I have lived in two places with breakfast bars in American style kitchens. I found that I tended to spend a great deal of time sitting there so a bar stool with a comfortable back is important. I made mine from pine, copied from some I saw in a bar. I was also given an old captains swivel seat from a yacht so I built a stand for it, reupholstered it and unfortunately left it for the new tenant who liked it. That was one of my favourite seats, to sit in comfort at a breakfast bar rather than balancing without a back to lean on.

A Swedish company does this style which can be customised by colour, see below photo

Funny you should say that Ellie , I did exactly the same with a string of Christmas lights . i bought a set from them at around £50 then when they arrived they were in a branded box which I googled and found them at half price elsewhere ! Sent Cox and Cox’s back.

That height should work fine. If you are UK based, can I also suggest you look to atlanticshopping.co.uk for your bar stools? They specialise in them and have a huge range at very keen prices. There is a showroom (Birmingham direction, I think) if you want to see the product. We use them ourselves for the showroom, and many of our customers have used them and been very pleased with quality & value. If you are buying online, you should still have consumer rights which allow you to return product (just the postage cost lost at most) as long as the product is not "made to order" - in which case make sure you are sure before you buy!