Stools are versatile and a necessary addition to any living room, kitchen area or elsewhere in your home. A sofa or reliable lounge chair might nab all the credit, comfort-wise, but don’t discount the roles that good antique, new and vintage stools can play.

“Stools are jewels and statements in a space, and they can also be investment pieces,” says New York City designer Amy Lau, who adds that these seats provide an excellent choice for setting an interior’s general tone.

Stools, which are among the oldest forms of wooden furnishings, may also serve as decorative pieces, even if we’re talking about a stool that is far less sculptural than the gracefully curving molded plywood shells that make up Sōri Yanagi’s provocative Butterfly stool.

Fawn Galli, a New York interior designer, uses her stools in the same way you would use a throw pillow. “I normally buy several styles and move them around the home where needed,” she says.

Stools are smaller pieces of seating as compared to armchairs or dining chairs and can add depth as well as functionality to a space that you’ve set aside for entertaining. For a splash of color, consider the Stool 60, a pioneering work of bentwood by Finnish architect and furniture maker Alvar Aalto. It’s manufactured by Artek and comes in a variety of colored seats and finishes.

Barstools that date back to the 1970s are now more ubiquitous in kitchens. Vintage barstools have seen renewed interest, be they a meld of chrome and leather or transparent plastic, such as the Lucite and stainless-steel counter stool variety from Indiana-born furniture designer Charles Hollis Jones, who is renowned for his acrylic works. A cluster of barstools — perhaps a set of four brushed-aluminum counter stools by Emeco or Tubby Tube stools by Faye Toogood — can encourage merriment in the kitchen. If you’ve got the room for family and friends to congregate and enjoy cocktails where the cooking is done, consider matching your stools with a tall table.

Whether you need counter stools, drafting stools or another kind, explore an extensive range of antique, new and vintage stools on 1stDibs.

The 21 Most Popular Mid-Century Modern Chairs

You know the designs, now get the stories about how they came to be.

Eileen Gray’s Famed Cliffside Villa in the South of France Is Returned to Its Modernist Glory

After years of diligent restoration, E-1027, the designer-cum-architect’s marriage of romance and modernism, is finally complete.

See How New York City Designers Experiment on Their Own Homes

There are many lessons to be learned from the lofts, apartments and townhouses of architects and decorators in Manhattan and beyond.

Why Drew McGukin’s Colorful Home Differs from Those of His Clients

The New York–based designer has a high-impact style that's all his own, as his loft in the Chelsea Flower District makes abundantly clear.

Jeff Andrews Captures Old Hollywood Glamour in His Cinematic Spaces

Having created extravagant homes for reality TV’s biggest stars, the designer is stepping into the spotlight with his first book.

New Orleans’ Lee Ledbetter Makes Design Magic by Mixing Past and Present

The Louisiana-born and -bred architect talks to 1stdibs about the art of making timeless places that matter.

How a Modernist Hamptons Home on the Water Became the Ideal Weekend Refuge

Damon Liss and Stelle Lomont Rouhani Architects collaborated on this serene getaway for a minimalism-minded Manhattan family of four.

Desert Modern Designer Arthur Elrod Finally Gets His Day in the Sun

The Palm Springs interior decorator developed a mid-century style that defined the vacation homes of celebrities and other notables, including Bob Hope and Lucille Ball.

Contemporary Denim Stool

Recent Sales

21st Century and Contemporary American Modern Stools