I bought myself the best office swivel chair with arms that I could afford at that time. It is wider than the secretarial type chair that has no arms. Mine is cloth which isn't the greatest thing for the threads but I really love it. When I go on retreat I just take the arms off as it's easier to fit into the car without the arms.
I see mamabear and I were posting at the same time. At first I found the arms got in my way, but then realized the chair swivels, so swivel it before standing up and love it now. I keep a pillow case attached to the one arm for scraps and when that's full I make a pet bed out of it.