You’ll have to decide if you want a baby high chair with a tray or without one. This comes down to personal taste and whether or not you want to introduce your baby to family meal time at the dining table right away or not.

Both options have pros and cons…a tray allows for much easier clean-up and the ability to move the baby close to the food source. If you’re cooking or pulling things out of the fridge, then being able to wheel the baby’s high chair right up to where she is most efficiently positioned (read: minimize your effort) then the tray is the way to go.

If you want to introduce the table right off, then forget the tray and push that high chair right up to the side of the table. (BTW, we chose the table option and while I’m extremely pleased with that decision there have been many times when I’ve walked back and forth to the fridge or the stove thinking, “I’m exhausted and all this getting up and ferrying to and fro has got to end!”) Plus, with a high chair that you can move away from the table, it’s easier to discipline the baby against food throwing by simply sliding them away from the table when the food starts flying instead of having to unlock and remove a tray full of food (I’ll cover whole food throwing issue in a future post).

And now, here is a selection of both types of cool, modern baby high chairs:

1. Svan High Chair ($259). Very mid-century modern ala molded plywood. These guys can do great things with plywood. A pretty cool feature is the plastic tray cover that definitely makes clean up easier. Also, like most of these models, it is adjustable in many useful ways. One really nice feature is that The Svan can be used either with the tray or without, making your decision about how (or whether) to incorporate the table easier. Also, you can add a fabric cushion that can easily be changed to grow with your design choices in the future.

2. Stokke Tripp Trapp High Chair ($250). Less molded plywood and more deconstructionist, the Tripp Trapp is ultimately adjustable, always allowing your child to have their feet hit a footrest, no matter how short or long his legs are. It can either be a presence or blend in to your décor, depending on your color and cushion choice. This chair can be used up until your child is in high school, it’s so adjustable and sturdy, but what kid will want to be in a baby high chair after age 2?

3. Bloom Fresco or Flair High Chair ($399 or $229, respectively). Very space age, pod looking. These chairs seem very comfortable, like eating in a Lazy Boy recliner. They even have a multiple positioning reclining seat complete with a sleeping pod for the 0-3 month old. The clean up looks quite easy on this one, too. Another thing to mention – all materials are PVC free, lead free, phthalate free, heavy metal free and AZO dye free.

4. Tavo High Chair by Monte ($345). Gorgeous. Leather. It’s almost like a comfy bar stool, but with a t-bar for babies. I can imagine this chair in even the most contemporary of homes, blending nicely with the dining room or kitchen décor. Oh, and the leather seat is made from recycled leather. This baby high chair also has the smallest footprint.

5. DucDuc ($800). Anything DucDuc makes is truly beautiful and fits even the most discerning of modern tastes. Their strange high chair with bench contraption is something that I don’t quite get unless you have the whole DucDuc dining room set. And at $800, it seems a bit pricey for the use-time you’ll get out of it. Of course, you can always keep the bench.

For what it’s worth, I ended up buying the Tripp Trapp high chair and have been quite pleased with it. Good luck with your baby high chair shopping. If you have positive or negative experiences with any of the high chairs reviewed here, share them in the comments.