Home Decor & Garden

Step up Your Bar Area: How to Choose Bar Stools to Give Your Kitchen a Stylish Upgrade

January 3, 2023 — by Richard Dawson

The statement kitchen island is quickly becoming one of the biggest trends. It’s a necessary component in any ultra-modern seating and one of the most adaptable so far, allowing for work, casual socializing, and informal meals in addition to food preparation, cooking, and storage.

Following the trend, bar stools are a must-have addition to any functional and aesthetically pleasing kitchen island. Sure, they should be functional, stylish and comfortable to serve well. But, how to find all those qualities in one? The following guidelines might give you a hand!

Consider the Style of Stool that Will Work Best

Source: schots.com.au

From the weird and wonderful to the sleek and sultry, a stool for bar island is a great choice for those who prioritise comfort and style in equal measure! It’s designed to do a superb job of keeping you in position so you may recline at your leisure because of their backrest.

There is an array of different options on the market today, so finding the ideal style that best suits your needs might be tricky. However, if you have to deal with limited space, backless stools are the savers in the stool world. Backrests do provide some additional comfort, but when placed around the bar area, they frequently feel awkward.

Backless models provide for a more informal style of seating in addition to being the lighter option. Their simplicity of sliding on and off makes them a fantastic alternative for active people who are always on the go. You could even be able to get a stackable one if saving space is a top necessity.

For those who choose to go for Scandinavian home décor, a beautifully hand-crafted stool for bar made of wood and wicker strikes a balance between Nordic and mid-century design. Rattan is also a valuable option if you want a good degree of comfort with a natural flex in the material.

On the other hand, as industrial home décor is growing in popularity, so do industrial stools for a bar. Because of their unique design features, such as weathered wood, raw metal, rivets, and intended defects, these types of stools might not be suitable for any classic modern design, but when designed tastefully, they can look just as classy as they are bold.

Gas lift designs, on the other hand, may not be everyone’s cup of tea in terms of aesthetics, but they can undoubtedly appeal to those seeking utility. The simplicity of adjustment has obvious benefits, especially for families with young children whose ideal seating height may fluctuate.

Vintage ones may fall midway between the industrial and rustic themes, from reconditioned to a replica. Nowadays, you can discover a world of independent artisans that are creating original works from start or doing an amazing job of restoring vintage items. You can choose from retro models with bucket seats to restored classics; you never know, you might unearth a real gem!

Modern kitchen island and upholstered bar stools are a match made in heaven. To suit various décor styles, upholstered designs are now made of several materials such as leather, velvet and fabric. Your needs and tastes should determine the type of material that will work best!

To Perch or Sit

Stool for Bar
Source: overstock.com

You will also have to make a crucial decision on whether you want to lazily perch on your island or simply unwind. Typically, you “perch” on a counter stool “against” an island with your feet on the floor. This considerably forwards your stance, making it simple to reach up or across an island.

A stool for a bar has much deeper seats than regular stools, which encourages us to lean back into them and hunch over under an island. The perfect height should not be that low to prevent you from comfortably reaching across the top to work or interact with others.

Get the Right Dimensions

Depending on how the backrest is made, these stools come in a variety of heights. The height of a backless bar stool is the shortest, while that of a full-back stool is the tallest. They are available in short, counter height, bar height, and extremely tall, the four standard seat heights.

Each stool height is intended to go with a particular table height. Simply measure the height of your tabletop or kitchen counter to determine what size you’ll need. The distance between the bottom of the counter or table and the bar stool seat should always be between 10″ and 12″.

The most typical widths are 15 “, 17″, and 21”. The number of stools you can fit in your space, however, is also directly impacted by the seat width of a bar stool. When looking for the right ones, measure the width of your counter or bar and keep this measurement in mind.

When purchasing made-to-order stools, another consideration is how many you’ll need—not just for your family to sit on, but also to neatly suit the area. Remember that breadth is equally as important as height because feeling hemmed in is the last thing you want.

Ideally, there should be 10 to 15 cm between stools to allow for easy movement without touching your neighbours’ arms. People typically need less elbow room on a bar stool than they would on a dining chair, thus 10 cm is frequently plenty because seated around an island is more casual.