I am starting a dining room table similar to the Arts&Crafts tables in FWW #178. I’ve reviewed several sources (Graves’s Dining Tables book; Guidice’s Tables book; a pretty recent FWW on sizing dining tables, I think Miller wrote the article; measuring dozens of tables at furniture stores, friends’ homes, etc.) and gotten at least three answers on proportions vs. seating.
I have a large extended family and a large dining room. I’d like to be able to seat 10 for holidays, and I’m pretty sure I have space in the dining room for a 54″ x 84″ table. I’ve ‘modeled’ that size with boxes, other tables, area rugs, etc., and I think it’s not too big for the room. But it seems ENORMOUS as a table and frankly like it would seat more than 4 along its length and would seat one on the width as easily as a narrower table. But, as someone remarked in an earlier thread, Graves’s book says 54″ is optimal! I’m confused . . .
This is going to be a pretty formal dining table in a pretty formal dining room, with a slab top made of some fantastic curly cherry. The wood is ready – the leg blanks are even cut – and I’m now frightened about laying a saw on that beautiful wood when I am still having doubts about the size.
Ay advice, other than bite the bullet and start cutting?
Replies
Anon,
I remember learning several years ago that a passenger seat on an airplane was 19" wide and 21" wide in first class...so I think the 84" is probably not to long.
The width, however, probably should factor in just how formal you plan to be. If you use a placemat as a guide, they generally are 12" which means that you'd have 30" of open space between placemats from each side of the table...your not going to pass dishes across that big of space so you need a butler to help (ha,ha). I your planning on a lot of different wine glasses then maybe that space would used. Personally, I think 48" is wide enough and that way the people sitting on the end would have about the same plate space as everyone else. More importantly, when you don't have ten people you can still pass across.
Thanks - the relationship to a first class airplane seat is a great analogy. That's comfy wide but not like a recliner or overstuffed chair that is too much space for a table.
I had not thought about the difficulty of passing across the table, maybe because my mother actually made us pass around at family dinners. We almost learned manners AND it made a lot of siblings cooperate for a short time. I may set up the boxes again and see how the various sizes work in each direction.
Anono,
I mentioned the passing because we raised our three sitting at a 48" wide kitchen table...and it was a pain with those short arms...and guess who sat at the end of the table constantly putting down the fork to pass the potatoe...lol. With adults, as your planning, things get easier.
An idea would be to make a cheap prototype: buy a piece of 1/2 OSB, cut it to the dimensions, put in on two saw horses, throw a bed sheet (table cloth) over it, and use it for a few days. $15 for a piece of OSB is pretty cheap comparred to cherry materials.
I did this for a kitchen island that I am building, so we could get a feel for it. I need to make the island thin (27 inches) and long (75 inches) and I wanted to check traffic flow, usability, etc. This really helped clarify the details between my wife and me - she is the user, I am the builder.
Thanks,
TTF
I have a 'trial' 84*42 table in the dining room at the moment. It is just wide enough for a formal setting that has 3 glasses (red,white,port) and some sort of centrepiece such as candleabra. Serving formal settings in my history tended to be plates presented with the meal on them, but even when there were centre dishes they were pretty large. Carving tray in particular needs a wide table because it is the bloke at the head of the table (or foot) doing the carving and he needs elbow room.
My parents have a Victorian table much wider than this (at least 54"). We have had many meals there with 16-20 seated and width is not a problem although you do have to speak up to be heard (also not a problem in my family)
I have a dining table that round with a 54 inch diameter. It has four 11 inch leaves, so that it is 54 by 98 when extended. Ten people can be comfortably seated and it is a little tight with 12. The width allows for more room for the serving dishes. This is an old timer, my parents bought it in 1915. Chris Becksvoort had an article about this, probably in FWW, but reprinted in "Practical DESIGN Solutions and Strategies",
Taunton Press titled "Dining Table Design Is Not As Easy AS Pie". He
includes discussion of how much leg room to allow for.
Rod
Patto, TTF, Rod, Thanks for the great ideas and reference to your own tables. Before the weekend I am going to have a big slab of OSB on sawhorses in there, and we'll see how it fits.
Glad to help. Keep us updated on the project.
Good luck,
TTF
length is the key proportion in my mind. Once the length is determined, use the golden ratio to determine the width - that will guarantee it looks good and I would bet that it would be a good working width as well
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled