Dining Table Guide: Size and Shapes Explained

Before placing a dining table at your home, it is important that you take some parameters into your account and perform some important surveys and measurements at your house. Make sure that you bring the right-sized table that can be placed properly with enough clearance for all the chairs to be pulled out easily.

In this blog, we will help you in deciding the size of the dining table for your home and the placement of chairs around it.

Selecting the Right Dining Table For yourself

Size of the Table:

There is no doubt that a bigger dining table provides a lot of merit points. You can easily place all the bowls and plates due to plenty of available space. But everything will go to waste if there is not enough space to pull out the chairs or move around the table easily. So, it is important that you choose a perfect-sized table that can fit properly in the available space.

Following are some easy steps that will tell you about the available space for the table:

• Measure the whole area where you want to place the table.
• Consider the space required to open doors and windows as well.
• Subtract standard chair allowance.
• The remaining will be the maximum available space for the table.

The shape of the Table:

There are four shapes of dining tables which are:

• Oval Tables
• Square Tables
• Round Tables
• Rectangular Tables

Please note that all these tables have different criteria for the space that they occupy. For example, a rectangular table or an oval one is suitable for spaces that are long but not wide.

On the other hand, if you have a wide space but it is not long enough to accommodate a rectangular or oval dining table, you can go for a square or a round table that can be placed there continently.

Placing the Chairs around the Dining Table:

Distance from the Wall:

You will have to provide at least a 90cm distance from the walls or other furniture that is placed in the room to provide enough space to slide out the chairs and move around the table easily. If you don’t provide enough space, this will make your dining uncomfortable and congested:

Distance from the Entrance

In general, you should provide at least a 1.2m distance between the entrance door and the table so that people can enter the room without any risk of hitting the table and injuring themselves.

Distance from the Chandelier:

Although low-hanging lights and chandeliers are very popular these days, make sure they still have enough height that they don’t interfere anyway with your dining experience. As a general guideline, make sure to maintain at least 60 cm-75 cm between the table and the chandelier.

Size of the Rug:

If you have placed any rug under the table, make sure that it spans at least 3 feet wider on each side or at least those sides which are going to accommodate the chairs. This will allow you to slide the chairs in and out without any hindrance.

 Placing the Seats Around the Table:

Clearance of the Chairs from behind:

You should at least provide 60cm clearance from behind so that it is easy to slide chairs out and move around the table during fine dining.

Distance between Chairs:

Seats around a dining table are usually 40-60 cm wide. Also, provide at least a 15 cm distance between the chairs to add comfort level around the table. However, as a general rule, every person around the table at least requires 60cm of space to sit and eat comfortably.

Arrangement of the chairs:

If you don’t have enough space to place the chairs on all four sides of the table and you need to place the chairs down the length of the table, you will need a larger table because you have to accommodate extra chairs down the length.

Vertical Clearance between the Table and the Chair:

Ideally, a 15cm-20cm vertical clearance should be provided between the table and the chair to make it easy for the people to sit down and stand up without hitting the table.