sides by 9 months. But for grandparents' houses or occasional use, it's perfectly fine. Just don't expect heirloom quality.

IKEA Antilop: Everyone's First High Chair

For $25 — tray included — this is genuinely impossible to beat on price. It's one piece of molded plastic with removable legs. Spaghetti? Hose it off. Literally. Some parents take it outside and spray it with a garden hose.

The problems: the tray is notoriously hard to remove (there's a whole YouTube genre of "Antilop tray removal hacks"), the legs are wide enough to trip every adult in a 10-foot radius, and there's no footrest — which feeding therapists really dislike. You can buy third-party footrests on Etsy for $20, which helps, but now you're at $45 and it's still a tripping hazard.

For a temporary setup or a vacation home, it's brilliant. For daily use? My shins bear the scars.

My Honest Recommendation

Get the Stokke if: you plan on more than one kid, you care about posture/ergonomics, you have the budget, and you want a piece of furniture that doesn't scream "BABY GEAR" in your dining room.

Get the Graco if: you have multiples, you want the two-seater option, and you don't mind deep-cleaning crevices.

Get the Ingenuity if: it's for grandma's house or occasional use.

Get the IKEA if: you want the cheapest functional option, you have outdoor space for hosing it down, and you've warned your shins.

🛒 Where to buy: Stokke Tripp Trapp available at Amazon, Nordstrom, and Pottery Barn Kids. IKEA Antilop is in-store only. Graco and Ingenuity available on Amazon with frequent coupons.