Restaurant Furniture Blog

In years gone by bar furniture consisted mainly of bar stools that had no back support at all. They were pretty much a round (sometimes square) piece of polished timber on three legs. Fairly plain looking with your patrons comfort not really under consideration. You always knew if someone had had too much to drink - they fell off their stool.

These days, bar stools come in such a wide variety of shapes and sizes that you need to think really carefully before making a decision. Do your bar stools need a back? If so, low back or high back? What about arm support? If your bar stool is going to have back support, do you also want arm support? With a modern bar stool that has both back and arm support, your patrons could comfortably fall asleep without falling off.

I guess the beauty of the old fashioned backless stool was that there was no right way around. You could sit on the stool without turning it around at all. Arms actually turn the bar stool into a more traditional chair and with that comes the problem of getting in and out when you are close to the bar. Swivel seats have made that task a little easier so that could be another option to consider.

The most important consideration is going to be your patrons comfort and that will be determined to some extent by the purpose of your bar. If it is designed for a short stop before or after dining then comfort is not so much of an issue. If patrons are going to be at the bar for any extended period of time then comfort will become an issue when selecting commercial bar stools.

With such a huge range of bar furniture available, it is often easier to plan what you want in your bar area first, then find the furniture to match your overall aims. The humble old bar stool is no more - they are now as ornate and functional as a traditional dining chair.