Counter and Bar Stools for Your Kitchen Island

The stools are what turn a kitchen island from a worktop into the place where everyone ends up. Homework gets done there, coffee gets drunk standing and then sitting, and guests gravitate to it with a glass in hand while dinner is still on the stove.

Before choosing a style, find out which of the two standard heights the island calls for. Counter stools sit under an ordinary kitchen worktop. Bar stools are taller, made for a raised breakfast bar or a pub table, and one will not stand in for the other. A stool that adjusts covers both, a help if you are buying before a renovation or may move.

After that it is a matter of how long people stay. A back and arms invite a long breakfast. A backless stool slides fully under the overhang and leaves the kitchen clear.

Homrest Swivel Counter Height Stools With Backs and Arms, Set of 2

An armchair on tall legs is a fair description of the Homrest, with its channeled back, wraparound arms, and thick seat, all in oatmeal chenille. It is built for people who linger, the long weekend breakfast and the laptop session at the island that runs past lunch.

Each seat swivels fully, so you can turn from the counter to the room without scraping the legs across the floor. Walnut-toned legs flare outward, and a brass-colored ring joins them as a footrest. In an open kitchen, a pair in this fabric ties the island to the sofa beyond it.

HOMCOM Metal Wire Bar Stools, Set of 2

Drawn in thin gold wire, these bar stools are nearly see-through. The seat and low back are a single basket of fine rods, the legs run down to sled feet, and the only solid thing is a gray cushion that lifts out.

That openness is a gift in a small kitchen or a room where the bar faces a window, since a row of them leaves the view and the light alone. Gold against a white or marble counter is an easy win, and the cushion’s soft gray keeps the metal from looking flashy. They are bar height, for a raised counter or a tall table.

Brage Living Adjustable Swivel Metal Bar Stools, Set of 2

A soda fountain stool in polished gold. Brage Living keeps to the old diner formula of a round dished seat, a single column, a ring for the feet, and a wide trumpet base, and finishes the lot in brushed gold.

A lever under the seat raises and lowers it through the full span from counter to bar height, so the same pair can serve a kitchen island now and a taller bar later. The seat spins, which children love. With no back, the stools push right under the overhang and all but disappear.

Homrest Swivel Rattan Back Counter and Bar Stools, Set of 2

Cane brings a little of the café to a kitchen. On the Homrest it fills a wide oval back framed in dark wood, the honey-colored weave open enough to see through, above a round seat cushioned in cream fabric. The legs are bentwood in a walnut tone, splayed and joined by a black metal ring where your feet rest, and the seat swivels. Warm wood, pale fabric, and woven cane are a combination that settles easily into a white kitchen and softens a dark one. Leave a little space between each stool so the backs can be seen.

PrimeZone Upholstered Saddle Counter Stools, Set of 2

The saddle seat dips in the middle and rises at each end, an old stool shape that is easy to perch on from either side. PrimeZone upholsters it thickly in oatmeal fabric and edges it with a row of antiqued nailheads, on a square frame of warm brown wood.

Being backless, the pair slides completely under a counter, the thing to want in a narrow kitchen where the aisle behind the island is a thoroughfare. The stretchers between the legs double as footrests on all four sides. These are counter height, sized for a standard kitchen worktop.

HOMCOM Swivel Barstools With Solid Wood Legs, Set of 2

Wing chair looks carry over well to a bar stool. The HOMCOM has a tall buttoned back with small wings at the sides, upholstered in soft gray, and stands on a frame of wood finished in a weathered gray wash.

The seat turns to let you on and off and then swings back to face the counter by itself, so a row of them always looks straight after everyone has left. The tall back makes it a stool for long dinners at a raised bar. Farmhouse kitchens with shaker cabinets and a butcher block top suit it especially well.

LOKKHAN Industrial Adjustable Wood and Metal Bar Stools, Set of 2

Turn the seat on its thread and it climbs. The LOKKHAN works like an old machinist’s stool, with a thick round of pine riding on a screw, and winding it up or down takes it from counter height to bar height.

Everything about it is frank and sturdy looking. The base is dark metal brushed with silver, four bowed legs tied by a footrest ring, and the wooden seat keeps its grain and knots. Pair them with a concrete or butcher block counter, open shelving, and enamel pendant lights, and the kitchen takes on the feel of a converted workshop.

Homrest Swivel Bar Stools With Tufted Back, Set of 2

From behind, where a bar stool is mostly seen, the Homrest shows its signature, a metal ring set into the back like a door knocker. It is a handle for pulling the stool out, and a small flourish on a back that curves up into two points and is edged with nailheads.

The upholstery is gray velvet, buttoned on the inside of the back and thickly padded on the seat, over square black legs. The seat swivels in a full circle. This is a bar height stool with the dress sense of a dining chair, a good choice where the bar is part of the room for entertaining.

HOMCOM Adjustable Swivel Bar Stools With Footrest, Set of 2

Black faux leather, deep buttoning, and a seat that curves up into the back in one piece give the HOMCOM the look of a classic diner booth cut down to a single seat. It is generously padded, with a back tall enough to lean on. A lever sets the height anywhere between a kitchen counter and a raised bar, and the seat turns freely on its column above a footrest and a wide round base. In matte black from top to floor, a pair looks sharp against a white island and at home in a basement bar or a games room.

Measuring for Stools

Measure from the floor to the underside of the counter, and choose a seat that leaves room for your legs beneath it. Then count how many will fit. Each person needs elbow room along the island, and a stool with arms or a swivel needs a little extra. Check the footrest as well, since feet that dangle make any stool tiring.