SG-Monaco Table (2m): the room a 200 x 100cm table really needs

The SG-Monaco Table (2m) is listed in one size, 200 x 100 x 75cm. At 2m long and a full metre deep it is at the bigger end of what the dining tables range covers, and the honest first question is not what it looks like but whether the room can take it.

What the listing states

The listing gives a 200cm marble top on a gold frame carried by two U-shaped pedestal legs, which it describes as Art Deco in styling. The size is a single option: 200cm long, 100cm deep, 75cm from the floor to the surface. There is nothing to configure on the product page.

What the listing does not give is the top thickness, the weight, the footprint of the two legs, how far in from the ends they sit, or whether the table arrives assembled. On a table this size the weight and the leg footprint are the two that will shape your day, so ask for both.

Will it fit? Do this sum first

A table only needs its own dimensions when nobody is sitting at it. In use it needs the top plus a chair on each side plus room to get past.

Those figures come from allowing roughly 75cm out from an edge for a chair in use and roughly 100cm where somebody walks behind a seated diner. If your room cannot give the 250cm across, the depth is the problem rather than the length, and a 90cm-deep table will serve you far better than this one.

What 200 x 100cm seats

• Six very comfortably, three to each long side at 66cm of edge each, with the ends left clear.
• Eight as the everyday working number, three a side at 50cm each plus one at each 100cm end. The full metre of depth is what makes this workable, because dishes down the centre do not eat into anybody's place setting.
• Ten is possible on edge space alone and too tight to recommend.

The twin-pedestal base is what lets you use the ends without a corner leg at each knee, and it also means chair positions are not fixed. You can slide everybody along to squeeze in one more, which a four-legged table of the same size will not allow. The limit is where the pedestal feet spread to, so check that against where your chairs land.

Getting it into the house

A 2m rigid top is the part of this purchase people underestimate. Measure your narrowest doorway, the diagonal of any turn on the stairs, and the clear width of the hall. Then ask whether the top and the base ship as separate pieces, because the answer changes whether a tight turn is a problem at all. The listing does not say, so do not assume either way.

If 2m is more than the room wants

The SG-London Dining Table (1.8/2m) uses the same U-shaped pedestal idea and is offered at 180 x 90cm as well as 200 x 100cm, which is the obvious step down. The SG-Chelsea Dining Table (1.8/2m) gives the same two sizes on end legs with a supporting bar. And if you want to come down to 150cm, the SG-Lewis Dining Table (1.5/1.8/2m) covers three lengths. Chairs are sold separately, under dining chairs.

Before you order

Chalk 200 x 100cm on the floor, sit a chair at each side of it, and walk round. Then ask the shop for the weight, the leg footprint and whether it ships in pieces. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. The photographs and the full listing are on the SG-Monaco Table (2m) page.