Choosing a family dining table has been SO much harder than I thought. We don't want a great big table that takes up all our much needed space, but we also don't want a tiny table when we have larger meals, or people over for special occasions. We also want it to look nice.
With that in mind, we obviously need some kind of extending table. Finding an extending table that's A - nice and B affordable has not been easy.
Although our new kitchen suite is pretty plain and modern, we are tying it in with a slightly industrial look which minimised our selection so much. We found some beautiful hand made tables that were far too expensive, as well as lots of tables that were the perfect size but completely the wrong colour or style. The main thing I've taken away from table shopping is that I dislike pretty much every table! I thought what we wanted would be really easy to find, an industrial style simple table that extends to seat four to six people. Most the ones we found were light wood with chunky legs, or perfect looking but too big or non extending.
We wandered into Next one day to look at kids clothes and while cutting through the furniture section we spotted our dream table. The only problem was that this was a huge 8 person table, but after looking through the range, we discovered they do a smaller extending version, within our budget and ticking every single box on our wish list - amazing! I've never shopped at Next for home bits and I was surprised that although it's undoubtedly more expensive than some places, it really shows in the quality, it's actually pretty reasonable and they have the most beautiful things.
We ordered our table which is from the Bronx collection and have it here waiting for our kitchen to be done. I can't wait to use it and I just hope it's as easy to put together as the delivery guys said!
Here's a few things to consider when shopping for your family table;
What size fits your room?
Extending or not extending?
Does it fit your budget?
Do you want solid wood, laminate, glass?
Does the colour suit your floors and other furniture?
Is the height suitable for your chairs, high chairs?
Will you be sat comfortably at it?
Will it last well?
Is it easy to clean?
Is it child proof (i.e strong, safe etc)?
