Extra Seating With Bar Stools

by: Kathryn Whittaker

Today’s kitchen can become a complete entertainment center thanks to a sleek kitchen and bar furniture, including a breakfast area with a stylist breakfast bar and bar stools. Many people remodel their kitchens to accommodate a small bar area where they can grab a bite to eat before work or entertain friends with cocktails at a dinner party.

The kitchen has become more than a place to cook due to new technologically advanced appliances and less traditional furniture. Space-saving appliances such as ovens and microwaves combined not only reduce cooking time but save a lot of space too.

With more space, smart homeowners have more space to accommodate an additional seating area to satisfy their entertaining style. It could be another table, a counter with stylish bar stools, or even a couple of lounge chairs.

If you decide to create a little bar area in your kitchen, you need to find the best location for it. Many people disassemble one wall and install a bar counter instead, or leave two pillars and a four-foot riser to be used as a counter. The bar area should not block the traffic in the kitchen. That’s why the best location for it is near the wall, or if that’s not possible, then on an island in the middle of the kitchen.

A bar counter in the middle of the kitchen requires some space around it for comfortable seating and allow the kitchen to function properly. Don’t fall prey for tricky salespeople who may try to sell you a counter with cabinets bigger than your kitchen can accommodate! The access corridor around the bar area should not be less than 3 ft wide.

Luckily, contemporary bar stools require much less space than their traditional counterparts usually seen in restaurants and pubs. Bar stools for home use are much lighter and more artistic in color and style. Since people spend less time at their home bar than behind a table, contemporary bar stools are usually backless or have a very low ergonomically designed back. The most popular ones are swivel, with sturdy legs. Contemporary bar stools can be made of aluminum, fiberglass, or metal.

There are many bar stool options available on the internet. Customers can choose specific heights, colors, wood color and type and seating fabrics for bar stools creating full custom sets. Customers can also choose from free samples of fabrics and other upholstery types, finishes and wood samples. This way, you can have a set of bar stools to perfectly match your current home style. There are web sites that allow you to send in your own fabric to be used as upholstery for the bar stool set.

A great finishing touch to your bar area is to install a radio or small TV in to watch while you cook, eat a quick meal or relax over drinks.

About The Author


Kathryn Whittaker writes articles on a number of different topics. For more information on Bar Stools please visit http://www.bar-stools-guide.com/ and for additional Bar Stool articles please visit the following article page http://www.bar-stools-guide.com/barstools-articles/.

Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com

Kitchen Bar Stools - Not Just For Breakfast

by: Regina Dewall

The kitchen bar stools in your home may be among the most used seats in the house. It’s not uncommon to see a child sitting there doing their homework while mom or dad is preparing breakfast or dinner. Often, while leaving the "at work" mode and entering the "at home" mode, the kitchen bar stool is a convenient place to sit and sort the mail while having a snack or drink. Good friends will often sit on the bar stools in the kitchen in order to converse with us better as we finish getting a meal ready, and then the children will take over the bar stools as the adults move to the dinning table for the meal.

As homes with larger kitchens have become more and more popular, many homes now have a kitchen/dining area with overhang counters. Thus the kitchen bar stool has become increasingly more popular.

There are many designs to choose from. In fact, there are so many different kinds of kitchen bar stools, that it can become a challenge to decide which style is best for you. How tall should they be? Should they have a back? Should they have arms? Should they swivel? Should your kitchen bar stools be made of wood, metal, wrought iron, or something else? The answers to some of these questions are easy to determine while others are purely choices of preference.

Here are a few tips on selecting the "right" kitchen bar stools:

As mentioned above, most kitchen bar stools get a lot of use, and that means a lot of abuse! So you may want to select stools that are made of materials that can withstand the inevitable. For kitchen use, avoid stools that are made from soft woods, this is especially true if the stools have a back or arms. With the high volume of traffic that many kitchens get, these stools would get scratched very quickly. You might consider wrought iron, stainless steel, aluminum, chrome, or a hard wood.

Generally, it is recommended to allow 12 inches from the top of the stool cushion to the bottom of the counter or table. If you select kitchen bar stools with arms, make sure the top of the arms will slide under the table or counter. The cushions for your stools should be able to handle regular use. If you choose either leather or vinyl for your kitchen bar stool cushions, avoid the temptation to get a thin grade.

When choosing kitchen bar stools, think outside the kitchen. In other words, where else might the stools be used? Might they be used in the TV or game room on occasion? If this is something you expect to happen, select a stool that is light enough to be easily moved. The heavier they are, the more likely they are to be dragged over your floors.

In our fast paced lives, we don’t often sit down at the table to eat. Instead of carrying food to the table, we grab the nearest stool and have a quick bite on our way out in the morning. We often do the same thing when we are coming home in the evening, since we often have to turn around and go back out.

Truly the humble kitchen bar stool isn’t just for breakfast anymore!

About The Author

Regina Dewall writes about tips on selecting kitchen counter and bar stools. To read more tips from Regina, visit the Bar Stool Buying Guide.

LuxuryBarStools.com



Improving your home and your life only at Home Improvement Idea : http://home-improvement-idea.blogspot.com