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The Amish Kitchen Furniture Guide

Amish kitchen furniture is everything in the room that is not fixed to a wall. Stools at the counter, a table you eat breakfast at, a hutch holding what the cabinets never had room for. Work out where the built-in stops and the furniture starts, and every decision after it gets simpler.
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Where Does Cabinetry Stop and Furniture Start?

Anything fitted to the room is cabinetry. Anything you could carry out of it is furniture. Islands and pantries fall on the cabinetry side even though people shop for them like furniture, and more kitchen projects stall on that point than on any other.

The line matters because the two are bought differently. Cabinetry is designed, built and installed as one project. Furniture is chosen piece by piece and arrives finished.
In the kitchen Fitted or free Where it comes from
Base and wall cabinets Fitted Custom cabinetry
The island
 Fitted, in almost every case Custom cabinetry
A pantry Fitted Custom cabinetry
Stools at the counter Free Furniture
The eat-in table and chairs Free Furniture
Hutch, buffet, coffee bar Free Furniture

Everything below covers the free half. If the fitted half is also in scope, our sister company handles that side and there is a link to them further down this page.

What Does a Kitchen Need From Furniture?

Three things, in this order: somewhere to perch at the counter, somewhere to sit down and eat, and somewhere to put what the cabinets could not take. Most kitchens need the first and third even when there is no room for the second.

Counter seating comes first because it is the piece the room is least able to do without. A kitchen with an island and no stools is a kitchen people stand in.
Dining Tables

Tables

Round, square and extending tables sized for a breakfast corner rather than a dining room.

Choose the Stain Standing in the Kitchen

Steam, spills and the brightest light in the house all land on kitchen furniture, and a stain that looks right in a catalogue can look very different beside a hob. Get the chips in your hand before you commit to a finish.
SHOP SAMPLES
Amish Fort Collins Straight Hood-Hood-The Amish House

What Height Should Counter Seating Be?

A standard kitchen counter at 36 inches takes a 24 inch seat, and a raised bar or island overhang at 42 inches takes a 30 inch seat. Our bar chairs are offered in both heights on the same design, so the height is an option rather than a different product.

Getting this wrong is the most common mistake in a kitchen, and it is not recoverable. A stool four inches too tall leaves nowhere for your knees, and one four inches too short puts your chin near the countertop.
Surface Height off the floor Seat you want
Standard kitchen counter
 36 inches 24 inch counter stool
Raised bar or island overhang
 42 inches 30 inch bar stool
Standard table 30 inches 18 inch dining chair

Measure the Underside, Not the Top

The number that matters is the clear height under the overhang, not the height of the surface you eat off.

A thick stone top, an apron or a support bracket can take two or three inches out of the gap, and that is the space your legs were going to use. Take the figure from floor level up to the lowest thing under the counter.

The limit is that this varies house to house. If your figure does not match either row above, call us before ordering rather than rounding to the nearest standard.

Swivel or Stationary

A swivel seat turns so people can get on and off without moving the stool, which matters at an island where the floor behind is a walkway.

A stationary seat sits more solidly and does not wander out of line, which suits a peninsula where the stools are seen from the rest of the room.

The limit is children. A swivel is more fun than a kitchen needs it to be, and in a household of small children the stationary version causes fewer arguments.

How Many Will Fit

Count the usable run rather than the whole counter, since the ends and any corner return are not seats.

Stools need room to turn and room to pull back, so the number that fits comfortably is usually one fewer than the number that fits physically.

The limit is the overhang depth. Without enough overhang there is nowhere to put your knees, however many stools the length would take.

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Which Table Suits an Eat-In Kitchen?

An eat-in kitchen table is chosen against the space left over rather than against the number of people in the house. The footprint is fixed by whatever the cabinets and appliances did not take, which usually means a small round, a small square, or something that extends only when you need it.

