French bistro chairs

These 16 chairs give a sidewalk table its French bistro look: faux rattan seats on bamboo-look aluminum or plain metal frames, each one listed for patio use. Settle one thing first, arms or no arms. Six have them, and the extra width changes how many chairs fit along a wall.

Frames, seats and the arms question

Fourteen of the 16 chairs carry an aluminum frame with a bamboo look. Two are plain metal. Every seat is faux rattan, so the differences left are the ones you can measure with a tape.

Width comes first. A black and cream faux rattan chair is 18 1/8 inches wide and 34 1/4 inches tall. The cane armchair runs 21 7/8 inches wide. That gap of 3 3/4 inches per chair becomes a full 30 inches across a row of eight.

Arms change the table math too. Figure two feet of tabletop rim for each guest, a foot and a half if you must squeeze, and know that a 21 7/8-inch armchair will not tuck into the squeeze. Behind every chair, the seat needs room to slide back as someone stands, and the server needs a lane of about three feet. Plenty of sidewalk patios run out of room long before they run out of tables.

Eight of the chairs are listed as stackable. That is worth a second look if your patio goes to bed in October and the chairs have to fit in a corner of the storeroom. Single chairs start around $114.

What a patio listing really means

Every chair here is listed for patio use, and 15 are listed for indoor use as well. The second number matters in November, when the terrace closes and a few chairs move into the dining room.

The listing is the rule, though. A bistro-style chair from the indoor side of the catalog is not a patio chair, however it looks. Dining-room chairs are not patio chairs: wood frames and upholstered seats come out of a season of weather faded, swollen or rusted, and none of that is covered. These 16 are listed for patio use, which is the whole reason they sit in this group.

Even then, a hose and a little patience go a long way. Hose the chairs off, give them a day to drain, and cover or stack them when the season closes.

Where to look next

If the weave is what caught your eye, rattan patio chairs is the wider shelf of woven seats. Want chairs and tables chosen together? Outdoor furniture sets groups them. The full range of seating for the terrace sits under patio chairs.

Sketch the terrace in patio plans, count chairs per table, and copy the plan next spring when the first warm Saturday shows up early.