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rebeccamomof123

Is counter-height seating okay for kids?

rebeccamomof123
11 years ago

I have been pouring through the kitchen forum here for months in anticipation of our own kitchen reno. Nine years I've been living in a terribly designed space with knotty pine cabinets, cracked linoleum counters and peel and stick floors. Now, we're finally ready to go for the kitchen of my dreams! I just am totally overwhelmed by all the decisions. Right now the plan is to take two walls down and add a peninsula. I LOVE how the peninsula looks in the flow of the design we got from Home Depot designer, but I worry that counter height stools will be unsafe for my 3 kiddos - ages 8, 7 and 3. Anyone have kids that use island or peninsula chairs? I think the peninsula will be "grand central" in our kitchen for the kids' quick snacks and meals, homework, etc. but I'm not sure it will comfortable for them. Bear in mind, we will still have a dining table for sit-down meals open off the kitchen.

Comments (22)

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    Did your kids sit in high chairs? If counter height stools work in the layout, do them. They also will not be that young for very long.

  • williamsem
    11 years ago

    My nephews manage fine, they are 6 and 12. Their peninsula and regular table are counter height.

  • mamadadapaige
    11 years ago

    same here. no problem with counter height seats at all. my kids, 7 and 10.

  • motherof3sons
    11 years ago

    My grandbabies ages 3 and 2 climb up in the stools all the time. No problems to date.

  • detroit_burb
    11 years ago

    son is 3.5, but was born into a house with counter seats. We had to keep an eye on him when he was little, he pretended the stools were a train and would sit under them (train conductor) and got hurt a couple of times while trying to drive his train...

    He is now reliable on the counter stool, and I like having him there when I am cooking, he likes doing his lego on the counter and having snacks there. It will be fine, and you will like having a place that the kids can sit and spend time with you while you are doing kitchen things.

  • Buehl
    11 years ago

    I think counter-height will be fine and, as others have said, they won't be young for very long!

    I wouldn't go any higher than counter-height, though (i.e., I wouldn't go to bar-height...6" higher).

    [As to the comparison to high-chairs - infants/toddlers are put into high-chairs by adults and then strapped in so they cannot fall out. It's not the same.]

  • breezygirl
    11 years ago

    This right here...

    is my kids favorite spot in the house to sit. They were barely 6 and 2 when the kitchen reached this point 14 months ago, and they had no trouble with the stools. Until just a couple of weeks ago, the rule with DD (now 3) was that she could get up on her own but had to have an adult get her down. She showed me a couple of weeks ago that she can safely get down backwards on her own so I'm OK with her doing it herself. The other rule is that they must face forward while sitting. We've had no falling or tipping.

  • Cadyren
    11 years ago

    My 2 never had a problem when they were young, unless you count the time I left the room to get a tissue & my 18 mo climbed up on the bar and fell off the other side! He was a terror. but was unhurt.

  • remodelfla
    11 years ago

    Grandkids now 3 and 10 sit in our counterheight stools every time they stay over. No issues at all. Of course, with the little one, we help him in but as said, he won't be 3 for long.

  • Nicole
    11 years ago

    My 8 year old does fine with it. We have this on the bottom of his chair though (it used to be at the old kitchen table when he was smaller and was put away for a couple of years) because he likes to be up extra high. I like it because it makes the chair not slide easily at all or let him tip it.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Kaboost

  • fouramblues
    11 years ago

    The kaboost is a great product. We used it instead of an awful booster seat that gets gunk stuck in its nooks and crannies. So I think Nicole is on to something! But we did something a little different for kid island seating -- we had an old (free) bar height chair in the attic, and that's the seat 6yo DD sits in at the island. The extra 5" puts her at the perfect height for eating, homework, arts and crafts. The rest of the seating, counter height, doesn't match, but I don't care, and this stage won't last long!

    Your kitchen plans are pretty!!

  • palimpsest
    11 years ago

    All the kids in my house sat in a high chair that was like a counter-height chair at the dinner table as a transition between an infant high chair and a regular adult chair. I was really small and sat in mine til I was six. That's what I meant by highchair.

  • tracie.erin
    11 years ago

    They won't be little for long, so if you are really worried just use the dining table until they are big enough. Don't spend money on a permanent solution to a temporary problem. :)

  • 2LittleFishies
    11 years ago

    my 6 and 4 year olds are great with counter height seating : )

  • stacylh
    11 years ago

    I will agree with everyone else. We currently have a counter height table that we use nightly for dinner and my 9yo and twin 5yo's have no trouble. In our previous house we had a peninsula like yours with counter stools and only had one tipover (from one of the kids sitting inappropriately) that I recall, but no injuries. Just set clear boundaries on what is acceptable while sitting in those chairs and you should be fine, especially with the older ones.

    On a side note, I'd definitely get stools with backs and look into stools that swivel. We don't have the swivel now but did before and there is a big difference. We will definitely be getting swivel stools when our kitchen reno is complete.

  • rebeccamomof123
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thanks all! You guys are really great. I'm going for it - will just be sure to have chairs with backs not just stools.

  • annettacm
    11 years ago

    The only problem I ever had with counter seating was when my kids were *just tall enough to hit their heads on the overhang as they used to walk "underneath" it. That took one bad bump for them to realize they were getting taller. The seating was never a problem. And yes, they grew up fast. :)

  • auroraborelis
    11 years ago

    I love hearing all your positive experiences with counter height chairs! This has been a major concern for us as our new home will have island sitting and then the dining room will be used daily as well. My son is 3 months and I searched everywhere for a high chair that would easily go between both table height and counter height!

    Also, over on the builder forum the plan received a lot critiques about the need for a table in the kitchen and it gave me serious anxiety and we spent two months trying to find another solution in the planning phase before realizing that in the long term the plan we wanted had only island seating!

  • Olney
    11 years ago

    4 year old gets on and off our stools with no problem, she loves to sit there and draw.

  • ratrem
    11 years ago

    My daughter eats all her meals here and does messy crafts (play-doh here). Due to space restraints we did not want backs and she has been fine on these chairs since she was just turned 3 when we got them. She is now 3.5 and has never fallen off. My friends son, same age did take a tumble while getting down because he is crazy a monkey, but he was fine:) I guess it depends on the kid. No way would I want my 2 year old nephew up there, but my daughter at 2 would have been fine, (only because we do not have backs on them).

    If daughter was crazy like these other kiddos we would have gotten stools with backs, then I would be comfortable letting most little ones up there. If you do get stools with backs they have fabric tie seats that secure little toddlers well.

  • better2boutside
    11 years ago

    What I learned working in a furniture showroom...Kids can easily manage tall stools, in fact they prefer them to lower chairs anytime. However stools that have large radius front edges, especially those made of wood can be dangerous. When kids get down from the stool, they slide down the front edge of the seat. Because they were rounded the kids had no traction to control their descent and would almost fall. One kid came close to catching his chin on the granite counter top. Select your stools with care and they will be fine.