The four below are the shapes that survive a kitchen. Anything larger belongs in a dining room.
Amish Madison Single Pedestal Table-Dining Table-The Amish House

Small Round

A round top has no corners, which is why it works in a kitchen where people squeeze past it constantly.

It suits a breakfast corner and any spot where the table sits in traffic rather than out of it. On a central pedestal there is nothing at the perimeter to catch a hip or a chair leg.

The limit is capacity. A round table stops being sociable once it grows, because the people opposite each other end up too far apart to talk.
Browse pedestal tables
Amish Tifton Round Pub Table

Counter-Height and Pub Tables

A counter or pub table stands at the same height as the worktop, with bar chairs rather than dining chairs around it.

It suits open kitchens where the table sits in the sightline, because a higher table reads as part of the kitchen rather than as a separate dining area. It also puts a seated person level with whoever is cooking.

The limit is formality and access. A pub table is the wrong setting for a long meal and the wrong height for very young children.
Browse pub tables
Rustic Frontier Table-Dining-The Amish House

Extending Tables

An extending table runs small day to day and grows when the room has to absorb more people.

It suits kitchens that host at Christmas and seat two the rest of the year, which is most of them. The leaf lives elsewhere until it is needed, so the everyday footprint stays honest.

The limit is where the leaf lives. A leaf that has to be found in a loft is a leaf that does not get used.
Browse tables
Amish Eden Bench-Dining Bench-The Amish House

Bench Against a Wall

A bench pushed to a wall gives seating on one side without the floor space chairs need behind them.

It suits galley kitchens and any table pushed into a corner, and it lets a table sit closer to the wall than chairs on all four sides would allow.

The limit is getting out. Whoever sits in the middle of a bench is dependent on the people either side of them to move first.
Browse benches

Send Us the Height Under Your Counter

Measure floor to the lowest point under the overhang and tell us the length of the run. We will come back with the seat height that works and the number of stools the counter will genuinely take.
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Which Counter Seating Should You Choose?

Backs, arms and seat material are the three decisions left once the height is settled, and they are decided by how long people sit rather than by how the kitchen looks. A stool used for ten minutes with a coffee and a stool used for homework every evening are not the same purchase.

The four below run from the lightest option to the most supportive.
Amish Metal Base Barnwood Bar Stool

Backless Stool

A backless stool is a seat on legs with nothing above it.

It suits counters where the stools tuck fully underneath and disappear when nobody is using them, which keeps a small kitchen from looking crowded. It is also the cheapest way to add a seat.

The limit is time. Without a back, nobody stays put for long, so a backless stool is for perching rather than sitting.
Browse bar stools

Stationary Bar Chair

A stationary bar chair has a full back and fixed legs.

It suits homework, long conversations and anywhere the counter has taken over from a table. The back is what turns counter seating from a perch into somewhere people stay.

The limit is tucking away. A chair with a back does not slide fully under an overhang, so it stays visible in the room whether it is in use or not.
sheldon-swivel-bar-chair-260308.jpg

Swivel Bar Chair

A swivel bar chair adds a turning seat on the same frame.

It suits islands with a walkway behind them, since nobody has to drag the chair backwards to get out. It is also the easier option for anyone who finds twisting to stand up uncomfortable.

The limit is the mechanism. There is more going on underneath a swivel than a stationary chair, and it is the part of the piece that is doing work every day.
Browse bar chairs

The Seat Surface

Counter seats come in wood, fabric or leather on many of our designs.

Wood wipes down and shrugs off everything a kitchen produces, and that is what makes it the default at a counter rather than at a dining table. Fabric is more comfortable over an hour, and leather sits between the two.

The limit is what happens under a seat in a kitchen. Fabric at a breakfast counter meets more spilled cereal than fabric anywhere else in the house.
Amish Nero 72" Rough Sawn Barn Floor Home Central Bar-Beverage Bar-The Amish House

What Holds What the Cabinets Cannot?

Every kitchen runs out of cupboard before it runs out of things. The overflow is usually glassware, serving dishes, wine and the coffee equipment, and none of those four wants the same piece of furniture.

