How to measure for a dining table

They take 5 minutes with a tape, and they are the same 3 the crew takes before a table comes off the van.

1. The clearance

Measure the room, then take 90 cm off every side the table will have a chair on. 90 cm is what a person needs to push a chair back and stand up without hitting the wall. On a side with no chairs, 60 cm is enough to walk past. What is left is the biggest table you can have.

2. The seat width

Allow 60 cm of table edge per person, 65 if the chairs have arms. A 180 cm table seats 3 a side, or 2 and a bit if you have armchairs. A round table of 120 cm seats 4; 140 seats 5.

3. The height

Tables are 74 to 76 cm high and chairs 45 to 47, which leaves about 28 cm between seat and tabletop. Knees need 20 of that. If you are buying chairs from somewhere else, check their seat height, because a 50 cm seat under a 74 cm table is a cramped dinner for a tall person.

Then mark it out

Put masking tape on the floor where the table’s edge will be, and a second line 90 cm out from it on every chair side. Live with the tape for a weekend. If you step over the outer line to get to the window, the table is too big, and no amount of wanting it will make it smaller.

• Leave room for the leaf. If the table extends, measure it extended, with chairs.
• Remember the pendant. It hangs over the center of the table, so the table’s position fixes the light’s.
• A bench on 1 side saves 30 cm of clearance, since it tucks under the table.