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Banquette table - round vs square

13 years ago

What are your thoughts on banquette table shape? I've always assumed that round ones are a bit of a waste of space, as the contact points between the table and the bench are limited (our banquette is L shape). But now I'm reconsidering. I hadn't really thought about leg room - obviously you can't squish along the bench if you want to have any leg space.

How much room do legs (person legs) take up? Are there any guidelines? Maybe I can draw this out with our dimensions, and see what would really work in our situation. We're only four, but I do want to be able to fit a few kids in, if needed.

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Comments (2)

artemis78
13 years ago
We switched our plans from round to rectangular after realizing how much less space it took up...there are some general rules of thumb, though they vary depending on where you look. But most books I found suggested 21-24" wide per person and 15"-20" deep. (We're probably going with 32" x 48" to seat three people on an L with one chair on the end, but just started testing it this weekend in our existing kitchen to see how it works!)

If your only seating is the L, then a square or rectangular table will take up a lot less space than a round one, though. It also depends on what's on the other side of the table---ours will have open space on the fourth side, so in a pinch we could bring two more chairs in and (cozily!) seat six. HTH!
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willis13
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Artemis, that IS helpful. That's what I suspected, great to have those numbers, so now I can sketch it out and figure out exactly what dimensions I need.
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I think you have a lot of space at 147" in depth and 130+ in width so I would use a table. It's most flexible in all situations and can expand more readily when your kids start having guests at dinner. I have a banquette in a space with the same width but have less depth. (In fact, did the same thing, took down the wall between the kitchen and DR). We have corner windows and used the modular segments from Ballard Designs, which work really well. The bonus is that they have storage in the base, which is nice.
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