The Best Dining Room Chair Style for a Round Table Design

Featured item: Dining Room Chairs

Round Dining Table Benefits:

While the rectangular dining table seems to be the shape of choice in the majority of homes these days, when King Arthur came up with his round table idea, he was clearly onto something.  Of course, today’s dinner table talk errs a little less on the side of rolling heads and quests for the holy grail. But we do have other important matters to discuss… like who gets the last helping of lasagne, and, should the lazy Susan be turned clockwise or anticlockwise? Which is why a round table is just as valuable as ever for preserving justice and equality wherever family, friends and dinner guests are gathered. And so say we all!

It just has this magical way of putting everything and everyone at ease. But you already knew all this, didn’t you? Which is why you’re on the exciting quest to assemble your own legendary round table dining suite. Yet, at some point in the journey, you are faced with the perilous question:

What are the best dining room chairs to complete the perfect pair-up, and avoid the melancholy of mismatched dining doom? 

Fear not! For we shall guide you on your merry way...

Go forth with pencil and measuring tape

As with any style of dining table, your first step should be figuring out how many guests can be comfortably seated around your table, and what dimensions to look for in dining room chairs – to please not just the eyes, but also the backs, bums, elbows and knees of your fellow diners.

As a rough guide to seating numbers:

• 90 to 110cm Diameter table seats four

• 110 to 140cm Diameter table seats four to six

• 150 to 180cm Diameter table seats six to eight

Pedestal Base or Single Leg Table:

A round table with a pedestal base naturally offers more seating space and freedom than one with legs, because table legs + chair legs + human legs all pointing to the same point…well, you get the painful picture. This is why the pedestal design is way more popular with larger round tables (it also helps prevent those awkward unintended footsie-footsie scenarios).

Dining Chairs:

There’s no reason you can’t have wider chairs or ones with armrests just because it’s a round table, just make sure you’ve done ye olde arithmetic.

Chair seat height:

To ensure a comfortable seat and eat posture, your chairs need to allow a minimum of 30cm between the seat and the table surface, and not too much more. Standard dining tables tend to be around 75cm high, which means the ideal chair should be around 45cm from the floor to the top of its seat. If your table has a wide apron, you may need to look for slightly lower seating, and if you’re going for chairs with armrests, remember to check that these will be able to comfortably slide under the table, or you’ll end up with some very frustrated eaters!

Backrest height:

The obvious rule here is to make sure that chair backs are at least slightly taller than the table. How much depends on personal taste and style – shorter chair backs can work well for a contemporary style, while the more classic look lends itself to a bigger height contrast. Whatever your style, a backrest should offer at least 30-40cm of lower back support.                                                        

Chair width:

For starters, you want a dining chair that has at least 40-45cm seating width – you don’t want your guests falling off their chairs unless it’s with laughter at your brilliant wit or amazement at your exquisite cuisine.  Secondly, you should allow about 60cm breathing room between chair seats (excluding armrests) to avoid diners elbowing each other and suffering too much garlic breath. You’ll have to do the real math on this depending on the size of your table and the desired number of garlic-grabbers.

Chair Depth:

When choosing your dining room chairs, style should never trump comfort. Chair depth is key to good posture, good circulation, and good eating. So, to keep all bodies happy, pick chairs that are at least 50-60cm deep.

Seek the common element

With the boring math out the way, you can venture on to the more exciting part of your quest: the great chair and table romance. 

These days, you can stick to one simple principle to make a great matchup: the common element. This could be anything from a shared design feature or material, to a colour tone or highlight, to the general period or level of formality.

For example, the rattan chair set below pairs its cushion colour and country cottage feel with those of the wooden table, while the chairs pictured right match their legs with the tone and tubular shape of the table, while smooth plastic seats harmonize the contemporary look of the dining area overall.

The curves of a round table can be paired nicely with chairs that feature smooth lines, such as wingback chairs, or smooth surfaces and styles that give an Old World feel, like leather, suede or even velvet.

If your round table has a solid heavy look that needs some balance or contrast, consider a chair style with thin legs or slatted backs, or one made from mixed materials, while picking up on at least one common element. With that in mind, don’t fall for picking chairs that share too many features in common with your table, or you might as well buy a traditional dining suite.

Mix, match & be merry!

Today, you don’t even need to go for a set of matching dining room chairs – the mix & match trend is in full swing. You can throw two, three or even more styles into the mix to come up with your own eclectic dining experience. It does take a bit of skill (and perhaps some trial and error) to get your merry band fighting for the same cause, but the basic idea is to pick individual styles that can pull the same kind of punch visually, where quiet elements are balanced by bolder ones.

It all comes back to achieving equality. On that note, the most important thing to remember is that your chairs should all provide equal seating height (unless, of course, you have a few ‘Little Johns’ in your company…) 

One last thing to keep in mind is that your round table is the hero in this story, so the chairs you pick should compliment it, not steal all the thunder. After all, you want your diners to forget about their derrières and focus on the most important things – family, friendship, and, of course, the food!

Whatever your vision for your nights of the round table, Cielo has a legendary range of dining room chairs to help you find your perfect pair-up.  View our selection online or in store today.

Happy questing!