7 unique swivel wooden bar stool concepts. 7 different lifestyles. 7 breakfast menus. A week at different kitchen counters all across America. That’s what Your Kitchen Bar Stools brings you today…plus….where to get the stools and the kitchen to put them in …and yes…a few breakfast menu ideas along the way.
1. Monday in Manhattan
It’s 5:00 am. The espresso machine is warming up while Richard showers. His hair’s still wet as he reaches for the morning paper on the mat outside the door to his loft. Coffee’s ready. He pulls up a stool, spreads the paper over the counter, sips coffee….he won’t turn his phone on until he’s read the reviews and had a second cup…
He pulls his funky little wooden bar stool to the window…he’s just had an idea….a new recipe … stuffed French toast, but instead of the usual dried fruit and cream cheese, he’s going to add fresh herbs to the cheese, dice half a tomato, a few sautéed mushrooms and blend with three kinds of olives, all wrapped in wholegrain bread, soaked in whipped egg batter and lightly fried until golden brown. The final touch will be the sauce…instead of maple syrup and slices of fresh fruit, he’ll dribble an almond and wild mushroom sauce over the toast and garnish with a wedge of buttery Camembert and a fresh lavender flower. He twirls round on the swiveling stool……it’s time he dressed and was off…. the little SoHo café doesn’t open till noon for brunch, but first…to the market for fresh mushrooms, olives, herbs, lavender….he decides to reconsider the Camembert…
- Monday’s kitchen was designed by Manhattan cabinets (242 East 71st Street New York).
- The wooden swivel bar stools by Holland Bar Stool Co.
- Alternative stool design: Misha III – a backless swivel stool with a wood seat and curved chrome legs.
2. Tuesday in Chicago
It’s 9:30 am. Lou had a hard night. After filing the report at headquarters, he went out with the boys for drinks…a few too many, perhaps. He pours himself some Clamato juice, adds Tabasco, sets out eggs and… pulls up a stool….one of those swivel wooden bar stools like they used to make with solid wood, nothing of the sissy stools for Lou….
He holds his head. When the pounding stops, he’ll make a 3 egg omelet, smother it in bacon and sausage, and heap up a healthy portion of hash browns. He has to be in court today. Thankfully not until 12:45. Just a routine hearing, though Lou would rather be almost anywhere else. He swivels his stool round and reaches for the paper. It’s yesterdays. Doesn’t matter. He hasn’t read it yet. Flips to sports….naw…he saw the game last night…Bulls vs Philadelphia 76ers…twirls slowly on the stool….finds the remote, switches on the TV…..
- “Better start cooking…..” he thinks….just as the phone rings… he swivels his stool, picks up the receiver. “Lou. You better get down to headquarters fast, forget court…there’s been a murder.”
- Tuesday’s kitchen was designed by Cabinet World, Inc. (1401 W. North Ave. , Chicago, IL)
The wooden breakfast bar stools by Boraam Georgia - Alternative stool design: Boram Agusta or Boram Palmetto – a swivel stool with a wooden back and padded seat in cherry or brandy finish
3. Wednesday in Miami
It’s 7:10. Francisca has 20 minutes before Angelica and Jaime woke up. The baby will sleep till 9…she hopes. Andrea and Maria-Elena stayed at a friend’s house last night. Puff! She sighs. Switches on the coffeemaker. Measures her favorite Columbian blend… Mmmmmm.
Francisca married well. Everyone says so. Dr. Roberts has been good to her….She pours her coffee and pulls out a bar stool from the kitchen counter, a lovely marble counter. She runs her hands over it…closes her eyes…. laughs to herself. She never asked for marble counters or designer stools. She would have been happy with some cheap wooden bar stools on the patio…but He insisted on the best…a few more sips…..mmmm…the coffee…it reminded her of her hometown where coffee beans were laid to dry on the cement slab, then roasted on clay trays over an open fire….ah…the smell…of peace and quiet….of home… “Mommy…..” Angelica called from the hall…. “Jaime won’t get out of the bathroom…..” Francisca savored the last drops of coffee in her cup, twirled around on her fancy wooden breakfast bar stool and leaned over to open a drawer just below the counter. She took out her planner and ran her finger along the days….“Wednesday – 12:15 SMP. “Jaime!” “Angelica!” “Waaahhhhhh!” She slid off the stool. As she walked to the nursery she made a mental list: sandwiches for kids, call babysitter, check on Andrea and Maria-Elena, stop for gas, buy milk and cereal, pick up dry-cleaning….be at pier by noon…“one of these days you’ll slip up,” she said to herself, “one of these days you’ll come home with a bullet in your leg. How’ll you explain that to good Dr Roberts?”
- Wednesday’s kitchen was designed by Quick Remodel Inc., (2646 NE, 188 Street North Miami Beach)
- The wooden breakfast bar stools have been substituted for the metal Empress by Alston
- Alternative wood stool design by Amisco – the upholstered Jamie stool
4. Thursday in Los Angeles
It’s 2:00 am. Haley doesn’t sleep anymore. Breakfast consists of little packages of what some might call treats, bits of cheese on salty crackers, sugar-coated peanuts, teeny chocolate chip cookies…and wine if there’s any left.
