04 Oct 2026
Dining Chairs and Bar Stools: Matching a Set Without It Looking Matchy
A set of dining chairs that looks designed rather than bought as a job lot repeats one thing and varies the rest. The trick is picking which. Here is how the chairs, bar stools and tables in our range go together, and where they do not.
Repeat the metal, vary the rest
Legs are the strongest visual link in a dining room: there are more of them than anything else. Across the range they come in four finishes: chrome, gold (the G- and SG- prefixed designs), black and oak effect. Hold one and you can change colour, upholstery and even chair shape without the room falling apart.
Two ranges carry one finish through a table, a chair and a bar stool, which matters when an island and a table share a room:
- Chelsea, in chrome. Chrome frame on the Chelsea Dining Table, chrome legs on the Chelsea Chair and Chelsea 01, a chrome base on the Chelsea Bar Stool, and the Chelsea Bench to match.
- Lewis, in chrome. The Lewis Dining Table, Lewis Chair, Lewis 01 Plush, Lewis Bar Stool and Lewis Bench are all chrome.
Worth knowing: the Lewis Bar Stool and the Lewis 01 Bar Stool are not the same thing. Both listings say so, in as many words — the materials differ — so check which you are ordering.
Other ranges cover all three pieces in mixed finishes — better known now than later:
- Mayfair. The G-Mayfair Gold Dining Table has a gold frame, but the Mayfair Chair stands on chrome legs and both Mayfair bar stools (lion, ring) on a chrome base.
- Milan. The BK-Milan Dining Table stands on black legs, while the G-Milan Chair and G-Milan Stool stand on gold.
- Lewis in gold. The SG-Lewis Dining Table and G-Lewis Chair match, but there is no gold Lewis stool, so the island will not follow the table.
A mixed set is not wrong. It should just be a decision rather than an accident.
Three ways out of looking matchy
What reads as "bought as a set" is six identical chairs in the table top's own colour. Three fixes:
- Change the ends. Same frame, same upholstery, one detail different: the Chelsea Chair has a ring knocker and the Chelsea 01 a lion.
- Put a bench on one side. It breaks the rhythm of six chairs, and it tucks under, buying back floor space.
- Same chair, two colourways. The Roma Chair is listed in Silver Grey, Dark Grey and Shiny Mink, the Jessica in Dark Grey, Silver Grey and Mink, the Marbella PU in Grey, Light Grey, Camel and Black. Two shades of one chair looks collected; two chairs in one shade looks like a compromise.
Mixing finishes on purpose
If you want two metals in the room, keep the legs in one and give the second a separate job: the light over the table, a mirror, a handle. Two metals at floor level in one sightline looks unresolved.
Oak effect is the easy mixer, reading as wood rather than a competing metal: the Bentley Beige, Berry Fabric and Florence Berry Mixed chairs sit on oak-effect legs, which suit the oak-effect top of the Siena Dining Table. Black does the same job in a cooler room: the Marbella PU, Venice 01 PU, Cheshire and Roco 360° chairs match the Venice Dining Table.
The Bentley chair makes this painless: it is listed with chrome legs, black legs and, in beige fabric, oak legs — all at 48 x 60 x 93cm. One chair, three finishes.
Upholstery: velvet, bouclé, PU and fabric
| Upholstery | Examples | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Velvet | Chelsea, Lewis, Roma, Mayfair, Jessica, Alice, G-Milan | The formal end; most of the knocker designs |
| Bouclé | Oslo, Siena Tub | Texture without shine; quieter than velvet |
| PU | London PU, Marbella PU, Roma PU, Venice 01 PU | Wipes clean; the listings describe it as resisting stains and wear |
| Fabric | Bentley Beige, Berry, Florence Berry Mixed | Softest-looking, and easiest to mix with wood |
Pick one upholstery type per table: velvet at one end and PU at the other reads as a mistake, however well the colours match. If the table is where homework happens, the PU designs are the practical answer.
Knockers, stitching and the details that do the work
A back knocker is the detail most people notice first. Lion and ring knockers appear across the Chelsea, Lewis, Mayfair and Roma designs, and on the Jessica and Cheshire. The lion is the louder; the ring is the one that survives a change of décor.
If you want the shape without the hardware, the Roma Chair with no knocker is listed for exactly that — and being otherwise identical, it makes the neatest side-versus-end split in the range.
Stitching is the quieter detail:
- Hexagonal, on the back — the Roma and G-Roma designs.
- Diagonal, on the seat or front panel — the Lewis Chair (seat), the Lewis 01 and G-Lewis (front panel), all with a Chesterfield back.
Back height decides how formal the room reads, and whether the chairs are seen from the sofa in an open-plan space. Tall-back designs are listed at over a metre overall — the Alice Chair 59 x 46 x 105cm, the G-Lucy 67 x 50 x 103cm. Lower backs disappear: the G-Milan 64 x 56 x 86cm, the Oslo 63 x 56 x 77cm.
Swivel seats and KD
Two chairs in the range turn: the Roco 360° Chair and the Siena Tub Chair, both described with a 360-degree mechanism. Neither is a bar stool, and no stool here is listed as swivelling, so a seat that turns will be at chair height.
KD in a product name means knock-down: it arrives for assembly at home, which matters for a narrow close or a tight stair turn. The Torino Cross Back, Torino Ladder Back and Lucca Cross Back chairs are KD, and the Oslo Chair is listed ready-built or KD. Read those listings closely: the Torino notes that built chairs have lighter seats and KD chairs darker ones, and the Lucca that built chairs have wooden seats and KD chairs fabric.
What a kitchen island needs
An island or breakfast bar is taller than a dining table, which is why bar stools exist. Our dining tables are listed at 75 to 78cm, which is the height a dining chair suits: put one at an island and the person sits too low to use the worktop.
Product pages give an overall size — width by depth by height — not a seat height: the Chelsea Bar Stool is 54 x 48 x 102cm, the Lewis 58 x 50 x 98cm, the Mayfair 64 x 60 x 100cm and the G-Milan Stool 49 x 55 x 97cm. Comfort comes down to the gap between seat and worktop, so measure both and ask us to confirm the seat height first.
Two things to settle first:
- How many will actually fit. Allow around 70cm of worktop run per stool, so a 2m run is about three stools, not four squeezed in. The widths above run from 49 to 64cm, so the broader designs need the more generous spacing.
- Whether the backs will be on show. In an open-plan room you see the backs of the island stools from the living side, so match them to the dining chairs rather than the kitchen. The G-Milan Stool is the odd one out: it is listed with an integrated handle and described for use as a footrest or extra seating, so it is the one to move about.
Three sets that work
- Chelsea Dining Table, four Chelsea Chairs at the sides, two Chelsea 01 at the ends, Chelsea Bar Stools at the island.
- Lewis Dining Table, Lewis Chairs on three sides, a Lewis Bench on the fourth — chrome throughout, and the bench pushes under. More on the benches pages.
- Siena Dining Table (oak-effect top, black legs), Marbella PU Chairs at the sides, an Oslo Chair in bouclé at each end.
Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond, as set out on our delivery information page. If you are unsure whether a chair will clear your table frame or a stool will suit your worktop, send the measurements through the contact page.