If you think about bar stools for a minute, you typically get a certain image in your head of ba patrons bellied up to the bar, beer stein or cocktail in hand, chatting with the bartender and the local “Norm” at the end of the bar. Bar stools were always designed so you could sit comfortably with your elbows on the bar, which was also standard bar height, equally good for resting your elbows on when standing. Well, bar stools have evolved.
The common height for the typical bar stool is 30 inches, and this is what you would find in the pubs and bars with bartops. The other common image that many people have about bar stools is the classic oak stool, with a curved spindle back, and if you were lucky, a swivel seat. Arms were a bonus. This still is one of the most common styles that you will find in your local pub or sports bar.
Back when no one ever heard of bar stools being in the home (ie, the 1950s), the bar stool was still just a fixture in your local bar or diner. Then came the design revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, and everything changed. Clothing, architecture, interior design, cars … everything changed. And one of the changes introduced was a commercial element to interior design. Kitchens resembled diners, and basements resembled pubs.
Even with this home decor revolution and the introduction of barstools to the home, you would still typically find the more common 30″ bar stool. The higher bar stools outnumbered short diner counter height stools just by the sheer number of establishments with the taller barstools. As barstools were introduced to the residential settings, the shorter 24″ version became an increasingly popular stool height option, especially with the design changes that came in the 1980s. 24″ bar stools were now all the rage.
The short bar stool size is a good choice for family homes, where children will be using the bar for things like breakfast, snacks and doing projects or finishing their homework as mom makes lunch for the next day. It is also a very convenient height for adults who have trouble with the higher standard 30″ models.
As new styles of bar stools are introduced almost every year now, it almost seems like the standard oak pub barstool is becoming a retro style. Newer sizes, such as the super high 36″ bar stool (commonly called spectator height), and the 24″ counter top size, ensure that you will be able to find the right height bar stool for your existing bar, or new bar renovation. The choice available in what ever size you require makes shopping for barstools a fun excursion these days.
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