Would you put a counter height dining table in a small kitche?

15 years ago

We are empty nesters and are in the process of building a tiny - tiny house, 800 sq ft. The kitchen and living area are all open, 10' ceilings. The dining area is part of the kitchen and there is enought space for a dining table.

I fell in love with the May issue of House Beautiful, the Belguim styled family room/kitchen area. They show a counter height dining table that doubles as a prep area.

Because of the limited space in our bungalow I am trying to find furniture that will do 'double duty' and the idea of additional work space of a counter height dining table sounds appealing, but I'm not sure I want the only seating to be counter height chairs.

The house plans show a bar height breakfast ledge which is nice and blocks the view of dirty dishes in the sink.

So, GW decorators, would you consider a counter height dining table? I would really like a dining area that invites sitting, relating and lots of conversation and I'm just not sure about the comfort levels.

below is the link to the kitchen/family room.

Here is a link that might be useful: Belguin styled kitchen

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (9)

california_dreamer
15 years ago
Personally, I would not (although the island/table in the link is beautiful!). Especially since you will have counter seating at your breakfast bar.
For me, sitting on counter height chairs just isn't that comfortable. I have circulation problems and really need to have my feet on the floor. So if you plan to have friends over for dinner parties, etc, you may want to consider having some standard height seating.
My opinion is purely based on comfort- not aesthetics!
tradewind_64
15 years ago
I find counter height seating more comfortable than regular table height. I have a counter height table in my small eat-in kitchen, and I really like it. However, I am going to be changing over to a banquette style eating area, so it's going away :-( But booths are a favorite of mine, too. So it's all good...

Joanna
Related Discussions
'Quality' counter height tables- Is it possible?
Q
Comments (9)
laura1202 and mogator88 Thanks for both the links. I'm still checking them out. Both Saloom and the Antique Table Made Daily seem to have very nice, high quality tables. I'm impressed and excited to learn that Saloom has a dealer about an hour from my home! Their Hampshire Farm table is "VERY" nice. I wish ATMD had a dealer close too so I could see their work in person. The ATMD has pricing on their website and it doesn't seem out of line with the Amish companies I have received quotes from now. Other than Saloom and Simply Amish, all companies seem to be back east and will charge at least $500+ for delivery to SoCal. Saloom doesn't have pricing but I will find that out when I visit their dealer. Do you have any idea mogator88 if they are comparable to some of the other's linked from this thread? The Simply Amish quote from the store near us was almost $1700 higher for the same table than their online partners and that was without shipping! I don't mind spending what it takes to get a quality table but I also don't want to get taken.... Laura, I bet you cannot wait to get your table. I especially liked the Country French table. And, I know exactly what you mean about your Broyhill table that was less than acceptable. We bought an expensive couch just two years ago and the thing broke down almost immediately. It replaced a quality couch we'd had for 20 years that my sister now has...and DH wishes he had back! LOL Here is a link that might be useful: French Table
...See More
Do you love or hate your counter height dining?
Q
Comments (30)
What makes a chair comfortable isn't the padding or lack thereof. It's all about the shape of the seat and the shape of the back and the angle where the back of the chair meets the seat. I have a wood desk chair with a shaped seat that is far more comfortable than many padded chairs I've sat in. And for dining chairs, another big factor is the height of the seat in combination with the height of the table. If you want comfortable seating in your dining room, that will encourage people to linger after a meal, you really need to test the table and chairs together. I suspect that when people say a dining chair is comfortable, it isn't just the chair; it's also the way the chair and the table work together that makes the seat so comfortable. I'm sure it's possible to get a very comfortable counter height dining set, just as I know it is possible to get an uncomfortable regular table height dining set. So whatever you get, I hope you can test sit it first.
...See More
Would a countertop height desk bother you
Q
Comments (15)
Do you have a pic of your layout? Where small desks (and that's pretty small- don't think anyone's going to be sitting there for too long anyways...)are tucked away from the rest of the counter it makes sense to have it lowered. But, if it's part of a continuous surface, I don't see any reason to stagger the level of the counter. If you have a normal height table in the kitchen, the stool or chair can be utilized at the table as an extra seat- if you have island or peninsula seating, a counter height stool can be used there too... do you have both counter and table height seating now? I'm not saying this very cohesively- but if you don't have any counter height seating anywhere else, the counter height desk/stool won't be as versatile.
...See More
Do you like your counter height table?
Q
Comments (28)
My parents have a counter-height table in their kitchen. Because theirs is a small kitchen, my mom designed the table that way because she uses the table as spillover counter space. It worked/works fine for our family because: 1) All the kids (my sisters and I) were teenagers/tweens at the time she switched to a counter-height table. 2) Everybody in our family is tall. (My sister is the family runt at 5'7". I'm the runner-up runt at 5'9".) 3) My mom got unusually comfortable counter-height seats. I remember she went through quite a process to find ones she was happy with -- bringing various chairs home and having us all try them out. Her effort was well worth it. I have no problem hanging out on her kitchen chairs comfortably, but I generally refuse to sit at bars/counters at restaurants because I have some medical problems with my legs, and the vast majority of bar/counter chairs in restaurants are wicked uncomfortable. In particular, the seats of my mother's chairs are a big bigger than is typical, which allows the seated person a bit more flexibility for how they can position themselves on the seat. Plus my mom's chairs have a serious, full-height, comfortable chair back. Not those artistically half-height backs that functionally worthless and uncomfortable. 4) My mother frequently uses the extra counter space afforded by the table to make truly excellent pies, and we'd rather walk on lava than discourage my mother from making pie. All in all, it's worked great for many years, and I do think it was the best solution for her kitchen. That said, her counter-height chairs are definitely not good for small children. They're too hard for kids to get in out and out of without assistance and quite precarious for them to sit on/climb into. Kids aren't careful and have easily and dramatically flipped those chairs more than once, even with really strict supervision (those kids were caught by a watchful adult and were unharmed). It's just a fundamentally taller, tippier seat that requires constant vigilance with kids. My mom's table is actually a standard-height table with all four standard-height legs lowered into big white PVC pipes that were cut to counter height. The PVC pipes were meant to be a temporary solution to help my mom judge how tall she wanted the real, final legs to be, but the pipes matched the white undercarriage of the table so well and go so unnoticed that they've been left that way all these years. The upside is that, if my parents do have a lot of children over (like at Thanksgiving), my mom just has us lift the kitchen table back out of the PVC pipes, and sets up the kitchen table as a table-height kids table with random standard-height chairs and benches borrowed from elsewhere in the house (the piano bench, the bench in the foyer usually used for sitting on when you remove shoes, and some desk chairs from the living room/bedrooms).
...See More
michelle_phxaz
15 years ago
It is a personal preference. I prefer having my feet on the floor, I have never liked higher seating. Older folks I believe would feel more comfortable with a shorter seat.

