Ideas + Advice: How to choose kitchen & dining seating.

How tall should my seating be?

For proper leg clearance and ergonomic comfort, the general rule of thumb is to pick a chair or stool with a seat height that is roughly 12 inches below the table/counter/bar surface.

How many chairs/stools do I need?

Ideally, you want diners to have adequate elbow and breathing room around a dining table or along a bar. For this, you should figure one chair or stool for every 24 inches or so of table or counter surface.

Arms or no arms? Back or no back?

The decision to choose arms or not is primarily an aesthetic one. At a linear dining table, it is traditional to have armchairs at the heads of the table with armless side chairs along the sides. But these days, you can make your own rules.

What style or material should I choose?

Once you've figured out how you want your seating to function, that's when the real fun begins. Do you want your chairs or stools to blend in or stand out? Exciting and bright plastic, or rustic wood? Sleek and ultra-contemporary, or casually curvy? It's all up to you.

Ambient Kitchen Lighting

Ambient lighting is the base layer that makes a room usable. As in other rooms, this is generally lighting that originates from the ceiling. Recessed lighting is the current reigning trend, but you can also look to flushmount fixtures or even track or rail systems.

Kitchen Task Lighting

Task lighting is one of the most critical (and most often overlooked) lighting types in the kitchen. In essence, the kitchen is a work space, so make sure you have the right lighting in the right spots to enable you to work safely.

Kitchen Accent Lighting

This is generally where the fun comes in, with decorative fixtures often fulfilling the accent role. While we’re calling them out separately here, accent lighting often crosses categories and helps serve the purpose of ambient light.

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