Metal restaurant chairs

121 metal chairs for the dining room, the bar room and the host stand, with vinyl, wood or fabric seats on top of the frame. Every one that lists a use lists indoor use. Pick the seat as carefully as the frame, since the seat is what guests actually sit on.

Indoors, and nothing else

Of the 121 chairs on this page, 113 list indoor use and none lists patio use. That keeps the decision simple: these belong in the dining room. If you want metal for the terrace, the aluminum and steel patio chairs are listed for it, and the rule there is the same one we apply to everything: patio use has to appear on the listing before a chair goes out.

Two choices in one chair

Most frames here are plain metal, 95 of them, while 13 are metal finished to look like wood and 5 are steel. The seat opens up the real options. Vinyl turns up 97 times, wood 55 times and fabric 29, and 79 chairs offer upholstery options, so a swatch in your hand beats a screen when you settle on a color.

Back styles split like this:

• Upholstered backs, 42 chairs
• Curved backs, 18, and bucket backs, 12
• Interchangeable backs, 11, and ladder backs, 7
• Vertical slats, 5

A padded back is listed on 52 of them. The upholstered-back metal chairs page gathers the cushioned ones, and the metal ladder back chairs page holds the open frames.

Heights, arms and the table

Where a seat height is given, the commonest are 18, 19 and 19 1/2 inches. Run the sum against your tables. A 29 inch table over a 20 inch seat leaves 9 inches for knees, which is a squeeze, while an 18 inch seat leaves 11. Arms come on 15 chairs, 3 swivel and 4 stack. If you clear the room every night, the stacking chairs page is the better start.

Take a ladder-back metal dining chair as a yardstick: it stands 32 1/2 inches high on a 17 by 20 inch footprint. Lay that footprint on the floor plan and see how many fit around a four-top before you order twenty.

Finish and where to go next

Prices start around $68. For a wood look on a metal frame, open the metal chairs with wood look, and ask for a free finish sample before you order a room of them. The parent restaurant chairs page sorts the whole range, and Patio plans will hold your shortlist until next season.