Lewis Bar Stool: light grey or mink, and how it measures up

The Lewis Bar Stool is upholstered in shimmer velvet on a chrome base, with a Chesterfield back carrying deep button detailing and a lion knocker on the rear. It is listed in two colours, light grey and mink, at one size: 58 x 50 x 98cm. The colour is chosen on the product page, and it is the decision most people spend longest on, so start there.

Light grey or mink

Both are the same stool in the same shimmer velvet, which the listing describes as catching the light. That is the thing to keep in mind with either colour: a shimmer finish does not read as one flat tone. It shifts between a window-lit morning and a kitchen lit by spotlights at night, and it shows the direction the pile has been brushed.

• Light grey sits alongside white, pale and grey kitchens without competing, and it keeps a dark island from looking heavy at seat level.
• Mink is the warmer of the two and holds its own against oak, walnut and brass. It is also the one that reads as a deliberate choice rather than a safe one.

If the kitchen already has a grey in it, ask us to check the colour against a door or a sample rather than matching from photographs: greys that look identical on a screen rarely sit well together in a room. The listing gives no colour reference beyond these names, so a photograph is not a reliable match either.

The size, and the figure that is missing

The listing prints "58 x 50 x 98cm" without labels. The 98cm is almost certainly an overall height rather than a seat height, though the listing does not say what it is measured to; the 58cm and 50cm are the footprint, and which is width and which depth is not stated either, so confirm the figures if the stool has to fit a measured gap.

The seat height is not given, and it is the figure that has to match your counter. You cannot work it back out of the 98cm either, because the listing does not label its figures or say how much of the stool is back. Measure from your floor to the underside of the worktop, including any overhang or trim beneath it, then ask us for the seat height and check the clearance between the two before you order.

Lewis is not Lewis 01

The listings say so themselves: the Lewis 01 Dark Grey Bar Stool is noted as a different material, and this one carries a warning not to confuse the two. They share the listed size, the chrome base, the Chesterfield back and the lion knocker, but the fabric differs and so do the colours, the Lewis 01 being listed in dark grey. If you are adding to stools you already own, order by the full name and colour, and ask us to check the two side by side if there is any doubt.

How many along the counter

• Two stools take 116cm of counter, before any gap between them.
• Three take 174cm.
• Four take 232cm.

Those are widths only. Add spacing between each stool and at each end, because elbows take more room than seats do. Check the headroom as well: if the 98cm is the overall height, a pendant light or a shelf at the end of an island can be in the way, so confirm the height first.

For a plainer back, the Chelsea Dark Grey Bar Stool is listed at 54 x 48 x 102cm and is the narrower footprint. For a larger stool, the Mayfair Bar Stool (Lion Knocker) is listed at 64 x 60 x 100cm in dark grey, silver grey and mink, which is the one to look at if you want the mink to carry across more than one shape. Everything is on the bar stools page.

Where the listing is silent

No seat height, no weight limit, no rub rating for the velvet, no colour reference, and nothing about assembly. No swivel or gas lift is described, so take the height as fixed. Ask us anything on that list before ordering rather than after it arrives.

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

Twelve photographs are on the Lewis Bar Stool page. If they do not settle the colour for you, ask us before you order.