Why does my new counter height table look so bad in the kitchen?

[zephyr]

I don't get it. I spent a lot of time looking around for a new kitchen table and finally found one that we liked and was reasonably priced AND was on sale. BTW, it's black with distressed paint. So DH sets it up and it just doesn't look like it belongs in our kitchen, which isn't very big at all and the ceilings are slanted. It looks like the table is higher than our counters and I'm just getting a little frusterated....grrrr.. anyone else buy a counter height or other type of table that just didn't go with their kitchen?

Zephyr

[khm]

My neighbor just bought one too. She also isn't in love with it. She was planning on living with it for another week before deciding if she'd return it.

I don't think it looked bad at all, but it did look different. The island is the same height and not too far away. Visually, you noticed that. Not in a bad way, but it does draw your attention. It also blocked a bit more of a really pretty view from a nice picture window.

I don't know if she ended up returning it or not! I need to ask. :)

I do suggest living with it and seeing if it grows on you. You get SOOOOO used to things being one way that sometimes it is hard to adjust. We just got a new TV amoire. The thing is huge, which is actually what we needed for the space (We have 15' LR ceiling). Yet, when we first got it in, it kept freaking me out when I'd see this large piece out of the corner of my eye. (We had a really small temporary piece there before, it was all WRONG but I'd gotten used to it.) After a day or two, I adjusted to it and it's "just right".

[JillSP]

I would think that for the counter-height table to work, it would have to be a large kitchen with high ceilings. Could that be the problem?

I live in an old house and none of the rooms are very large. It seems like most furniture these days is made for huge suburban homes and just doesn't work in our house.

I don't know if the size of the room would matter for a counter-height table; I'd be curious to hear other people's opinions.

[zephyr]

Our house is about 1300 sq. ft. and I think that is the problem. The table looks like a monster compared to the rest of the kitchen, cabinets, counters, etc. I think we're going to return it.

[khm]

My neighbor did return theirs, I just saw her. She said her husband finally admitted that he didn't like it either. He said with the island and the table there not too far away, it looked like a big long runway in the middle of the kitchen. :)

My brother has one, and it works in his place, but he doesn't have an island or a picture window to block.

[ThreeofUs]

A friend of mine did this, too. He's an architect/artist who likes the look, but lives in a smaller loft with interesting ceiling lines. I thought his comment about why he took the table back was interesting.

He said that the perspective was wrong. In a smaller space, the table has parallel lines underneath that make it look taller than but not integrated with the counters. Small spaces with slanted ceilings have a certain visual feel to them that makes a tall table hard to "blend" - even as a focus piece.