Caring For Wooden Kitchen Bar Stools

With discount wood bar stools on sale for under $30 each, it’s possible to get extra seating for a kitchen island or breakfast bar without blowing your budget. If you’re really strapped for cash you may be able to find some even cheaper stools by visiting local yard sales.

Bar stools come in really handy in a kitchen, especially if it’s used as an eating or entertaining area. It’s nice to have convenient seating if you like to eat your breakfast at the kitchen counter or just in case visitors call in unannounced when you’re cooking. However, with regular use kitchen island bar stools are bound to get a bit dirty over time. Occasionally it’s a good idea to give them more than just a quick once-over with a duster, to get rid of any grime that’s built up on the wood. If you’ve got used bar stools from a yard sale, it’s worth giving them a deep clean as soon as you get them home.

To effectively remove layers of dirt or grease stuck on wood stools, get a clean cloth and pour a drop of mineral spirits onto it. Rub this over every wooden surface and you should see the dirt coming away on the cloth. Keep folding the cloth over, or use another one, to ensure you’re wiping with a clean bit of material each time. For tricky bits where the cloth won’t easily reach, such as the corners of slatted backrests, use a cotton bud dipped in mineral spirits.

Just doing this might be sufficient to get your stools looking like new. However, on closer inspection you might find some stains that are quite obvious. For instance, it’s quite common for bar stools used in a kitchen to have watermarks on them, from accidental spills. Ideally you should mop up any spills immediately, but if the water has been left and caused a mark, you should be able to get rid of it.

To do this, put some linseed oil or even regular mayonnaise on a cloth and rub it into the stain. Leave the cloth on the stain for up to half an hour. After this time the mark may have disappeared, or at least become fainter. If you can still see it, repeat the process using more linseed oil or mayonnaise.

With a regular cleaning regime, those cheap wooden stools should stay looking their best and be a stylish addition to your kitchen for years to come.