What Are The Right Dining Table Dimensions For Your Dining Room

Eating together is an ideal time for sharing your stories and bonding with your loved ones. A carefully cooked meal is accentuated by a comfortable seating arrangement for dining. It is thus very important that you create a cozy atmosphere for your family and friends by choosing the correct dining table dimensions, which will allow them to eat their food in comfort.

The key to choosing the correct dining table dimensions is to understand the space availability of your dining room. A dining room table should look stylish, but what is more important is that it should provide enough seating and fit the space available in your dining room. Here are some important tips when choosing the right dining table dimensions for your home.

Dining Room Table: Which shape is best?

Round Dining table

You may be fascinated by a round dining table or perhaps a square one, but before choosing one, remember that the primary consideration should be the area available in your dining room. A round dining table is ideal for small spaces. This type of dining table has no corners and can thus fit into a small area. Additionally, you can seat more people around a round dining table.

There is an added benefit that by choosing a round dining table you can make the room look more spacious. Opt for a pedestal table to provide for leg room, as the supporting structure of the table does not obstruct the chairs.

However, do remember that a very large round dining table can make it very difficult to reach for food. Add a Lazy Susan feature; in this case to allow food to be accessible to everyone around the table. Here are the ideal dining table dimensions for a round dining table.

A round dining table with a diameter larger than six feet will stop people from conversing freely across the table.

Square Dining table

A square dining table can create a more intimate experience as everyone is equidistant from each other. Such a dining table is ideal for small families and helps in the free flow of conversation. However, just like a round dining table, a very large square dining table can also restrict conversation across the table.

Here is the ideal seating capacity vis a vis the dining table dimensions for a square dining table.

Rectangular Dining table

If you have a long and narrow space in your dining room than it makes sense to have a rectangular dining table. This will allow people to move around it easily. The chart below provides an idea of the seating for various dining table dimensions of rectangular size. However the same calculation can be used for an oval dining table as well.

Flexible dining table dimensions

Often we feel the need to have some flexibility in the dining table dimensions, as we might occasionally want to seat more people at the dining table. However a large dining table is often a hindrance and is not a regular requirement for the average family. If you need to add to your dining table dimensions once in a while, opt for a dining table with leaves. All shapes of dining tables can be designed to include leaves which can be used to expand the dining table dimensions comfortably when required.

Finding the right dining table dimensions

Optimum dining table dimensions are derived by examining the space requirement every person needs for comfortable eating. This also includes the shared area: a place where the food, extra cutlery, vases, etc. are. This should be optimized so that people do not have to fight for elbow space yet are comfortably seated so that they can hear each other’s conversation around the dining table. The ideal space requirement for a person is 30 inches x 30 inches.

This means that rectangular dining table dimensions should be at least 78” x 40“ to seat a capacity of six.

Similarly, round dining table dimensions should be at least 4’6” to seat a capacity of six persons. The ideal size would be 6’ across.

You could place eight people across a square dining table dimensions with sides 6’ in length. If you are looking to seat more people you should opt for a table with rectangular dining table dimensions.

Some more tips to consider when choosing large dining table dimensions.

• Optimize the space in your dining room by using benches instead of chairs to seat people. You can stash the benches under the table when not in use to save on space in your dining area.
• While choosing dining table dimensions also factor in the space that your furniture will occupy. It is usually convenient to keep additional dining furniture like sideboards or cabinets near the dining table and these would also use up some space.
• When choosing large dining table dimensions make sure to allow a clearance of about 3-4 feet around the table from the walls or from surrounding furniture. This will allow for people to sit down and get up comfortably after eating.

However infrequently we might use our dining room, it always remains a desirable feature in our home décor. Dining table dimensions need to be considered carefully while designing the dining room area. Other factors to be considered are the presence of additional furniture in the dining room, height of the dining table and chairs and clearance space around the dining table.

Choose the correct dining table dimensions only after careful consideration of these factors in order to make your dining experience as comfortable as possible. Also, remember to choose a table which blends into the general décor and feel of your home. It could be said that if you want to create a traditional feel you should consider shopping for bigger dining table dimensions. Usually a rectangular table completes this look. A contemporary feel can be created using sleek designs of smaller dining table dimensions. Such dining tables are usually round, square or oval in shape.

Choosing correct dining table dimensions is by no means an easy task. However, when done in accordance with the suggestions above, you can not only create an artistic dining room which complements your home décor but also provide the best ambience for pleasant dining.