Who will be your main guests? If they are younger, go for the bar stool chairs, if not, maybe you could have the table made to two heights so the chairs would be at the shorter end where people sit.
movin-on
Original Author
15 years ago
Most of our guests are empty nesters .... active 50's-60's and of course, our family. This is a winter house for us and will be used about 5-6 months a year.

If we were to do a counter height table, I was hoping to find super wide-comfy chairs which might help. But I am really torn.

Appreciate the input from GW readers!
Kathleen McGuire
15 years ago
I would be sure that the counter height table does not obstruct any views to the outside. That is one complaint I have heard about counter or bar height seating areas in a breakfast area. In the pic you linked to, that is a kitchen island. Is that what you are using it for? Or are you planning on using one of those bar height kitchen tables in that area? Personally, if there is room, I would opt for an island with storage on the bottom. You can always add chairs.
movin-on
Original Author
15 years ago
Our little kitchen is L-shaped and the room is only
14 x 12 including the dining area, hence no room for an island.

Since my workspace is so limited, was thinking a counter height table would give me additional work area. Then again, so would the table ... maybe I should just stick with the table height? Decisions, decisions!
susanilz5
15 years ago
Although I love sitting at my counter height island, my parents find it difficult to get up and down on counter height chairs and prefer the regular height kitchen table.
User
15 years ago
We are empty nesters who built a lake cottage last year that will be our retirement home. We did put a counter height set in our dining area, which is open to the kitchen, and we love it.

We built this house for the way that we enjoyed living, and that meant more casual gatherings than formal meals. We have an island (counter height) with a second level for bar height seating. It is adjacent to the counter height table and most often I set food and appetizers on the bar level for people to serve themselves and sit down with their plates at the table.

We find most people, especially the older ones, find it easier to get up and down from the counter height chairs than regular height ones. I will grant you that it's a little jump to get up and down from BAR height chairs, but counter height, for most folks, means just sliding their butts on or off, as opposed to raising yourself (like doing squats)from seated to standing in a regular chair.

I'm only 5'2" so my feet sometimes dangle from even regular height deep seated dining chairs! We chose chairs that have a rung on which you can rest your feet when seated and I find them really comfortable.

It comes down to a matter of personal choice and lifestyle, but I am really happy to have gone with the counter height dining set.
tradewind_64
15 years ago
My parents are in their 70's and they LOVE sitting at counter height. I can't imagine why an older person would have more trouble with counter height than table height...it's kind of like having a higher bed vs a low platform. The platform you have to get up from...the higher bed, you just swing your legs over the side and you are already mostly on your way to being stood up. The same goes for the counter height...most butts are right there at the right height to just slide on :-). For circulation problems, I am confused about that too, as most counter height (and bar height, for that matter), have a bar to rest your feet on, don't they?

I would keep my counter height if I could...I think if you look for them in furniture stores, they are called "gathering tables" or something like that.

Joanna

Would you put a counter height dining table in a small kitche?

Comments (9)

california_dreamer

tradewind_64

Related Discussions

michelle_phxaz

movin-on
Original Author

Kathleen McGuire

movin-on
Original Author

susanilz5

User

tradewind_64

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Would you put a counter height dining table in a small kitche?

Comments (9)

california_dreamer

tradewind_64

Related Discussions

michelle_phxaz

movin-onOriginal Author

Kathleen McGuire

movin-onOriginal Author

susanilz5

User

tradewind_64

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

movin-on
Original Author

movin-on
Original Author