Stool height: bar, island and kitchen guide
You've just had a beautiful kitchen island installed, or you're setting up a bar area in your living room. One seemingly simple question keeps coming up: what height bar stool do you need? Too low, and you're hunched over your plate. Too high, and your feet dangle in mid-air. This guide gives you the key benchmarks to find the right stool height — first time.
The golden rule: 25 to 30 cm between seat and surface
A stool's comfort doesn't depend on its height alone, but on the gap between the countertop and the seat. The universal rule is simple: allow 25 to 30 cm of difference. That's the distance that lets you sit comfortably, rest your forearms without raising your shoulders, and keep your feet on the footrest.
Here's what that looks like for the most common setups:
- Kitchen worktop or counter at 90 cm → bar stool at 60 to 65 cm
- Kitchen island at 90–95 cm → bar stool at 65 cm
- Standing table at 100–105 cm → bar stool at 70 to 75 cm
- Bar or high counter at 110 cm → bar stool at 75 to 80 cm
The three height families
Bar stools generally fall into three height categories, each suited to a specific use.
Short stools (45–55 cm)
Designed for coffee tables, reading corners or children's areas. You'll also find them on terraces or around side tables. These aren't counter stools — think of them as compact high chairs.
Counter-height stools (60–70 cm)
This is the kitchen stool par excellence. A stool at 65 cm is perfect in front of a standard 90 cm worktop or kitchen island. It's the most popular height, driven by the rise of open-plan kitchens with islands.
Bar-height stools (70–80 cm)
The classic bar stool height. The ideal bar stool seat height sits around 75 cm, perfect for a 110 cm counter — whether at home or in a café. It's the height you instinctively associate with bistros and cocktail bars.
The dilemma: what if you have different heights at home?
This is the most common situation in modern interiors — and it's rarely planned for. You have a kitchen island at 90 cm and a bar at 110 cm. Or a kitchen counter on one side and a standing table on the other. Do you buy two sets of stools? Live with an uncomfortable compromise?
This is precisely where a height adjustable bar stool makes all the difference. Rather than choosing between 65 cm and 75 cm, you no longer have to.
One stool, every height
The Camarade adjustable bar stool was designed for exactly this need. Its integrated gas lift takes the seat height from 59 cm to 78 cm in one smooth motion — no tools, no effort. At 65 cm in front of your island in the morning, at 75 cm at the bar in the evening: it's the same stool.
Designed by Swiss studio Big-Game, it pairs a solid European beech wood seat with a powder-coated steel base. The silhouette is clean, the mechanism invisible, and the stool arrives fully assembled. It's an object built to last, equally at home in a family kitchen or a restaurant.
How to measure at home
Before ordering, take two minutes to measure. Grab a tape measure and note the height from the floor to the top of your worktop, island, or bar. Subtract 25 to 30 cm: that's your ideal seat height.
If you're torn between two heights — say 65 cm for the counter and 75 cm for the bar — an adjustable stool saves you from making the wrong choice. And if your home evolves (moving, renovating, changing the counter), the stool adapts with you.
