Buying Stools

The old kitchen chairs started to look tacky. It was time for some new seating in the pool room. Kitchen chairs are way too low. In a pool room, you want to be able to look down at the table to see all the action clearly from a perspective higher than the table. I knew that stools were the way to go.

My criteria when I started shopping for stools were sturdy, back preferred but not critical, absolutely no arms, and a southwestern style. Why no arms? Our room is tight and arms on a stool would just add another obstacle to get in the way of shooting. Backs are okay because they'd just be against the wall.

One of the first things I found out is that there are three sizes, or heights, for stools. The two most commons heights are counter height and bar height, approximately 23-25 inches and 30 inches, respectively. An even taller stool than the bar stool is the spectator stool. I didn't see any of those, but I was told about them. I imagine they are around 35 inches tall. For comparison purposes, the seat height on those tacky kitchen chairs is 18 inches.

We wanted three bar stools, but when we found the right style at the right price, our options were limited. The style we liked was no longer made and the store had only three left: two bar stools and one counter stool. We bought them. As it turned out, having the one shorter stool was perfect. Had we bought three bar stools, the back on the taller stool would have interferred with one of our cue racks.