# Bar stool preferences **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 12, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410 "2026-03-12T21:39:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/1 "2026-03-12T21:39:50Z")
There are two main types of bar stools - with or without backrests. There are three mechanisms - fixed, swivel freely and swivel but spring loaded to return to center. What is your preference? I prefer a backrest for much more comfort and free swivel to make it easy to get in and out of tight spaces. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/2 "2026-03-12T21:52:56Z")
Kind of depends on how much I drink. Just one? No backrest, fixed. Getting blottoed? Backrest, fixed, so I can turn the barstool 90 degrees and lean either on the backrest or bar, reducing the chances of falling off. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/3 "2026-03-12T22:02:07Z")
You forgot with or without armrest. I like them with backs, arms and swivels that returns to the center. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/4 "2026-03-12T22:03:44Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I like them with backs, arms and swivels that returns to the center. This, although you didn’t mention whether cost was an issue, since they would be more expensive IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/5 "2026-03-12T22:10:11Z")
Back, swivel freely. (I wish _my_ back still did that.) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/6 "2026-03-12T22:33:58Z")
The ones “where everybody knows my name”. 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/7 "2026-03-12T22:49:37Z")
Gimme something that looks like I could command an 18th Century warship from it. [![](https://www.casual-dine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Jaxon-Barstool.png) ](https://www.casual-dine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Jaxon-Barstool.png) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/8 "2026-03-12T23:06:04Z")
The places I hang, they’re tall chairs: yes back, no arms, no swivel. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/9 "2026-03-12T23:10:13Z")
No option for, “i want a chair that lets my feet reach the floor”? I hate perching on a stool. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/10 "2026-03-12T23:12:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Gimme something that looks like I could command an 18th Century warship from it. This is a throne, not a bar stool. 😉 As for my preference: my bar hopping days are mostly over, but I have always preferred a solid, non-swiveling stool with four legs and a round seat, no backrest. And yeah, it must have a ring for resting your feet. Like this: [![](https://www.vidaxl.de/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-vidaxl-catalog-master-sku/default/dw37c07786/hi-res/436/443/1463/246260/image_2_246260.jpg) ](https://www.vidaxl.de/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-vidaxl-catalog-master-sku/default/dw37c07786/hi-res/436/443/1463/246260/image_2_246260.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/11 "2026-03-12T23:41:26Z")
I have a stool rather like a bar stool in my workshop, on which I perch if I need to work on something small and fussy at bench level. It is short enough that my feet rest on the ground (although not everyone’s would, I am 6’ tall), it swivels freely, and has no back or sides. That is the kind I would like at any bar, and I wish I could carry it around with me, because most barstools are very uncomfortable for me. Especially ones with backs, because they are not built for persons with my backside. Oh, a lot of stools in workshops have wheels for mobility, mine does not. I would hate that. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/12 "2026-03-12T23:41:58Z")
Sadly long-replaced, but when Bill Nolte opened The Joynt in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1973, he obtained the old switchboard operators’ stools no longer needed by the phone company, and one antique barber’s chair at the end of the bar. It made for the most ergonomic drunk in the tri-state area. [![](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9fc12b7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1760x1100+0+0/resize/840x526!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F12%2F27%2Fdownload-2-_custom-4070a7318439b2e6bb7ead10dcfb64de01c5eb30.jpeg) ](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/9fc12b7/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1760x1100+0+0/resize/840x526!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F12%2F27%2Fdownload-2-_custom-4070a7318439b2e6bb7ead10dcfb64de01c5eb30.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/13 "2026-03-12T23:43:35Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > No option for, “i want a chair that lets my feet reach the floor”? I hate perching on a stool.  Ditto! If I _must_ sit on a barstool, it has to have a backrest. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2026, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/14 "2026-03-12T23:46:35Z")
You and i can go out to eat together. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/15 "2026-03-13T00:23:03Z")
Backrest, no arm rests, swivel seat, and a foot rail 6 or 8 inches from the floor running the length of the bar. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/16 "2026-03-13T01:38:30Z")
Tall seating of any sort, stool or otherwise, _must_ have a footrest at the usual distance below the seat so that one’s feet can be rested easily. Dangling feet sucketh mightily. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/17 "2026-03-13T03:20:14Z")
Count me with \ ***EinstensHund** ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/18 "2026-03-13T03:32:41Z")
Ideally, padded, with a backrest, and a swivel. But all my local place has are wooden, four-legged stools. Meh, I deal. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/19 "2026-03-13T03:36:04Z")
The barstools at my kitchen island have tractor seats. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2026, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410/20 "2026-03-13T12:43:49Z")
Our barstools in our kitchen and at our wet bar are padded, swivel no back rest. I like that you can just plop down on them from any angle. We play a lot of darts at the wet bar, so you are always getting up and down. @Beckdawrek , not surprised. That is not an insult. I see the appeal. I’ve spent many an hour on those metal tractor seats. On a tractor. My wife bought a sign for our house “Farmhouse-ish. All the charm without the farm” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bar-stool-preferences/1028410.md?page=2)