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" Q: &amp;quot;How do I choose a dining table?&amp;quot; \u2014Beth L. A: Beth, in a modern home, the old standby &amp;quot;the dining table&amp;quot; commonly serves more purposes than just hosting a dinner party every now and then, so, before I answer your question, I have some questions for you. 1. Are there other dining locations in your house? Is this table the principal location for all of your meals or do you also have a table in your kitchen as well? We also often design counter seating in many of our kitchens here at our design firm, which can give you another option for casual dining seating. I guess the question to be considered is does your dining table have regular day-to-day use or is it more of a special event location? 2. Does your table need to serve multiple uses? Other than just considering the number of times you dine here, is this the place where the kids do their homework? Are you setting up a home office here when you pay your bills? Or does your dining table only see any action when you&amp;#039;re entertaining? 3. Are you &amp;quot;The Hostess?&amp;quot; Speaking of entertaining friends or family, there always tends to be one person who ends up hosting all the dinner parties, so are you the &amp;#039;go-to&amp;#039; hostess? Do you ever end up hosting Thanksgiving for 16 people? Okay, now that you have some ideas about the purposes your table needs to serve, let&amp;#039;s get into the nitty-gritty. The first place to start is to consider the shape and size of your dining room. Does it feel like a rectangle table will fit better or could the table be round? I personally love round dining tables because of the seating flexibility they offer, but, a rectangular table is always a classic, too. Think about an oval table \u2014 it gives you flexibility of a round table for seating, plus also a hint at that classic rectangle shape. And speaking of seating, as you begin to consider size keep in mind that you need around 4 feet (at a minimum) of &amp;quot;chair space&amp;quot; along each side of the table. This gives your guests plenty of room to pull back their chair and as well as room to maneuver around the space even when everyone is seated. If you&amp;#039;re working in a small space, think about making the seating on one side of the table a banquette. It will pull the table out of the center of the room, but helps open up space on the other sides of the table. I&amp;#039;ve always loved this dining room from Alex Papachristidis. I love the geometry of using a rectangular table in an octagon-shaped room. I also like his use of side chairs for all guests at the table and no &amp;quot;captain&amp;#039;s&amp;quot; chairs for the head of the table. I can just imagine an evening with the brass Dutch-style chandelier and the wall scones flickering. It must be magical. Happy dining, Scot  ---- See More: Where Should I Put My TV? &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;Great Design Ideas for Your Dining Room &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;Tour a Modern Kitchen With a Whimsical Surprise &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt;7 Tips for Small Dining Rooms &amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;gt; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.housebeautiful.com/home-remodeling/interior-designers/q-and-a/a2497/how-to-choose-dining-table/>