Personally for me think they look beautiful either way. BUT, and it's a big but, I wouldn't want to have to worry about keeping a rug under a table clean. I may love to vacuum, but I it's just not so fun when dodging table can chairs under a dining table. It's so much easier to sweep a bare floor in this situation. But that's just me.

You haven't accounted for the chairs while under the table and you have to add space to pull them out and when seated. Pull all your chairs out as far as you would need to in order to sit down and not catch the chair legs on edge of the rug. That is comfortably about 2' per chair (or an extra 4' of length and width). So you need about 7'6" x 9' minimum for table and chairs. Get the 8x10, IMO.

I have three kids so am very familiar with the issues with placing a rug under the kitchen table. We also had remodeled our kitchen and added new hardwood floors so understand your concerns there as well. I was a hold out for a long time, but finally put one there last year. I did not purchase a rug, however, but moved one there that I already owned that I had in the family room when I purchased a different rug for that room. The rug that went under the kitchen table is a very inexpensive synthetic rug that cost me around $60. So far, it has held up well and when it gets too stained or latex backing starts to emit a smell (as can happen with inexpensive rugs), I will replace it. As it's a fairly dark rug with a busy pattern it does not show the dirt. Added pluses are that the chairs do not scratch my hardwood floors. Even with the little felt pads on the legs, sometimes they would come off or the start picking up all the mess and dust on the floor--though I still keep felt pads on the legs since the chairs are moved sometimes when guests visit. Shee, is correct about the sizing of the rug--conservative measurements would be to allow about 3' extra around all sides beyond the table size. In my case that was not possible due to space limitations and I've gotten by with a lot less. Previous to this I had my kitchen table on wall-to-wall carpeting and it would get so stained, dirty (and I feared smelly as well). When I first changed to hardwood, having an easy to clean floor was very important; not sure whether my kids are older (youngest is now 9) or that this is an dark, patterned area rug, but there is no comparision between the two. I still would never, never, want a kitchen table on wall-to-wall carpeting. My kids are still not THAT neat! Here is my kitchen table rug: Here is picture without the rug: I've even started using a cloth tablecloth as well. It gets dirty, but I wash regularly and keep a vinyl tablecloth below so if the kids want to do something messy, we just pull off the cloth one and use the vinyl.

Sheilaaus, Thanks for your comment on the table. I first came across a listing for this table and bench on Craigslist about a year ago. At first I thought that it was a custom built and / or a very expensive set. However, I discovered that it is sold at the Ashley Homestore. On their website, the price on these pieces fluctuate on a regular basis. However, the table and bench are currently on sale and Ashley is running an addition 10% promo, which brought the price for both pieces down to $1135. This was the cheapest that I have seen them over the last year or so and I decided to jump on them (linked below). Both the table and bench are VERY heavy. Each piece is solid and seems well built. We also bought our bed from Ashley (stock picture below) and have been very happy with it. IMO, it seems with furniture that some of their pieces are well built and other pieces are not. If at all possible, it's definitely worth finding a showroom and checking out the pieces that you are interested in to see the build quality. https://www.ashleyfurniturehomestore.com/p/ranimar-dining-room-table/d686-25/