Large family - how do you seat everyone at the dining table?

[Karenathome]

My good friend has 8 kids, and lots of family that visit. She is moving to a home that will accomodate a large dining table... where does one find a 12' table??? What do you do to seat all of your kids/family if you have a large family?

 

Thanks for the help!

Karen in MD

[Tenaj]

We had a table custom built in the Amish section of Ohio. It will stretch to about 12 feet when fully extended. For just our family right now we have it set at six feet (I think) - on of my eight is still in the high chair. We have five matching chairs and a bench for one side. I love the bench since we can squeeze many "littles" onto that one side when we have lots of company! I think we've put as many as five little bodies on that one bench in a pinch! We did a lot of research on it before picking the design and we have a five-legged table rather than a pedestal as we seemed to notice that pedestals get a bit tipsy or weak on the ends when fully extended. We've been very happy with it but it was very expensive and wouldn't have been possible for us except for very generous extended family!

 

We had looked everywhere at the time and absolutely could not find a large table anywhere commercially available in our area. Since then, though we now have an Ikea nearby and they do seem to have larger tables than some other places so maybe that is a possibility also? I didn't pay much attention but did remark that we would have saved some bucks if we had gone with that direction.

[LibraryLover]

Table leaves totally rock. Buffets can work for some family parties. Just have people gather first if you want to do a group blessing.

[Amber in AUS]

My friends have a big family and they have a giant square table which seats 3 a side so 12 total. It is awesome to sit at, you can see everyone!

 

In the beginning they got some tressle legs and some cheap timber cut to size from the hardware then when they decided they liked it (about a year later) and it fitted well they found a woodworker who could build it to their specs. It isn't fancy so wasn't very expensive.

[mommaduck]

We can't afford a nice "mennonite table" (they can add up to 17 or 20 leaves and stretch into two rooms). We bought an 8ft table from Staples (the office supply store) for $75. We are thinking of getting a second one and we can put them side by side for our family and end to end through two rooms if we have company. Folding chairs are $8 a piece at Walmart.

[Tap]

We had a long table growing up. It had chairs on the ends, but benches on both sides. It sat 10 people easily. We had folding card tables for the ends when we needed to extend it.

 

We have a table that seats 8 which is fine for us now. For holidays and such, I bought the kids Expedit desks at IKEA that can be moved easily downstairs and be placed end to end.

[VA6336]

You find a woodworker/craftsman/super handy dad-type who builds one for you! I'm looking forward to the next house and having one made. :001_smile:

[Geo]

When we were much younger and much poorer (in the mid 80's) we had to be creative. We had a large dining area but absolutely no funds for a large, proper dining room table. So, we bought 2 sets of picnic tables w/benches and painted them. The two tables were placed to make a large square with the benches placed around the outside. That arrangement could accommodate 16 people (or 12 large adults)! I would throw a white sheet over the tables as a table cloth. We still reminisce over those days. Unconventional, yes...but we always had room for hospitality.

 

Geo

Edited June 21, 2010 by Geo

[ThelmaLou]

We have a large, eat-in kitchen, but it's wider than it is long. We had a table made (very rustic and distressed so I don't have to give it special treatment). It's wide enough to comfortably seat two on each end and three on each side without anyone bumping knees or hitting a table leg. We only have 5 kids, but my parents live with us too, so we needed a table for a minimum of 9. This one seats ten. When we have company, we bring in folding card tables, or even longer tables. When the weather's nice, we'll send kids out to the covered porch where there's a table that will seat 6. The adults (and toddlers/babies) stay inside and eat/visit at the table. We also have a bar around the outside of the kitchen counter where we could accomodate more people with barstools. We just haven't taken the plunge on that expense, plus I hate the idea of sweeping and mopping under even one more set of chair legs. So no barstools right now.

 

Ree (Pioneer Woman) was kind enough to tell me that she had her table at the Lodge made by Country Pine in Weatherford, TX. I live in Texas, but Weatherford was a longer drive than I wanted to make. Instead, I found a place a bit closer and got a better price quote. It's called Philbeck's and it's in Forney. It's made of reclaimed pine and it's fabulous. We get so many compliments on it.

[Peela]

My good friend has 8 kids, and lots of family that visit. She is moving to a home that will accomodate a large dining table... where does one find a 12' table??? What do you do to seat all of your kids/family if you have a large family?

 

Thanks for the help!

Karen in MD

 

I feed between 12 and 18 people a sit down meal twice a week, from home.

 

We have two dining room tables next to each other- a lovely round one (looks medieval) and a rectangular one. It is a squeeze to fit 18 but we have done it. It comfortable fits 15 or 16.