Freestanding storage also solves a problem cabinetry cannot, which is that it can go where there are no cabinets. A blank wall, a corner or the gap beside a doorway are all places a fitted run will never reach.
Amish Shaker Hutch-Hutches-The Amish House

Corner Hutch

A corner hutch is built to sit across a 90 degree corner rather than flat against a wall.

It suits the dead corner almost every kitchen has, and it turns the least useful square footage in the room into display and storage. In a small kitchen it is the only tall piece that does not make the room feel tighter.

The limit is availability. Corner pieces are a small part of the range compared to flat-backed hutches, so the choice is narrower.
Browse hutches

Wine Cabinet

A wine cabinet stores bottles horizontally with glass storage above or alongside.

It suits anyone whose collection has outgrown a rack on the worktop, and it keeps bottles out of the warm part of the kitchen, which matters more than most people realise.

The limit is temperature. A solid wood cabinet is storage rather than refrigeration, so it is the right home for everyday bottles and the wrong one for anything you are keeping for years.
Browse wine cabinets

Coffee Bar

A coffee bar gives the machine, the grinder, the beans and the cups a station that is not the worktop.

It suits households where coffee has quietly taken over three feet of counter, and nothing else in the house gets reached for earlier in the day.

The limit is that it is one function. A coffee bar earns its footprint in a house that takes coffee seriously and wastes it in one that does not.
Woodbury Low Base Buffet

Display Cabinet

A display cabinet is glazed on the front and sometimes the sides, built so the contents are the point.

It suits inherited glassware, everyday china you would rather see than stack, and the pieces that come out twice a year. Glass doors keep the dust off without hiding what is behind them.

The limit is honesty about what is inside. A glazed cabinet shows everything, so it works for a collection and not for the mismatched half of a cupboard.
Browse dining storage
Amish Eden Trestle Table

Which Style Should You Choose?

In a kitchen, the furniture is not choosing a style so much as answering one, because the cabinetry is already there and it has an opinion. Decide whether the stools and the hutch are continuing the cabinet line or deliberately breaking from it.

Continuing works when the cabinetry is plain. Breaking works when it is strongly detailed, because repeating a heavy style across both halves of the room makes the kitchen feel smaller than it is.
Shaker

Shaker

Flat fronts, square legs, no applied detail. Continues almost any cabinet door without competing with it.
Mission

Mission

Slats, square posts and visible joinery. Reads best against plain slab or shaker cabinetry.
Farmhouse

Farmhouse

Planked surfaces and open grain. The safest break from painted cabinetry, and the most forgiving of wear.
Traditional

Traditional

Turned legs and shaped detail. Sits with raised panel cabinetry and looks out of place against a slab door.
Transitional

Transitional

Familiar outlines with the detail dialled back. The answer when the cabinetry is undecided.
Contemporary

Contemporary

Slim profiles and clean edges. Keeps a small kitchen visually open where a heavier style would close it.
Amish Canterbury Dining Chair

How Do You Match Furniture to Cabinets?

Decide first whether you are matching or contrasting, because a near match is the one outcome that always looks wrong. Cabinetry and furniture are finished by different hands on different materials, so landing within a shade of each other reads as a failed attempt rather than a choice.

Contrast is the easier decision and it holds up better over time. A deliberate difference stays deliberate; a close match drifts as both finishes age.

Judge the Chip Against the Cabinet Door

Hold the sample against a cabinet door at the height the furniture will sit, since a door is what the eye compares it against.

Countertops and floors are the wrong reference. They sit in different light and at a different angle, and a chip that works on a horizontal surface frequently fails on a vertical one.

The limit is the lighting. Kitchen downlights are harsher than any other light in the house, so check the chip under them rather than at a window.

Pick One Wood to Repeat

If the kitchen is going to hold several freestanding pieces, choose one species and one stain and repeat it across all of them.

