When it comes to our custom-made solid wood dining room and conference room tables, we often get questions about sizing and seating. What size table should I order? How much room should we allow per person? These questions are going to influence purchasing decisions heavily.
We build tables to our customer’s specifications, including size, wood, style, and finish. We can create tables to accommodate your family or team, large or small.
Dimensions of Your Room
One of the things you want to consider when getting a custom table is the size of the room or space where the table will be located. You want to ensure that the room can comfortably fit tables of certain lengths or shapes. Not only that, but you will want to leave room for people to walk around the table comfortably.
Leave a minimum of approximately 36 inches around each side of the table to keep away from walls or other furniture. Allowing for more space would make the experience even more comfortable for your family or members of your meeting.
Number of Chairs
Another important consideration is to take into account how many people or chairs will be around the table. For dining room tables, you want to give each person 24 inches as a guideline. Many dining room tables have slimmer, wooden or metal chairs for this very reason. Will it just be you and your family, or do you wish to host others more often? Having extra seating space allows more people to sit comfortably around your table.
With conference tables, you want to give each occupant closer to 36 inches each. They tend to be more spread out between their notes, a laptop, a cup of coffee, and anything else they might have brought to the meeting.
Type of Chairs
Barstools and some metal chairs can take up as little as 15 inches of space and wouldn’t need as much room around them. However, upholstered chairs can vary in size, but tend to be larger than other types of chairs. One of our 5-foot tables could seat two 15-inch chairs on each side and one on each end, giving you room to seat six people comfortably.
Conference room chairs can vary on whether or not they have armrests or not. However, if you follow the 36-inch rule from the section above, you should have plenty of room no matter the type of chair you have in your boardroom.
Style of Table
The amount of seating you have can also depend on the style of the table you choose. For example, the farmhouse table legs are about 3.25 inches wide, and the table has an overhang of roughly 2 inches. This means you could lose about 8-10 inches of seating between the legs.
Rectangular and square-shaped tables tend to seat the most people for their size. However, round tables have their legs in the center, so it is easier to have an extra person squeeze in.
If you still find yourself asking “what size table should I order,” give Emmor Works a call at (609) 388-8208. We would love to walk you through the process!