When it said 26 inches, I assumed it meant from the floor to the top of the seat. But it's more from the floor to the top of the leg. The top of the seat is another couple of inches, so this stool is too high for my counter. I actually ordered it twice. The first time, I thought they accidentally sent me the 28-inch stools, so I sent them back, but the replacements are also measuring at 28 inches. I'm just going to hire a handyman to cut off a bit of the leg from the bottom. I'm disappointed because the second time I bought them, they were $25 more expensive, and now I'll have to pay even more for a handyman to get them to a usable height.Also, I'm a furniture assembling pro. Every piece of furniture I've ever bought, I assembled myself and love doing it. These were pretty difficult and frustrating because of the metal bar. Getting in place and holding it while trying to line up the screw is exhausting, and the legs got all scratched up in the process. One of the screw holes is a little wonky, too, so getting that one tightened was really tough.