Lewis Square Dining Table 1m: fitting four into a small room

Small dining tables are harder to buy than big ones, because the margin for error is smaller. The Lewis Square Dining Table is listed at 100 x 100 x 75cm, with a marble top, a polished chrome frame and four tapered legs. One size, one shape, and a footprint that will suit a kitchen end or a flat if the clearances work out.

The figures, exactly as listed

The first two figures are the square top and the third is the height. At 75cm, the standard dining height, a chair with a seat around 45cm leaves roughly 30cm of knee room.

Four places, one per side

A 100cm square gives one place setting per side, and each person gets a full metre of edge to themselves. That is generous for a place setting, and it is why a square this size feels comfortable for four rather than cramped. What it will not do is seat five: the corners are taken by legs, and a fifth chair has nowhere to go.

The square shape has a second advantage worth knowing. Everybody is the same distance from everybody else, so nobody is shouting down a table, and the centre is within easy reach of all four places for a shared dish or a board.

The floor area to leave

Allow about 100cm clear on each side you will seat somebody: roughly 75cm to pull a chair out and sit down, plus space to pass behind. Seating all four sides therefore wants a clear area of about 300 x 300cm. Push the table against a wall and seat three, and you can bring that down to about 300 x 200cm, though a square table against a wall loses one of its best qualities.

Measure the way in too. A 100cm top clears most internal doorways held on edge, but check your narrowest door and the turn at the top of the stairs before you order rather than after.

What the listing does not say

• It calls the top marble but does not say whether that is natural stone or a marble-effect surface, and gives no thickness. Ask us if the distinction matters to you.
• No weight is given. A square metre of stone or stone effect is heavy for its size, so plan the lift and have somebody with you on delivery day.
• No colour, veining or care instructions are listed. The photographs on the product page are the only guide, and we can confirm what the current surface looks like.
• The listing describes the styling as Italian. It does not state where the table is made, and we will not claim it.

If 1m is too small

The next step up in the same range is the Lewis Dining Table (1.2/1.5/1.8/2m), whose smallest option is 120 x 80cm and which runs to 200 x 100cm. For four to six in a circle rather than a square, the Lewis Round Table (1.3m) is 130cm across. If a tight room is the problem, an extending table solves it differently: the London Extending Dining Table opens from 120cm to 150cm when you need it. Everything we hold is listed in Dining Tables.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Once you have the clear area measured, the Lewis Square Dining Table page carries the photographs and the order form.