Our family of 4 uses only the round one for daily meals.

[EmeraldGirl]

We purchased an extendable 104" table from Ikea, solid birch, for $300 a few years ago. We bought 2 benches that go with it for $40 each. We skipped the chairs (too flimsy) and found solid high-back birch chairs (very sturdy) at Just Cabinets for $40 each, and had to stain and assemble them.

 

We can fit 14 adults comfortably at the table, or up to 20 people if there is mix of children and adults.

 

We looked around at the Amish type tables, and while we would like to have purchased one, for the price we decided on the Ikea table so we didn't have to worry if it got scratched up a bit and didn't need custom table pads either.

 

It has held up very nicely now for 3+ years, and we have lots of gatherings in our house.

[AuntieM]

My 12' long dining hall table is from Pottery Barn. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend it. The finish has to either be babied or left to deteriorate... so we're on our way to a rustic-primitive look!

 

You have some good suggestions, if you can afford to, have one custom made. If you are trying to go economical, check craigslist for conference room tables that are being sold cheap. You can get inexpensive chairs many places, Target, WalMart, etc. Don't restrict yourself to thinking that you have to have a set, or even that the chairs all have to match. I personally love an eclectic look.

 

Just a tip, do go for smaller, narrower chairs. That makes it easier for people to sit close when you have a large group.

[AFwife Claire]

We also have an Amish-made table, although ours was not custom. When we were stationed in Ohio, we drove up to the Berlin area one weekend, and we found a table that extends to 10 feet at a store--J&J Woodcraft or something? It has 5 leaves that are self-storing, and we paid about $700 for it. I LOVE it. It is such good quality. We usually have 2 leaves in for the 9 of us, but our youngest is also still in a hich chair. We bought 8 chairs, plus one bench that we can use to sit 4 kids if needed. And of course we have other random chairs around the house if we need to use them!

 

Of course, whenever we move, we have to look for an eating area that will fit a table up to 10 feet! We have this table in our kitchen eating area, which has hardwood, and not our dining room, which it has carpet. We always eat in the kitchen, even with company!

[Quiver0f10]

We had a table custom made for us. It has 12 chairs rather than benches. I love my table :)

[Carol in Cal.]

It is a drop leaf, so it folds down to seat only two people. But when you put the two drop leaves up, and add the 3 15 inch middle leaves, it seats 12 easily, and 14 with some difficulty. I love that I can make it look very nice at a variety of different sizes.

 

I bought it years ago in a little country antique store in Vermont. I have since seen a lot of pine versions of the same kind of table. I think that they were common around 1910 or so. I have not seen walnut ones very often, but it's nice that they are harder wood than pine is, and easier to use as a writing surface because of their tight grain. The table opens up so far that if I wanted to I could have at least 2 additional 15 inch leaves made for it and seat another 4 people or so.

 

Ikea has a long table that has two big leaves in the middle. It easily seats 10 people, but 12 is a stretch, unless quite a few of them are young children. I have one of those at my office, and it's very handy and versatile. It is narrower than most tables, though, so it's not as pleasant to sit at with food on the table. When I serve food there I tend to have a buffet table in the next room. Also, the action of opening up the table to add leaves has gotten kind of loose, and there is no good way to fix it. This means that as people touch the table it tends to develop a little (1/2 inch) gap between the table and one of the leaves. This is disconcerting at best. So I don't really recommend this table.

 

I have seen a big drop leaf table in an junk store where the drop leaves are on the long side rather than the short side of the table. This means that the table is always long, and also that to sit at the sides at least one leaf must be up. This is a less versatile design than the old walnut table I have.

[Jane Elliot]

We have 16 home right now. Oldest dd is visiting with her husband and one of the twins has a girlfriend staying here for the summer. Seating has been a challenge even with our large table with leaves. If we got a bigger table, it wouldn't fit in the dining area so we've been putting another table next to our regular table it in a 'T' shape.

 

Other things we've done or have seen done:

 

- We've had some tables custom made with benches, but we grew out of those. (We still have the benches. You can squeeze more people on a bench.)

 

- Friends put a piece of round plywood (or it might have been two half-circles) on top of their original table to make it larger. I suppose you could cut the plywood to any shape you want.

 

- You can buy two cheaper rectangular tables and push them together as if they are one large table. You can bolt them at the bottom if you don't want them to slip.

 

- Someone I knew used two picnic tables with the benches attached. Sweeping was a lot easier since you didn't have to move all those chairs.

 

HTH

Edited June 21, 2010 by Luann in ID