Dining Tables and Dining Furniture

Choosing dining furniture

A dining table is sized by the room, not by the number of people. The rule that actually works: leave about 90 cm of clear floor on every side a chair is used from — 60 cm for the chair to pull out and another 30 cm for someone to walk behind it. Measure the dining area, subtract 180 cm from each dimension, and what remains is the largest table the room can carry comfortably.

Seat counts on a listing are a guide, not a promise. Allow roughly 60 cm of table edge per person for everyday use and closer to 70 cm if you eat with serving dishes on the table. A six-seat rectangular table is therefore around 180 cm long — anything shorter seats six people who are touching elbows, which is fine occasionally and tiring nightly.

Round and rectangular tops seat differently for the same footprint. A round table of 120 cm diameter seats four generously and six at a push, and it works better in a square room and with children, because there are no corners to walk into. A rectangular top of the same area seats more people but needs a longer run of clear floor, so the shape decision is really a room-shape decision.

Chairs are the part most people underspend on and then replace first. The two numbers that matter are seat height — around 45 cm for a standard table — and the clearance between the seat and the underside of the table top, which wants to be at least 28 cm or thighs meet the apron. If a chair has arms, check that they clear the table edge, or it cannot be tucked in at all.

Tops vary between batches. Solid timber differs in species, thickness and finish; stone slabs differ in colour and veining; dark finishes photograph darker than they read in daylight and show dust and marks more readily than mid-tones. Ask for a current photograph of the actual top, or better, ask whether the design can be seen at the showroom in Soan Garden.

Where a listing shows a price, it is the figure confirmed on the date printed with it; costs move, so the rest are priced on enquiry. Send the model name and SKU on WhatsApp and we will confirm the current price, the sizes and finishes available now, what a set actually includes, and whether it can be viewed before you order.