We recently completely renovated our Park Slope, Brooklyn brownstone and one of the biggest jobs was our kitchen. Before, the kitchen was cramped, lacked enough cabinets and had walls blocking off the living room. Our best decision was to knock down those walls and create a long quartz island between the kitchen and living room, opening up the entire space and making it much more functional and great for entertaining (whenever it’s safe to do that again!)
But, with an island comes the choice of island chairs. I can’t tell you how much time I put into researching the best island chairs. I wanted them to be comfortable and supportive (no backless options), while also having a great aesthetic. Here’s the one’s that made our short list, including what we chose for our island.
The Winner: CB2’s Chiaro Chair
We decided on CB2’s Chiaro chairs ($199) and are even happier with our choice than when we bought them. These chairs are sleek and sexy in terms of their profile, and I love that the main chair is clear, so that it creates an illusion of a larger room because these ghost chairs don’t take appear to take up as much room as a chair made of different materials.
The base comes in the choice of a number of finishes. We went with the gold, since our kitchen has gold fixtures, but they also have a matte black option and a chrome option, depending on the color scheme of your kitchen. The chairs come in two sizes: bar height or table height and are super comfy to sit in. While working from home, I tend to sit at the island with my laptop, so I spend a lotttt of time in these chairs and they are very cozy. We haven’t had guests over yet because of Covid, but all of my girlfriends swooned over these chairs when I sent them photos of our kitchen renovation. Much of our apartment has a midcentury modern vibe, so these really fit in with what we were looking to achieve. We would highly recommend!
West Elm Slop Leather Bar & Counter Stools:
These stools were our close second choice. I love how rich the fabric is on these West Elm stools and the variety of styles and colors they have. First, you can pick between real leather and a vegan leather, but you can also choose between rich browns to black and snow white colors for the leather as well as black or gold for the base. Given the different options in materials, colors and heights, the chairs range from $299 to $798 each.
The stools are very supportive and I love the bucket seats in them, which cradle you while you sit. In the end, since we are working with a small Brooklyn space, the clear Chiaro chairs worked better for the space, but if we had a bigger home I would have been inclined to buy these.
West Elm Wire Frame Leather Bar & Counter Stools:
These stools from West Elm ($319 to $439) are seriously sexy. I love the design and padding of the chair as well as the contrast between the leather and hardware. While I am partial to the black leather, it comes in so many different colors that could fit your color scheme.
Wayfair Rosalynn Swivel Counter & Bar Stool:
For a girl on a budget, these stools from Wayfair priced at two for $185 get a lot of the aesthetic but at a much lower price point. I love the gold frame and the ability for the chairs to swivel. They also have a small profile, so can be good for smaller islands and spaces.
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