The focal point of every dining room has to be the dining table. Without its presence, the dining room is essentially just a game – think musical chairs: a bunch of chairs in a circle, with nothing in the middle. If that was the case, then quick! Grab a chair or you’ll be left to eat while standing. Starting to see why dining tables make such an impact in our daily lives? Let’s face it, without them we wouldn’t be able to have a nice family dinner, or entertain guests at a house party.
Luckily, dining tables are available at just about any furniture store or online furniture retailer. They also come in a variety of finishes, materials and features; therefore the amount of possibilities available to you is limitless. However, with this many options, deciding on which table to get can get confusing. So here is a small list of things to cover when shopping for a dining table.
The Type of Dining Table:
Believe it or not, furniture manufacturers actually offer different types of dining tables. But how does one differ from another when they all seem to be more or less the same; four legs holding up a flat table top. Thankfully, there are ways to differentiate one style of table to the next.
First, the Accent Table. These are standard dining tables, however very ornately designed to provide a sense of classic romance. The type you might imagine inside the palaces or mansions of your favorite storybook.
The Breakfast Bar is another type of dining table. These are usually smaller in size than standard dining tables; however, some have very interesting features that make them unique in their own right. For example, it is not uncommon to see breakfast bars with locking casters for added mobility and convenience. Some will also have cubbies and racks for added storage.
The Cocktail Table (otherwise known as a Coffee Table) can also be considered a type of dining table. However, many of us choose not to eat many meals on these, rather use them in front of the sofas and couches to place our drinks. But for those of us who enjoy eating dinner in front of the TV (myself included), then yes, a Cocktail table could be considered the prefect dining table.
The types of formal dining tables can vary by style and the amount of people who can be seated. Most can seat more than your standard Breakfast Bar. In fact, formal dining tables tend to seat anywhere from four to eight people. Also available are the long dining tables that seat many people. If you ever watch a movie about ancient times of kings and queens, you might notice them. These types of dining tables are called “Refectory Tables”. If you’re ever in need of a table that can seat an extreme number of guests, then this is the one for you, but make sure you have enough room for it.
That brings us to our next point when shopping for dining tables. Always make sure you have the space in your dining room. You never want to be stuck with a table that takes up so much room, that it doesn’t leave room for dining chairs.
There is still a lot more to know about the dining table. However if you want to get the skinny, then you’ll have to wait for ‘A Closer Look at Dining Tables, pt. 2′. For now though, I hope this article has given you a better idea as to why Dining Tables are such an important piece in our daily lives.
Dining Chairs are chairs for dining tables in dining rooms…? Maybe a hundred years ago, or for a traditional household that has the space to label a room the “dining room”, and then of course they would have a dining table & dining chairs to fit into that space. BUT, for the majority of city dwellers, tendency would be to have a table and chairs which fits into a smaller space. Mind you the table is used for eating (aka dining table), and when eating at the table we are seated on chairs (guess they could be referred to as…dining chairs)…
Anyway, lets talk about the transition from the formal dining room to the modern day kitchen area. Here is a little more for you city dwellers to digest about the dining room and its furniture… A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically the dining room is furnished with a rather large dining table and a number of dining chairs; the most common table shape is generally rectangular with two armed end chairs and an even number of un-armed side chairs along the long sides.
In the Middle Ages, upper class Britons and other European nobility in castles or large manor houses dined in the Great Hall. This was a large multi-function room capable of seating the bulk of the population of the house. The family would sit at the head table on a raised dais, with the rest of the population arrayed in order of diminishing rank away from them. Tables in the great hall would tend to be long trestle tables with benches. The sheer number of people in a Great Hall meant it would probably have had a busy, bustling atmosphere. Suggestions that it would also have been quite smelly and smoky are probably, by the standards of the time, unfounded.
The owners of such properties began to develop a taste for more intimate gatherings in smaller ‘parlors’ or privee parlors’ off the main hall. Over time, the nobility took more of their meals in the parlor, and the parlor became, functionally, a dining room (or was split into two separate rooms). Eventually dining in the Great Hall became something that was done primarily on special occasions.
A typical dining room will contain a dining table with dining chairs arranged along the sides and ends of the table, as well as other pieces of furniture. In modern homes, the dining room is increasingly used only for formal dining with guests or on special occasions. Informal daily meals are often taken in the kitchen, breakfast nook or family room. This was traditionally the case in England, where the dining room would for many families be used only on Sundays, other meals being eaten in the kitchen. Often tables in modern dining rooms will have a removable leaf to allow for the larger number of people present on those special occasions without taking up extra space when not in use. Although the “typical” family dining experience is at a “dining table” or some sort of kitchen area, some choose to make their dining rooms more comfortable by using sofas or comfortable chairs…
Whatever your needs, and no matter what size your living space is…Visitor Parking has the furniture solution you need.
We have coffee tables that raise and extend so that your living room becomes a dining room to host great dinner parties. One of several dining tables on display in our showroom extends from a four top into a dining set for 10. Many of our furnishings are multi-functional, and provide storage and can be reconfigured to accommodate a variety of needs.
Visitor Parking offers pieces of perfect innovation for solving your furnishing dilemmas without sacrificing style, comfort or function, and will have people parking themselves for a visit.
VIEW The Entire Dining Room Selection HERE