How Wide Should a Home Bar Be?

When determining the size of a bar, it’s recommended to estimate 2 feet wide per individual or stool for commercial use and less for a home bar. This doesn’t include bars that have bar rail radius corners. A bar corner is a rail radius because small curving corner bars may not be wide enough to accommodate a person comfortably. When designing your bar, be sure to keep to a minimum of runs that exceed 8′ of the length of bar rail that includes miter cuts since it is the longest rail that can be transported using conventional shipping methods. The longer lengths are transported using LTL freight but at a higher cost.

The minimum bar size from the ground to the bar the top

(excluding bars rails) is 42″. This will allow a standard 30″ bar stool that is high enough to comfortably seat you at the bar. This 12-” difference between the seat height and the bar top is common in most applications, including breakfast bars where the top is 36″ high when using the 24-” bar stool and table or desk height which is 30″ with a height of 18″ seat height. The bar’s overhang must be at a minimum 8 1/2″ and could be as much as 10″ so that your knees aren’t impacted by the front of the

bar. For extra tall customers, that are taller than 10 feet, the 10-” overhang may be necessary. If you are making an extra-wide bar, top Corbels or brackets must be considered underneath the bar’s top to support and keep the bar top straight and level.

Standard Bar Tops Measurements

The bar’s main surface must be at least 16″ wide and as wide as 20″ or more, depending on the available space, but enough room should be available to accommodate a dinner plate, a pizza pan, and a few drinks.

A lot of our customers who want more of a rustic or natural design prefer live edge hardwood slab top bar without the bar rail. In this case, however, the same guidelines for measuring overhang and width must be used.

When you’re using one of our bar rail moldings, consider adding a radius corner, which we stock to give the perfect custom-made look and keep the corners of your bar soft. We also have our bar rails in various wood species that can be customized, including quartersawn red and white sapele, oak, wenge bubinga, and more.

For smaller bars in homes, drinking rails on the walls, or as back bar trim, we provide our bar rails BR158 and a BR158 bar rail matched to corner radius BR158, which are great for places when space isn’t abundant.

On the bartender’s side of the bar, we recommend a glass rail and drip edge, the four” mixing tray used to make drinks before serving. It can also be used for cleaning the bar to remove any debris, liquids, or leftover crumbs that are left on the bar’s top.