The number of guests changes everything about a table. Six feels intimate and can take a little ceremony. Eight is a dinner party. Twelve is a feast, where the table has to work hard and still look relaxed. Here is how we would set each one.
For six: a table with room to breathe
Six people around a table of about 71 inches (180 cm) gives everyone space: two along each side and one at each end, or three to a side if you'd rather face each other. Use that space. Set full place settings with a charger, a dinner plate and a side plate. Put a low arrangement down the middle, low enough to see over, and two or three candles at different heights.
With six, you can serve at the table. Carve there, pass the dishes by hand and let the platters sit in the middle between courses.
For eight: the dinner party
Eight is the classic number: three along each side and one at each end. Give the table a little more length, around 83 inches (210 cm), so nobody's elbows touch. This is where a runner earns its place, a strip of linen down the center that ties the settings together and gives the dishes somewhere to land.
Keep the centerpiece in pieces rather than one big arrangement: small vases or single stems, a few candles, a bowl of clementines. When the food arrives, you can slide them aside without rearranging the whole table.
For twelve: the feast
At twelve, open the table to its full length, around 94.5 inches (240 cm): five along each side and one at each end. It will be close, the way a holiday table should be. Simplify every setting: one plate, a glass for water and one for wine, the napkin on the plate. At this size, everything extra becomes clutter.
Move the food off the table. A sideboard, the kitchen island or a small second table becomes the buffet, and the dinner table keeps only plates, glasses, bread and gravy. Run a single line of candles and greenery down the middle, and keep it narrow so the dishes still fit.
What works at every size
- Iron the napkins, not a tablecloth. On a beautiful wood table, let the wood show.
- Choose unscented candles near food.
- Keep centerpieces under about 12 inches (30 cm) tall so people can see each other.
- Put a water pitcher at each end so nobody has to ask.
- Leave room for the unexpected guest: one more chair, one more setting in the drawer.
The best table is not the most decorated one. It is the one where everyone can see each other, reach the bread and stay as long as they like.
