Stools sized off the counter, not off the catalogue

01Clearance decides the height

Seating wants 250 mm of clearance under the counter edge, so a 900 mm counter takes a 650 mm stool and a 1,050 mm counter takes 750 mm, the pair most chains settle on for a pass-through counter. The sheet states which of the two a store gets, based on the counter drawing, so nobody at the site has to work it out.

Footrest is 250 mm below the seat and welded rather than clamped, because on a stool it takes the weight of a person shifting position all evening, and a clamped ring is the reason a stool rattles in year two.

02Backless or low-back

Backless tucks fully under the counter, which is what keeps a run clear when the room is full. Low-back adds 200 mm and tells a guest this is a seat to stay in. Most chains specify both: backless along the pass-through side, low-back at the window.

Both share the same 380 mm footprint and the same colour card, so the two can sit three metres apart without looking like different programmes.

03What gets replaced

Glides first, then the seat pad. Glides come out from the top with a screwdriver. Pads unscrew from underneath with two bolts, so recovering a run does not mean new frames. Spare glides and bolts ship inside the wave.

04Counter stool manufacturers, and who cuts in-house

Frames, seats and the footrest ring come out of three different processes, and factories differ on how many of them happen under one roof. Welded ring onto a welded frame is the version that survives a counter; a ring bolted through tube is the version that loosens.

Seat thickness matters more than seat shape at this height, because the whole body weight lands on one small disc. 40 mm of foam over a plywood core is the floor, and a shaped seat in the same foam reads softer without going flat.

Commercial grade at this height means the ring and the legs are one welded assembly rather than four parts screwed into a hub, and the frame is rated for a counter that is cleaned twice a service.

05Replacement seats for stools already in service

Seats are orderable on their own code, by frame model and diameter. Ring seats and shaped seats do not interchange, so the order needs the model number off the frame rather than a photo of the top.

Re-covering takes the same panel pattern as the original run, which keeps a counter of twelve reading as one counter after four years of service.