Looking To Buy Bar Stools – Here’s A Quick Buyers Guide

Choosing a bar stool doesn’t really come across as a hard task. After all it’s just a piece of furniture right? Strangely enough, finding the right bar stool for your venue isn’t as simple as it sounds. In fact before you know it you’re being bombarded with a million questions such as what height does it need to be? Does it need cushions? Do you need a foot rest? Does it swivel? Does it need to be adjustable…..stop just stop!

Thankfully We’ve put together a quick buyer’s guide so that you can navigate yourself through the tricky world of bar stools.

Height

This is an important factor as the wrong height of stool is going to look pretty stupid. Customers are either going to be banging their knees on the underside of the bar because the furniture is just to tall, or alternatively not being able to reach their drinks properly because the stool is way too small. The good news is that in Australia, commercial bar counters are generally a standardised height which is 105cms. Therefore the perfect height of stool should be 75cms. Any more or any less and you’ll end up with the above results.

Spacing

So how many bar stools do you place along your bar? The answer is to leave enough space in between stools so that it’s sufficient to enough for customer comfort but at the same time maximises the space for profit. Sounds complicated right? Well not really because as a general rule of thumb, around 60cms of space between one bar stool and the other is said to give you the best of both worlds.

Putting on the style

Bar stools come in a multitude of styles but more often than not it’s best to consider your overall theme when making the right choice. Roughly speaking, there are around 6 styles of bar stool and they can be placed into the following categories.

Modern

Advancements in technology has allowed manufacturers to really push the boundaries in terms of design and colour and some even border on works of art. Polypropylene for example has recently been embraced and indeed taken to another level by a whole variety of designers who craft great futuristic designs in some amazing colours

Functional

When it comes to gaming stools for example, they need to be built for purpose rather than design and that’s where the functional type stool comes in. The typical gaming stool is comfortable so customers keep playing. It usually has some type of cushioning, a foot rest, and a small back support for added comfort.

Industrial

Because of the popularity of the industrial look in café’s and bars up and down the country it has its very own category. Industrial furniture is typically made of powdered steel and sometimes has rustic timber seating. They’re the opposite to modernistic in that they’re rough and functional instead of being design lead and vibrant. One such example is the Tolix Stool.

Vintage

Vintage chic is most definitely in and therefore stools with reclaimed timber, distressed looks, and tarnished metals fit the bill perfectly.

Outdoor

As the name suggests stools that are weatherproof are idea for outdoor use. Usually they’re easily stackable and scratch resistant too. Most outdoor stools also contain drainage holes and are resistant to all types of weather.

Traditional/Rustic

Most bar stools that come under this category are classic, elegant, and timber framed,

Features

Some come with backrests some don’t, some swivel and some don’t. Some like the drafting stool are also adjustable so you might want to think about your type of client and what might work best for them. A word about adjustable stools. Unlike the drafting stool, most other types of adjustable stools are gas charged. Therefore you’ll need to make sure that if it’s for commercial use, it’s a good quality one that can withstand a multitude of people constantly moving it up and down.

As you can see, there’s more to purchasing a cafe bar stool than meets the eye. Fortunately if you do get stuck or are a little unsure then our experienced team at Cafe Furniture Melbourne are on hand to assist. Why not check out our website at www.cafefurnituremelbourne.com.au and see just what we have to offer, or alternatively, give us a call on 03 9357 9688. we’d love to hear from you.