diff --git a/neural_lam/datastore/base.py b/neural_lam/datastore/base.py
index 83610a6c..5457bed9 100644
--- a/neural_lam/datastore/base.py
+++ b/neural_lam/datastore/base.py
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ def get_xy_extent(self, category: str) -> List[float]:
             The extent of the x, y coordinates.
 
         """
-        xy = self.get_xy(category, stacked=False)
+        xy = self.get_xy(category)
         extent = [xy[0].min(), xy[0].max(), xy[1].min(), xy[1].max()]
         return [float(v) for v in extent]
 
@@ -463,7 +463,22 @@ def stack_grid_coords(
         if "grid_index" in da_or_ds.dims:
             return da_or_ds
 
-        return da_or_ds.stack(grid_index=self.CARTESIAN_COORDS)
+        da_or_ds_stacked = da_or_ds.stack(grid_index=self.CARTESIAN_COORDS)
+        # find the feature dimension, which has named with the format
+        # `{category}_feature`
+        potential_feature_dims = [
+            d for d in da_or_ds_stacked.dims if d.endswith("_feature")
+        ]
+        if not len(potential_feature_dims) == 1:
+            raise ValueError(
+                "Expected exactly one feature dimension in the stacked data, "
+                f"got {potential_feature_dims}"
+            )
+        feature_dim = potential_feature_dims[0]
+
+        # ensure that grid_index is the first dimension, and the feature
+        # dimension is the second
+        return da_or_ds_stacked.transpose("grid_index", feature_dim, ...)
 
     @property
     @functools.lru_cache
diff --git a/tests/test_datastores.py b/tests/test_datastores.py
index c0d69ec0..00cd508e 100644
--- a/tests/test_datastores.py
+++ b/tests/test_datastores.py
@@ -310,22 +310,20 @@ def get_grid_shape_state(datastore_name):
 
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("datastore_name", DATASTORES.keys())
-def test_stacking_grid_coords(datastore_name):
+@pytest.mark.parametrize("category", ["state", "forcing", "static"])
+def test_stacking_grid_coords(datastore_name, category):
     """Check that the `datastore.stack_grid_coords` method is implemented."""
     datastore = init_datastore_example(datastore_name)
 
     if not isinstance(datastore, BaseRegularGridDatastore):
         pytest.skip("Datastore does not implement `BaseCartesianDatastore`")
 
-    da_static = datastore.get_dataarray("static", split=None)
+    da_static = datastore.get_dataarray(category=category, split=None)
 
     da_static_unstacked = datastore.unstack_grid_coords(da_static).load()
     da_static_test = datastore.stack_grid_coords(da_static_unstacked)
 
-    # XXX: for the moment unstacking doesn't guarantee the order of the
-    # dimensions maybe we should enforce this?
-    da_static_test = da_static_test.transpose(*da_static.dims)
-
+    assert da_static.dims == da_static_test.dims
     xr.testing.assert_equal(da_static, da_static_test)