Chelsea 01 Dark Grey Bar Stool: counter fit and measuring

The Chelsea 01 Dark Grey Bar Stool is a velvet stool on a chrome base, with a streamlined back and a lion knocker detail. The listing gives one size: 54 x 48 x 102cm. Those three numbers decide whether it works at your counter, so this is a short guide to reading them properly before you order.

The figures, exactly as listed

The listing prints them as "54 x 48 x 102cm" and does not label which is width, which is depth and which is height. The 102cm figure is the only one that can sensibly be an overall height; the other two are the footprint, but their order is not stated. If a few centimetres either way matters, because the stool has to slide into a gap between a wall and an island for instance, confirm the width and the depth with the shop before you order.

The seat height is the figure you need, and it is not listed

This is the measurement people get wrong. The number that has to match your counter is the seat height, and the listing does not state it. The 102cm is almost certainly an overall height rather than a seat height, but the listing does not label it or say what it is measured to, so do not work a seat height back out of it.

Measure your own side first. Take the distance from the floor to the underside of the worktop, including any overhang, trim or support beneath it, because that is what your knees meet rather than the surface. Then ask the shop for the Chelsea 01's seat height and compare the two. You want clear space between the top of the seat and that underside, enough to sit down and get up without ducking or turning sideways. A kitchen island, a breakfast bar and a home bar are often three different heights in the same house, so measure the one these stools are actually going to.

How many will fit along your counter

Taking 54cm as the across-the-front figure, the arithmetic is simple:

• Two stools side by side occupy 108cm, before any gap between them.
• Three occupy 162cm.
• Four occupy 216cm.

Then add a gap of your own choosing between each stool and at each end. Nobody sits inside a 54cm slot: shoulders and elbows need more than the width of the seat, and a stool that has to be dragged sideways before anyone can use it ends up left pulled out. On a 160cm run, two Chelsea 01s with room around them make a better kitchen than three wedged together.

Check what is underneath, too. A dishwasher door, a bin drawer or a deep kick space all change where a stool can stand and whether it can be pushed back in.

Chelsea 01 or Chelsea: the back is the difference

Both Chelsea stools are listed at the same size, both on a chrome base and both described as velvet, though neither listing says the two fabrics are identical. What separates them is the hardware on the back: this one carries a lion knocker, and the Chelsea Dark Grey Bar Stool carries a ring knocker. At an island facing into a room, the back is the side everyone sees, so decide it from there rather than from a head-on photograph.

If you would rather have a deep buttoned back than the Chelsea's clean one, the Lewis 01 Dark Grey Bar Stool has a Chesterfield back with button detailing and is listed at 58 x 50 x 98cm. For a larger stool again, the Mayfair Bar Stool (Lion Knocker) is listed at 64 x 60 x 100cm. All of them sit together on the bar stools page.

What the listing does not say

Being straight about the gaps saves a return. The listing does not give a seat height, a weight limit, whether the stool arrives assembled, a rub rating for the velvet, or a colour reference beyond dark grey. It describes no swivel and no gas lift, so do not plan on height adjustment. Ask about anything on that list that matters to you before you order rather than after.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond.

When you have your counter measurement, the Chelsea 01 Dark Grey Bar Stool page carries six photographs.