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A Dining Table, Chairs, Display Case and Sideboard.
A good dining table incorporates the following features:
It should be sized to accomodate the number of people that you want, without having structure in the way of your legs.
It should be easy for one person to open and insert the leaves.
The leaves should store inside the table, often known as "self storing leaves".
The table should be solid, and never ever wobble.
The table should come apart easily so that it can be moved.
The finish on the table should be durable and attractive.
A few points to consider about pedestal tables:
All of these tables can incorporate the Brandywine slide mechanism, which stores the leaves inside the table, although this may change the design somewhat from the table pictured.
The relationship between the location of the base and the edge of the top should be considered so that adequate legroom is provided. You should not only have legroom, but be able to push the chairs in for storage when they are not being used.
The base must also be sized so that the table is steady when the leaves are inserted. The Brandywine mechanism can be made to accomodate a very large opening.
It is easy to make pedestal tables very large, but tables that incorporate the Brandywine mechanism cannot be much smaller than 76" long and 42" wide. If smaller, the mechanism gets in the way of your legs.
A few points to consider about 4 legged tables:
Nearly all of these tables can incorporate the Rosemont slide mechanism, which stores the leaves inside the table, although this may change the design somewhat from the table pictured.
They need to be sized correctly. This means that the space between the legs should be some even multiple of the width of the chairs, so that no one has to sit in front of the leg.
The leaves need to be big enough that a chair can be placed in front of each leaf. In the Rosemont slide mechanism, this means that the leaves are 24" deep at minimum.
4 legged tables place the leg in a visually prominent position, and as such they can be more interesting than pedestal tables, where the base is tucked under the table, behind the chairs, and is often hard to see.
4 legged tables can be made in a very wide variety of sizes, and 4 legged tables with the Rosemont mechanism can be much smaller than a pedestal table with similar opening capacity. This can be helpful in tight settings like apartments or older houses.
Round tables have three main advantages:
They are pretty.
They facilitate foot traffic through most rooms.
They make for a convivial eating experience.
And with the advantages come some disadvantages:
They are a relatively inefficient use of space. Picture a square with a circle inside it, and you will see how a round table gives you less area for a given length and width than the square.
It is difficult, and in most cases not practical, to store the leaves inside the table.
