I do like the idea of white stools, if you fancy painting the stools. I would personally paint the walls white and hang some bright coloured art (maybe with some yellow accents) - it will brighten the area. If you don't want to spend too much on the paint, either browse through the discounted section in B&Q and homebase, or buy cheap white paint (£4.00 for 5L homebase brand) and mix part of it with a paint tester of your choice for off white shade (like white + beige for lovely warm light shade of roman stone) - you're lucky to have such a lovely and well lit kitchen!

If you want the seats to swing out from the island be sure to check that the island is substantial enough to take the load, also that the island is well anchored to the floor. If you consider the arm is for example 2 feet long, then sitting on the extende seat will be the same as applying your full weight to a crowbar, two people sitting on one side would destroy a normally constructed island. Similarly, if fitted to a wall make sure that they are anchored well and that the wall structure is suitable. A nice idea to save space though

The swivel ones usually have a lever that activates the gas that allows it to go up and down. The gas mechanism is usually within the middle pole. That way you can adjust the height. I have seen some that adjust the height by swivelling round, swivel one way the seat goes up and swivel the other way it goes down.

We purchased 6 Eiffel Style kitchen stools from Only Home in October 2017. There have been problems with the metal brackets that connect the seat to the legs from early on. We bought replacement brackets but these have also broken. I cannot get in touch with Only Home. Is there anywhere I can buy these brackets as it would be a waste of otherwise good stools