Size of dining room to accommodate 13ft extension table (seats 16)

8 years ago

We are at the very beginning stages of planning a new home build. For 2 years now we have been gathering information, pics, wants and needs, rough floor plan ideas, layout, size of rooms etc. and will soon be hiring our architect (have narrowed it down to 2). My open plan kitchen, eat in area and great room will be partially open to the formal dining area. This is a must for the way we live. As we add up room size requirements as part of the package we present to our architect, I seem to be at odds figuring out a few spaces, and at the moment I am stuck on my dining room.

We have huge families and entertain a sit down dinner of at least 16 about 8-10 times a year. More often than that we have friends and family of about 10 sitting down for dinner any given night. My new table will be 10ft long (seats 12) in its usual position and will extend to 13ft (seats16). What would be a comfortable size dining room to accommodate this table, a 7ftWx2ftD buffet piece and another shelving type piece that is 6ftWx18inD with enough space. Not sure yet which wall will be open to the other spaces but pretty sure it will be one long wall. We are very flexible at this point as we are only in the rough sketch layout phase. My current DR is open to the kitchen and living room so do not have much to go by there-the space is open on 3 sides so I don't know the amount of space required around chairs that are seated or pulled out. I know this will take a big chunk of the square footage on this plan so that is why I seem to be stuck on getting it right. It will determine the layout of our first floor actually so I almost feel the need to begin here. Thanks in advance for any insight you may have in a similar size room of your own, or a room you have built or designed.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

sheloveslayouts
8 years ago
What is the width of the table?

Are the buffet and shelf used during dinner? e.g. will people be standing at the buffet, sitting at the table and trying to walk between the two at the same time?
driftwoodandmarble
Original Author
8 years ago
The table width is 42"

The buffet will be placed against one of the walls and will serve as a decorative area when not in use, but as a landing for food platters during large dinners or a bar setup etc. so walking space needs to be considered as people will be walking to the buffet (while others are seated) to access more food or drinks. Mostly our sit down dinners begin in the kitchen where guests fill their plates and then sit at dining table. I then bring in some of the trays of food into the DR buffet so people don't need to go back into kitchen to refill plates. Our dinners last hours as we all gather at the table through dinner, dessert and coffee. Most of our time is seated at that table eating, talking, eating some more, talking and drinking!

The shelving piece is decorative and used for storage/decor pieces so not a lot of foot traffic to access anything there.
Related Discussions
Turning my living room into a dining room
Q
Comments (12)
rodboyz3, we did this exact thing in 2007. We added a large den (24x26) behind the kitchen in 2002. The LR, in front of the kitchen became a wasted space. Just a walk thru. Like you, we walk into a small foyer (at the front door), take a left and enter what used to be the LR but is now a much needed dining room. We tore down the wall between the kitchen and new dining room and added a counter height bar...an extension of a kitchen counter run. This opened up the kitchen and made it and the dining more open to each other. The 60" round table seats 8 and the bar can seat 4. The flow is excellent. No more turning sideways to get past people from one room to the other (when there's a crowd). I also worried about the dining room coming off the entry but it's absoLUTEly not a problem :) I'm sorry I can't embed photos right now. I don't know if it's me or GW, but I've been having problems for a couple months now. Below is a link to three pictures. In the first picture, I'm standing in the kitchen looking out over the added bar into the dining room. You can see the small entry foyer. You can also see that over a year later we still haven't decided what to clad the base of the bar with (LOL) Click "next" in the lower right corner. See the alcove and door to the left? That alcove used to be DH's closet. The door leads to our master bedroom. That layout also concerned me but, again, it's not a problem. We created space that WE needed and worked with what we had. For this last picture, I'm standing at the large picture window you saw in the other photos, looking thru the kitchen into the den (and a lovely shot of the "nekkid" bar and back of the trash compactor :o) We're very happy with our customized space. I think you will be happy with yours too :) Monica Here is a link that might be useful: LR to DR Conversion
...See More
Rectangular or round table for our dining room? What size?
Q
Comments (6)
Ideally allow at least 3 feet for each chair (2' chair depth + 1' to get in and out). So if you have a 12' space, 6' might be taken up by chairs. That means you can fit a 72" round but wouldn't have a lot of extra space. The leaf would make it really tight. I'm all for extra space, but I fell in love with a round table, so I will deal. I have an 8x8 space plus walk room on one side, and I picked out a 48" round table. I have no extra room on some sides but the roundness helps. There are a lot of options. I would go into a showroom and ask the sales associate for help. There are convertible tables, thin pedestals, variable tabletops, exterior and interior legs, 3 legged tables in addition to leafs. Sorry that was probably not much help. I went into a crate and barrel showroom and asked for help and I was able to figure out what I wanted through the process of elimination. They have enough different configurations that you can get an idea of what will and will not work in your space. I would optimize floor space for your family and only add the extra tabletop space when you absolutely have to. The chairs make a big difference in how much space you have around the table when not in use. You can choose uncomfortable chairs that fit tightly against the table (if the table allows) or comfy upholstered chairs that take up more space when pushed in as much as possible. If you go rectangular, you have the option of benches. They have upholstered benches too. Every inch matters. If you can trim a few inches off the chairs or table edges or scooch the chair under the table a bit more, you may be able to come up with another 6-8" around the table. This one says it will fit 6-8, but I wonder if you could get more kids around it if you use benches. (It's not the most attractive IMO.) Table goes from 34x57 to 57x68.
...See More
dining table size recommendation?
Q
Comments (7)
Ovals and rounds dont seat as many people as rectangular, and with a room that size you want max seating most like, so I'd stay rectangular. You don't mention if there are any sideboards or buffet in the room, however the general formula used is 24" away from the table itself fo the chair turnout (or pullout) from the table and then another 24" to the wall or a sideboard, etc. So, using our formulas above we have 138" to the wall, - 48" means an absolute maximum of 90" on the table length. I'd be more inclined to drop down to an 84" and then keep the width around 38" or so, again depending on what else is in the room. Good luck - Duane Collie
...See More
Rug size in a narrow dining room
Q
Comments (9)
@jimandanne_mi Thanks, this was super helpful. Definitely now thinking that I'd better keep it to 8' wide. @Jan Moyer I hadn't thought of Etsy, that's a good idea! I'm already watching kijiji and facebook marketplace, but will add that to the list. I've been doing some pinteresting and realize it's not at all uncommon for the seats at the end of the table to be all or partially off the rug, and it doesn't look all that weird. Also I'm thinking won't keep seats on the ends on a day-to-day basis, and will just add them for dinner parties. So unless the right vintage thing turns up, perhaps we will do an inexpensive 8' x 10' or 8' x 11' (I've seen a few of those) for now. One day I'd like to invest in a beautiful authentic Persian rug in there, but we've just finished a reno and have a pretty tight budget right now, so we may just do something imperfect for the short term.
...See More
chicagoans
8 years ago
I love that you're planning for big dinners! Fun!

