What To Look For When Purchasing A Bar Stool For Your Café, Restaurant Or Bistro

If you take a common or garden bar stool and look at it purely from a design perspective it is in effect a heightened stool or chair that’s specifically made for using alongside a bar. However if you’ve ever looked into purchasing one, you’ll know that styles are both many and varied. So what should you be considering? Let’s take look…

Fitting in with your styling

Although bar stools come in a wide variety of colours, and materials there are basically just two designs. One that has a backrest and one that doesn’t. So it’s up to you to decide which is best for you and your clientèle. The genius and grandfather behind the bar stool is Frenchman Xavier Pauchard and it’s fair to say that the vast majority of bar stools that you see today stem from his original designs. A style such as a galvanised steel bar stool combined with a stainless steel bar and some exposed brickwork and pipework will give your establishment that edgy industrial feel. Alternatively Oak-style bar stools give a more rustic feel and are a good addition if you’re going for an ‘organic’ image. While the Original Tolix bar stool is still manufactured today some 80 years after it first graced the cafés of Paris it it might not be a cost-effective choice as they can be quite expensive. Instead there are various websites that offer very good quality replica Tolix bar stools for a fraction of the price of the original. If budget is one of your main concerns then you might want to go down this route instead.

The finish and the material

Ideally you want to find a bar stool made with the right material to fit in with your design, style or theme. As already stated, there are wood and galvanised steel bar stools, but in addition there are also a selection of funky stools which are made from plastic or polyurethane that come in a wide variety of shapes with steel or aluminium bases. Depending upon the look that you’re trying to portray then this should ideally dictate the finish and material of the stool that you’re after.

What to look for?

Depending upon whether you need your stools for indoor or outdoor use (or indeed both) then you’ll need a bar stool that’s hard-wearing and sturdy. If it’s made from metal then it should be anti-corrosive and if it’s wood or plastic, then it should be waterproof and have a UV resistant coating applied. If you need to store your furniture away, then you might want to think about furniture that’s designed to be stacked.

Hopefully you’ve managed to narrow your search down and as such, it might be worth looking online first. Since most reputable companies who have online stores don’t have the overheads that a bricks and mortar warehouse will have, they may well be passing some of these savings on to their customers in the form of great deals. Therefore whatever you choose you can be sure to pick up some great bargains that won’t cost you the earth but will most definitely enhance the look and feel of your establishment.