Recently, we were walking through the Two Flat with our lender; it’s like a checks-and-balances thing that we need to do every time we pay our architect. Anyway, we were describing to her how the living room would flow into the dining room and how the dining room would flow into the kitchen. Like two kids on Christmas morning, we can’t help but feel giddy every time we talk about our ideas! Our lender always nods politely, takes photos and notes, and at one point she said, These rooms are so small and tidy, but it seems as though you’ve got this all mapped out!
It’s funny, because I don’t consider the rooms in our Two Flat to be small. Maybe we’ve been living in the city too long? (Never!) Either way, I love, love, love a small room. I love the challenges and the possibilities, the opportunities for tucked away storage and small built-ins. I’ll take a small house with its compact rooms all day long, in fact, Tree House is our perfect pint-sized home, coming in at 850 sq ft!
Today, we’re talking about small dining rooms, if you’re lucky to have a dining room at all! Whether your small home has a living room that extends into a dining corner, or a kitchen with enough space for a nook, I’ve rounded up tables in shapes and sizes that may work for you. Personally, I think a round table can help you cut corners when you’re short on space (see what I did there?), but there are plenty of sweet rectangular 4-tops (where you can squeeze in 6 in a pinch!), too.
4-Top Round Dining Tables
1. lola concrete | 2. odyssey brass | 3. acadia blonde wood plank | 4. keanu black wood | 5. masa | 6. spindler
7. nero marble + bronze | 8. huxley w/storage | 9. leighton | 10. poppy expandable | 11. slab outdoor | 12. kling
13. apex x-base | 14. reclaimed wood pedestal | 15. shoreditch wood + black | 16. candace concrete + black
Oval Dining Tables
17. origami drop leaf | 18. julien white | 19. julien brass | 20. silhouette pedestal antique brass
Bistro Tables (36″ or Less)
21. rae | 22. walnut tripod | 23. watermark brass | 24. chroma oxblood | 25. collier bar height | 26. mila
27. white tripod | 28. oswego bronze | 29. isabelle bistro
30. french kitchen | 31. leilani tulip | 32. atra concrete + wood | 33. container table
4-Top Rectangular Tables
Tip: Consider benches for seating at these rectangular tabletops, so that you can squeeze one extra person on each side!
34. fuze ivory | 35. rearick | 36. marble + acacia fletcher | 37. blox (featured in our Chicago dining room!)
38. haskall breakfast bar | 39. rectangular black marble | 40. palate wood + marble | 41. blaine marble top
42. sydney industrial set | 43. julien pub | 44. vena walnut
Small space dwellers, what other areas do you feel a struggle? We love problem-solving tiny rooms! In our condo (who else remembers when?), our dining table was also my desk, and we put it on wheels so we could easily rotate it when necessary. Aw, memories.
I would definitely say dining space is a huge pain point for small spaces! It seems like it’s the first area to go when an apartment is small. So, it’s nice to have tables with compact seating like #42.
Love that one!
Our small-ish home is great for the 2 of us, but I quickly realized we needed more but smaller chairs (and no armrests on said chairs) for when guests come over and we all gather around the dining table. As well as tables with legs that didn’t get in the way when we cram it with too many chairs, haha! I love this round-up, and am definitely taking notes.
That’s a great point – pairing these tables with ARMLESS chairs is so important. Or as I mentioned, consider bench seating on the smaller rectangular tables, and then squeeeeze everyone in!
We live in a tiny 600 SF back house built in the 1920s that basically fits this description to a T! A corner in our living room (with a super funky layout) became our dining nook. Luckily, my boyfriend is very handy–he built us a corner banquette (with litterbox and internet cable storage) and a tulip table from Lexmod REALLY completes the look. I admire it every day. So beautiful and high quality for a pretty affordable price. At first, I avoided spending ~$500 on a dining table and we went with a version of #12 in your roundup, but a table without legs is SO much better with booth seating. We have a 40″ fiberglass Lippa table (may be out of stock right now?) but there are so many great options here that people should definitely check it out: https://www.lexmod.com/dining/kitchen-and-dining-tables/
I’d love to give a shoutout to my beloved Hackney bistro table from CB2, which I got as the ultimate $150 Craigslist score! I have it paired with black metal bentwood-look chairs from Target, and it’s both hardwearing and super-stylish for my tiny dining room. I figure if I ever find the elusive unicorn narrow expandable table for that space, the whole setup can move outside onto the covered porch.
Hi… I’m actually looking for a round pedestal table for my smallish space. But when we entertain it needs a leaf. Finding a modern looking table that has a leaf has been difficult.
#8 and #10 on this list are expandable!
I LOVE number 8! Round tables don’t really work in our space but if they did…
I love our small Ikea round white table. Being that we eat at the counter mostly, the small table is perfect for our little dining room. All that you selected here are beautiful!