How To Choose The Perfect Dining Room Table
Are you looking for the perfect dining room table? A wood dining room table looks great in any dining room, and will never go out of style because wood is a timeless choice! As the centerpiece of any great dining room, it’s one of the most important pieces of furniture in your entire house. But even with the best design and best quality, there are certain things to consider to ensure the table is what you were looking for. To make sure that you get a solid wood dining room table that looks great and actually fits your needs you to consider the following:
- Size & shape of your dining room table
- Style of your dining room table
- What type of wood for your dining room table
Dining Room Table Size & Shape
What Size Should Your Dining Room Table Be?
Generally speaking the size of your table is entirely dependent on how many people you plan on sitting at it on a regular basis.
Obviously if there’s just two of you, then you don’t need a 6ft table. However there should be some consideration to the size of the room as well. It would look kind of silly to have a small square table in the middle of a giant dining room. A good rule of thumb is pick something that will still give you at least 2ft of walking space around the table and allow for about 2ft of “elbow space” at the table for each person you plan to sit there.
What Shape Should Your Dining Room Table Be?
The shape of the dining room table is also important and the shape of the room itself should play a role in which table shape you choose. And of course you need to consider how many people will be sitting at it.
As far as size the same “2ft x 2ft” rule from above still applies to all shapes. If you need more space, only occasionally, consider a table with extensions built in.
The rules for dining room table shape are pretty easy too:
| Square Room | Rectangular Room |
|---|---|
| Square Table | Rectangular Room |
| Round Room | Oval Room |
Every room is different and so are your tastes, so if you want to be different go for it. Your home and furniture should be a reflection of you. But these are good general rules to start with for table shape and size.
Dining Room Table Styles
There are quite a few styles to choose from, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding one that works for you. These are some broad table styles, and there are hundreds of variations you can choose from, but these are some good starting points:
Traditional Dining Room Tables
Traditional dining tables usually feature dark, rich colors. Intricate and ornate detailing, with softer lines and edges.
Contemporary Dining Room Tables
Contemporary dining tables are ever-changing. They follow trends and take inspiration from current times. Because of this they can’t be nailed down with a simple description. They will usually follow one rule though – clean, simple lines.
Modern Dining Room Tables
You may think modern and contemporary tables are the same, but modern tables actually point to a specific time period in the mid 1900s and the design borrows inspiration from that era. Modern dining tables have a pretty firm set of guidelines. Minimalist, clean/straight lines, neutral colors, and smooth surfaces.
Farmhouse & Rustic Dining Room Tables
Generally Farmhouse and Rustic tables are very similar, but they have slight differences. Farmhouse dining tables have a large emphasis on wood look and feel. As well as a clean and practical look, with white/neutral accent colors. While rustic tables are characterized by a strong wood look as well, they generally tend to keep a natural look. Less paint and a light stain or no stain at all. Sometimes they’re designed to look worn as well.
Industrial Dining Room Tables
Industrial dining tables pair strong wood features and looks – table tops – with metal accents or a base made of it entirely.
Dining Room Table Wood Types
There are several considerations to make when looking at which kind of wood you’ll choose for your table. Amish Tables has a great article, going in depth on choosing the best wood for your dining table. We’ll cover a few here, with a couple of their highlights:
With it’s dark, rich color, cherry would make a great traditional dining table. It’s got medium durability – it’s not the strongest, it’s not the weakest. It also ages well, getting darker as it gets older.
Oak is a very strong wood, with a strong grain presence. A great choice for farmhouse tables. An affordable option, that will bring warmth to your dining room.
Walnut is a dark wood, but can have some strong color variations in the grain. It’s a little stronger than Cherry, so it can resist dents and dings a little better and its grain patterns can hide a lot of the blemishes.
This is just one variation of each of these wood species and almost all wood species have at least a few different variations. These woods are only a few of the options available to you, reference the above article for more choices and more detail.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a dining room table for your home. You’ll have to choose size and shape, style, and wood type for starters. There are nuances in those, and more to consider but those are the big ones. You’ll also need to take some other things into consideration as well. There are endless resources on the internet to help you find your perfect dining room table, but we got you off to a good start with this article.
If you live in the Southwest Florida area and are in the market for the perfect solid wood dining table give us a look. At Brooklyn Buffalo Woodworks we make all of our pieces to order. Our dining room tables are made from solid hardwood and we can design it anyway you’d like. With a custom, handcrafted dining room table it’s all up to you! You can give us a call at 941-202-4049, email at marcus@brooklynbuffalwoodworks.com, or we have an online form for you to start building your custom wood furniture today.
This is a very informative post. I’m looking for a new dining room table and there is more than enough…
This is a very informative post. I'm looking for a new dining room table and there is more than enough information here for me to make a decision. I'm partial to rectangular tables. And oak is my choice! What kind of warranties are there for the average table?