I'm definitely interested in having a leaf - but can I do 54" with a leaf, maximizing my space on a daily basis? Putting the leaf in seems like a pain to me so I can see us being reluctant to do it often, but maybe I just need to get over that. I don't think a rectangular table is our best option. We have that now and chairs on the ends of the 10' width of the room are tight (using our current 60" table) We can just fit 2 seats on that 60" length so I don't see going any smaller for a rectangle. I'm not opposed to built in seating in general, but I don't think it works well for our space. I feel like the room would look very off-balance in the one corner we could do this. it's frustrating to go through a big renovation and still have a small room! but expaning the footprint of the house was not an option at this time

After calculating what was written above me, it looks like you can fit the same size table I have in my dining room, which is 42" wide by 78" long with the leaf in. We can fit up to 8 people at our table with the leaf in. I also love having a rectangle table! I have two openings in my dining room - one to the living room and the other to the kitchen. I have a door on the other wall and a window on the 4th. Just place your table in the middle of the room and it will work.

I’ve seen 48” tables in the space and they certsinly fit. A bistro size table would look ridiculously small. And be non-functional. There is no traffic that needs to walk through the aisles as people can easily seat themselves all around if need be. If you look at the pictures I posted, there is plenty of room with the tables which are larger than 36”.

The logical place to put it would be under the chandelier (after upgrading it severely.) There are charts all over the internet to help determine size and shape for a specific number of people. Google for those and then decide on shape. Tape it on the floor under the chandy with painter's tape to see which one works best in your space. Don't forget you need 38-42" of clearance all around the table for chair scoot and sit space. If you plan for a rug, it should be 38-42" larger than the table yet not run into other furniture. If you entertain larger groups only once or twice a year, you may prefer a drop leaf or extension style table for those occasions.