How does that old saying go? Variety is the spice of life. Since spices are often used in the kitchen, we will use that as a segue into our discussion that variety and flexibility in kitchen designs is important. Our topic today is kitchen bars and at what height should a kitchen bar be? It mainly depends upon how you plan to use the kitchen bar and your personal preferences for desired backdrop space on the kitchen side of the bar. If you plan to use bar stools, there are 3 common heights.
A key feature of incorporating kitchen bars in a design is that it opens up the flow of your floor plan and creates visual and spatial connectivity between adjacent rooms. Below are two examples using a bar height in the 41-43 inch range. One example below is commonly referred to as a breakfast bar which uses an 18” deep countertop material on top of the bar to allow using bar stools to eat from the bar. The second example depicts another use for the bar which is more of a design feature and for show. It uses a wood cap (approx 8” deep) to match the kitchen cabinets and creates an inviting setting between the kitchen, dining area, and family room.
Below is a kitchen with the bar using a wood cap to match the kitchen cabinets. In this case, a 4” backsplash that matches the countertop was also installed.
The below example depicts a breakfast bar with the countertop at “bar height” and a tile backsplash on kitchen side of the wall.