Buyer guides
Spindle-back chairs make a small dining room feel bigger. Here is how to choose them
The Windsor-style spindle-back chair is a hospitality classic that keeps coming back. Why it suits small and busy restaurants, what to check for comfort and cleaning, and which solid-wood models fit.
The problem
A small restaurant needs every seat. So the owner fills the room with chairs, and the room starts to look full before the first guest arrives. Solid, high, upholstered backs make it worse: they block light and block the view across the room.
Why spindle backs help
A spindle-back chair has a back made of thin vertical rods. You can see through it.
A 2026 guide to dining chair styles puts it simply: "The spindled back keeps them visually open, which helps in smaller dining rooms or spaces where a solid set of chairs would look too dense." And: "A spindle-back or open-back chair keeps the room lighter and often works better where space is tight" (source 1).
The look is not new. It is a modern take on the 18th-century Windsor chair. Hospitality Business magazine was already writing about the "resurgence in popularity" of spindle backs "as a design staple for hospitality" in 2016 (source 2). A decade later, they are still on restaurant floors, because they work.
What to check before you buy
- Comfort. Rods are firm against the back. For long dinners, choose a model with an upholstered seat or add a seat pad.
- Cleaning time. More rods means more surfaces to wipe. In a busy restaurant, ask staff to try one chair for a week before you order a hundred.
- Stacking. If chairs go on tables every night for floor cleaning, choose a stacking version.
- The bar. If you have a bar, use the matching bar stool. For a bar about 107 cm high, look for a seat of about 76 cm (our dimensions guide explains why).
- The finish. A black or dark frame looks graphic and modern. A natural wood frame looks warm and classic. See a sample in your room's light before you choose.
Where RikoStyle fits
We make spindle-back chairs in solid wood, with a matching armchair and bar stool, so one look can run from the tables to the bar (source 3):
| Model | Seat height | Width | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christina chair | 470 mm | 420 mm | Shown with an upholstered seat |
| Christina armchair | 460 mm | 470 mm | Arms at 660 mm |
| Christina Armchair L | 470 mm | 550 mm | Wider armchair |
| Christina barstool | 790 mm | 450 mm | For bar counters |
| Iro chair | 460 mm | 450 mm | Beech or oak |
| Iro stackable | 450 mm | 410 mm | Stacking, beech or oak |
| Marek chair | 460 mm | 420 mm | Beech or oak |
Every model comes in the same 10 frame finishes, from natural beech to wenge.
We offer these chairs to restaurant and hotel owners, interior designers, furniture retailers and importers, event rental companies and care homes, and we are looking for long-term partners in each of these groups.
Sources
- Tyner Furniture, Discover top dining chair styles for 2026 (June 2026): https://tynerfurniture.com/dining-chair-styles/
- Hospitality Business, Old meets new: spindle backs (26 January 2016): https://hospitalitybusiness.co.nz/?p=28331
- RikoStyle product data as published on rikostyle.com, November 2026.
