In Search Of...The Perfect Barstool

It's Friday!  And it's Friday the 13th. I'll leave it at that.  :)  On to my post for today...

In addition to several other things for the new house, we discovered that our perfectly good stools - stored away five years ago - are too short for our new kitchen!  Ah, one more surprise.  :)  The kitchen has a raised bar area, which means we need bar stools, and of course we had counter stools in storage waiting for us!  You'd think this was all great fun, but please allow me to whine...just for a line or two...

Buying new stuff for your home is *wonderful* when you find that perfect thing, that perfect deal, or whatever else might come along.  But when one MUST buy something at a certain time, the pressure is on.  Keep in mind that any type of woven or upholstered stools are out (think peanut butter sandwiches landing upside down on them), as well as anything without a back for safety reasons (my son can't stop wiggling).    For example I love the stools in the following kitchens but none of them are very kid friendly, I think:

 Love these but no idea where to find them...

One of my all time favorite kitchen but the stools sans backs just wouldn't survive my wiggly son!

IO Metro

I have searched on the web and looked at all of the resources I know of locally (which is a short list since I am new here) and here are the two I am thinking about.  I'd love to hear what you think.  To set the stage:  the kitchen is about to be painted offwhite on most of the cabinets with a significantly sized island painted black or charcoal grey (another decision pending).  The counters are granite with mixed creams, blacks and browns (they were brand new and already there when we moved in, so I am working with that as a starting point).  Do I go with:



This stool from Ballard Designs is marked down right now so the price is definitely right. 

I love the clean lines, easy clean up and dark color. 

Here they are in this beautiful kitchen.  They look great.  However...

This one from World Market would really pop against the dark island and add some rustic appeal.  It's still easy to clean up, and is right down the road at a nearby World Market, so no shipping!  (oh, and I can get them TOMORROW)

The light stools against the black in this amazing kitchen really look great, which is why the french bistro ones are appealing. 

(So are the ones pictured here, by the way, but I think I like the french flair a bit more...)

So what do you guys think?