I'm renting a tent and tables and chairs for a graduation party and in trying to figure out how many tables I could fit in the tent, I Googled 'spacing for tables and chairs.' You'll get several hits. From this link you'll see: For a special occasion such as a holiday meal with many guests, the meal may be served buffet style, calling for a slightly different furniture arrangement in the dining area Allow 60 inches between the buffet or food serving area and the edge of the dining table; this allows room to walk between the table and serving area, even when guests' chairs are pushed away from the table.

You'll also need to consider the size of your chairs. For example, arm chairs may take up more space than the same-styled chairs without arms. And will the placement of the buffet be in a corner or 'dead end', meaning two people may need to pass each other behind a seated diner to access the buffet? Or can the buffet line be one way, allowing 'in' at one end and 'out' at the other?

I'd try it out... set up your buffet (or a large box to imitate it) 60" away from the back of a chair with someone in it seated at your table. Is it comfortable to pass by? Do you feel like you'll spill soup on someone's head as you inch by, or that your bum is brushing the back of their head? Or can two of you pass each other comfortably behind the person seated in the chair? Once you feel comfortable, then use some graph paper and draw, to scale, your table, chairs, buffet etc. with the comfortable walkway.
sheloveslayouts
8 years ago
I calculated an absolute minimum 15x23 for a 10' table, 2' deep buffet and 1.5' deep shelf. If your position the dining room open to a foyer and living room or just living room, you can expand into those areas for your big dinners and anticipate for more and more guests through the years as the family grows. Here's my sketch; 6' between table and buffet minimum, 5' minimum between table and wall.
musicgale
8 years ago
We had a great arrangement in our past two homes that we reworked for the new house, and that is having one end of the dining area abut a wide foyer. Fully extended, our new table will slightly jut out into that space. Set for 6 to 8, it is centered in the room.

With that said, 6 feet of passage room on the backside of the table might be overkill in a domestic setting.

Love the fact that you are making this a priority. Best wishes-
driftwoodandmarble
Original Author
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
@chicagoans I didn't think of the obvious google search-great info!

@benjesbride thank you so much for that floor plan setup! This looks perfect-just have to figure out now where and how we will incorporate into the plan. Your detailed measurements gives plenty of expansion space. Thank you for taking the time to do that. I'm going to string it out on my floor and see how it compares. It is almost the size of my current master BR as I am sitting here, looks like it would be more than adequate for the table in standard position. I may add a couple feet depending on which wall will access the rest of the space. If it is a short wall we could expand into open space like you and musicgale pointed out.

@musicgale thank you for the photo references- at least one of my walls will be open to the rest of the house but I'm thinking at this preliminary stage it will most likely be one of the long walls. Things could change once I get a pro involved.

Size of dining room to accommodate 13ft extension table (seats 16)

Comments (6)

sheloveslayouts

driftwoodandmarble
Original Author

Related Discussions

chicagoans

sheloveslayouts

musicgale

driftwoodandmarble
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Size of dining room to accommodate 13ft extension table (seats 16)

Comments (6)

sheloveslayouts

driftwoodandmarbleOriginal Author

Related Discussions

chicagoans

sheloveslayouts

musicgale

driftwoodandmarbleOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

driftwoodandmarble
Original Author

driftwoodandmarble
Original Author