The script lay strewn across the kitchen counter; some pages migrated to the floor….She drags the wooden bar stool to the island counter, reaches for the last of the wine and…No! She puts the bottle down. Yes! The vineyard …that’s it…in the wine cellar of the old family vineyard, that’s where the body was buried…Haley slides over to the kitchen island where her laptop sits; the cursor blinking on a half empty page….
7:00 am. The sun wakes her. She looks at the screen. All she sees are the words THE END. She smiles, pulls her legs onto the stool, scrunches her toes into the folds of her skirt and whispers: YES! Today she’ll go to the beach, buy groceries, cook dinner, not write a single word, not even open her laptop, not think about a single new idea for a story….
“That’s how it’ll begin,” she says to herself, “a secluded writer who hasn’t left her house in 3 years, at last opens the door one day when by chance someone knocks….”
- There’s a knock at the door. Haley wriggles on her stool and glances at the door…
- Thursday’s kitchen was designed by The Kitchen Connection (13700 So. Broadway Los Angeles, CA)
- The wooden breakfast bar stools by Carolina Cottage – the Essex Counter Stool
5. Friday in New England
It’s 7:45 am. Adam has the pancake batter in a large stainless steel bowl on the counter, the waffle mix is also prepared. The maple syrup and the Maine blueberry jam’s set out on the tables in the dining area. He’s finished setting out heated trays of hickory and maple smoked bacon, thick slices of ham, and there’s a huge pot of steaming coffee. It’s all ready.
Adam’s been running the Bed & Breakfast since he can remember. The best moments are right now….15 minutes before guests come down the stairs…these precious minutes when he pulls up a soft bar stool and sits at the central island counter, takes a deep breath and sips a mug of rhubarb tea . He doesn’t think about the guests, or the menu or the cleaning….he just savors his tea….until he hears creaking sounds on the hardwood floor in the hallway just outside the kitchen door.
- Friday’s kitchen was designed by New England Kitchen Co. (1 Gallery Court, 44 Walton Road, East Molesey, Surrey)
- Swivel wooden bar stool by Hillsdale – the Bayberry oak bar stool from Hillsdale Furniture, L.L.C
6. Saturday in New Mexico
It’s 11:00 am. Carmen hangs a large chalkboard in front her door. She writes slowly, adding curls and twists to the letters.
Saturday’s Breakfast Menu:
- Quesadilla grilled with jack cheese– scrambled eggs, guacamole, salsa jalapeño and homemade chorizo
- Chile relleno and huevos– with roasted jalapeños and black beans
- Huevos Rancheros –corn tortillas, black beans, chili sauce and melted jack cheese.
Carmen draws a cactus on one side of the board and a cocktail glass with ice and lemons on the other side, then sets down the chalk, wipes her hands on her apron and goes inside. The sun’s already too hot for her. She’s tanned enough for one lifetime.
She pours herself a tall glass of extra sweet lemonade, adds a couple drops of rum, sits in her rustic wood swivel bar stool. They all squeak a little….Antonio wanted to oil them, but she said no. She prefers to hear the creak when customers twirl at the breakfast counter; before the evening crowd arrives and the music starts and mixes with the hum of voices and laughter, guitars and horns, rancheros and ballads…but…right now…Carmen’s all alone. The kitchen bar is hers. Everything is just for her pleasure. The sun’s high outside. The fan whirrs above her. It’s cool inside and that’s where she wants to stay.
- Saturday’s kitchen was designed by Davis Kitchens (2200 Eubank NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
- rustic log swivel wooden bar stool by La Fuente Imports
7. Sunday in New Orleans
It’s 2:00 pm. Madeline never gets up before noon, not now anyway, not since…. And she certainly never eats breakfast! At least she didn’t used to eat breakfast….. before…. before…
Today there’s no one to eat with anyway. Even the cat didn’t come home.
Since HE left, there’s only one place she can tolerate being on a Sunday morning – in the kitchen, with a Creole bloody Mary to start, then poached eggs, Hollandaise sauce, perhaps some bacon with marchand de vin sauce (like what she used to order when THEY went out together for breakfast at Brennan’s….before he left that is), and to finish, maybe some calas…or perhaps…some banana fritters and wine….where’s the wine? Where did the useless maid hide the wine?
Madeline gets off her stool, finds a bottle…pours a drink….rests her head on the polished marble countertop, and sobs…..
Sunday’s kitchen was designed by Habersham Custom Cabinets and Furniture (Toccoa, GA) through Artisan Kitchen and Bath (5235 Magazine Street, New Orleans)
wooden bar stool by Cumberland – hardwood counter stool with distressed buttermilk finish and rattan accents
alternative stool in metal by Hillsdale – Glendale high bar stool
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