Stools, a hutch and an eat-in table in one wood read as furniture that belongs to the room. The same three in three woods read as three separate purchases, which is usually what they were.

The limit is what each piece is offered in. Species availability varies between designs, so check that every piece you want comes in the wood you have chosen.
Amish Pasadena Dining Chair

When the Cabinetry Is Still to Come

If the cabinets are not in yet, specify them and the furniture together rather than matching one to the other afterwards.

This is the one situation where an exact relationship is achievable, because both halves of the room are still open. It is also the point at which contrast is a design decision rather than a rescue.

The limit is that the two come from different places. Our furniture finishes and our sister company's cabinetry finishes are separate ranges, so order samples from both before either is built.
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The Fitted Half of the Room

Islands, pantries and the runs of cabinetry along the walls are a different trade from the furniture on this page. Our sister company designs, builds and installs custom cabinetry in solid hardwood, and takes a kitchen from drawings through to fitting.
EXPLORE CUSTOM CABINETRY
mission dining table in room setting

What Does It Cost and How Long Does It Take?

Counter and bar seating starts around $250, pub and counter-height tables from roughly $1,710, and hutches from around $2,273. Most pieces are built to order and arrive in 8 to 12 weeks, with in-home setup at a flat $239.

Seating is where the arithmetic surprises people, because kitchens need four of them and nobody prices four. Multiply before you decide the design.

What Happens After You Order

Lead time Most kitchen pieces are built to order and arrive in 8 to 12 weeks, depending on which workshop is building yours
Quick Ship
 Selected pieces and configurations ship in 3 to 5 weeks, plus two more weeks for delivery
Delivery
 Flat $239 across the lower 48, with in-home setup. Alaska and Hawaii excluded
Warranty
 One year against defects in materials and workmanship
Financing
 Available at checkout on eligible orders

If cabinetry is part of the same project, start that side first. Fitted work sets the dates everything else has to work around, and furniture is the easier half to time.

Explore more guides

The Dining Room Guide

The Dining Room Guide
The Living Room Guide

The Living Room Guide
Choosing Your Wood

Choosing Your Wood
How Custom Amish Furniture Works

How Custom Amish Furniture Works

Settle the Fitted Half First

Work out what is cabinetry and what is furniture before anything else. Then measure the clear height under the counter, choose the seat height that matches it, and decide whether an eat-in table fits at all. Storage comes last, and the finish decision waits until the cabinet doors are something you can hold a chip against.

If you would rather not guess, call us at 615-819-2772 with the counter height and the length of the run, and we will tell you what to order.

You can also browse the full range of Amish kitchen and dining furniture at your own pace, or bring your cabinet door to our showroom on Nolensville Road. We are open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm.
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Frequently Asked Questions

Not as furniture. An island is fitted cabinetry rather than a freestanding piece, so it sits with our sister company rather than here. Tell us the project and we will point you to the right side of it.
Then measure rather than round. Counters vary with worktop thickness and how the cabinets were set, and a stool is not adjustable once it is built. Send us the figure from the floor to the lowest point under the overhang and we will confirm the seat height.
Many designs are offered both ways on the same frame, so you can have the swivel or the stationary version of the chair you like. Swivels suit islands with a walkway behind them, and stationary chairs suit a peninsula seen from the rest of the room.
Fewer than the length suggests, because the ends and any corner return are not usable seats and each stool needs room to pull back. Send us the length of the usable run and the overhang depth and we will give you a number.
Sometimes closely, rarely exactly, and a near match usually looks worse than a clear contrast. Our furniture stains and our sister company's cabinetry finishes are separate ranges, so order samples from both and decide deliberately.
The dead corner most kitchens have and nothing else fits. A corner hutch sits across the 90 degrees rather than flat to a wall, which turns unusable floor into display and storage without making the room feel narrower.
Yes, within the hutch and dining storage range. They store bottles horizontally with room for glassware, and they are furniture rather than refrigeration, so they suit everyday bottles rather than anything being kept long term.