A Thoughtful 10-Seater Dining Table
Designed to Fit, Built to Last
When Jackie and her husband asked us to create a dining table, the brief was beautifully personal: they wanted a place where both sides of the family could gather together—especially at Christmas and other big celebrations—without anyone feeling squeezed. So we began—as we always do—by understanding the couple, the room, and the rhythm of their family life. Her dining room measures 3.45m wide by 3.40m long, so our first job was to design a table that welcomes ten people in comfort without overwhelming the space.
Starting with the room, not the table
We modelled the room to scale and explored different layouts, aiming for that sweet spot where every guest has elbow room and the flow around the table stays easy. Standard side clearance around a dining table is ~90cm; using that as our guide, we proposed a 200cm × 140cm tabletop—generous for serving dishes, but still allowing comfortable movement all the way around. We even plotted 60cm seating “arcs” to check personal space at each setting.
Form that serves function
Leg room matters—especially at a 10-seater—so we placed the legs at the corners for maximum clear space beneath the top. We reviewed several leg options (including a curved profile we can make in-house), and designed a braced frame to support the wide top without sagging over time. The finished table height is a classic, comfortable 75cm
Materials with a story (and a certificate)
Matt personally selected light oak boards from Whitney Sawmills. Selecting boards on site lets us match the grain and tone beautifully across a large top like this one. We issue an origin certificate with each piece so you’ll know exactly where the tree came from. The table is glued with food-safe adhesives and finished in an ecological table oil that’s durable and easy to refresh over the years.
Why bespoke matters
Off-the-shelf tables rarely fit a specific room perfectly. By designing to Jackie’s actual dimensions—and modelling circulation and seating—we’ve created a table that looks “meant to be” in the space. It’s the difference between something that merely fits and something that truly belongs.