What seat height your chairs actually need

The most common complaint about chairs is not about design but about height. A chair three centimetres too tall makes you sit with raised shoulders; one too low forces you to reach up towards your plate. Both only become obvious after twenty minutes at the table — which is to say, after you have already paid for the order.

The thirty-centimetre rule

The ideal gap between the seat surface and the top of the table is 28–32 cm. Below 28 cm your knees hit the tabletop; above 32 cm you eat with your elbows raised. For a standard 76 cm table that means a seat between 44 and 48 cm — not necessarily the 45 cm you find by default in shops.

Measure under the tabletop, not over it

This is where most people go wrong. Many tables have an apron or frame under the top that eats 6–8 cm of clearance. If yours does, measure from the floor to the underside of that apron and subtract at least 18 cm — that is what your thighs need. If the result is lower than the seat height you wanted, the chair will not tuck under the table, however good it looks.

Bars, kitchen islands, high tables

For tall counters the same 30 cm rule applies at different absolute values. A 90 cm kitchen counter calls for a 60–65 cm seat. A 105–110 cm bar calls for 75 cm. A bar of 115 cm or more calls for 85 cm. That is why we build our bar model in three heights rather than one: a single room often has two or three counter types.

When the standard does not work at all

If the table was made to order, inherited from family, or has a thick stone top, it very likely falls outside the usual range. The same applies when the people using it are significantly taller or shorter than average — it is worth adjusting by 2–3 cm in the right direction. A made-to-order chair does not cost much more than a mass-produced one, but the difference in comfort is felt every day.

How to check before you order

Take a chair you already own, measure its seat and sit at the table for ten minutes. If your forearms rest on the top without lifting your shoulders and your feet sit flat on the floor, you have found the height. Send us that number and we will build to it. If no chair in the house fits, send us the table height and your own — we will work it out.