What Size Dining Table Do You Need? A Sussex Maker's Guide for 4, 6 and 8 (in cm)
If you're seating four, you want a table under 140cm, and the width is yours to decide based on the room. For six, 140–160cm long by 88cm wide. For eight, anything over 160cm at 88cm wide — up to 200cm, which is the longest we make.
Those numbers are shorter than almost everything else you'll find, and that's deliberate. Here's why, and how to pick the one that suits your room.
The short answer
| People | Length | Width |
|---|---|---|
| Four | Under 140cm | 66cm or 88cm |
| Six | 140–160cm | 88cm |
| Eight | Over 160cm, up to 200cm | 88cm |
We make tables from 90cm to 200cm in 10cm steps, in two widths — 66cm and 88cm. So whatever you land on, there's an actual size you can order rather than a range to interpret.
Why our numbers are shorter than everyone else's
Search this question and you'll be told a six-seater is 180cm, sometimes 183cm, occasionally more. We say 140–160cm. That's a 40cm gap, and it's worth understanding where it comes from before you decide who to believe.
Nearly every guide out there works from the same sum: allow 60cm per person, multiply by six, add a bit. It's a reasonable starting point, but it carries two assumptions that don't hold in a lot of UK homes.
The first is that nobody sits at the ends. Most guides assume three people down each long side. At 88cm wide there's genuine room to put someone at each end, which means six people need four side seats, not six. That changes the length you need considerably.
The second is that everyone's on a separate chair. Chairs fix where people sit — each one occupies its own patch whether the person needs it or not. On a bench, people settle where there's room. A family of six on two benches takes up noticeably less length than six chairs would. We see this in what people actually order and come back to tell us.
So the honest version is this: our figures assume you're seating people the way most of our customers do, on benches, at a table wide enough for end seats. If you're using six separate dining chairs instead, go towards 160cm rather than 140cm. The extra 20cm is what chairs cost you.
Neither approach is wrong. But a guide that only knows one of them will always tell you to buy a longer table than you need.
Seating four
Under 140cm, and the width is genuinely flexible here — this is the one case where you can size to your room rather than to your seating.
In practice that means anything from 90cm to 130cm. A 120cm table at 66cm wide suits a galley kitchen or a narrow kitchen-diner. A 130cm at 88cm gives you room down the middle for serving dishes. Both seat four properly.
If your kitchen is the kind where nothing seems to fit, look at 90–120cm at 66cm wide. It's a small table by most standards, and it goes into spaces where a conventional one simply won't.
Seating six
140–160cm long, 88cm wide.
The width is doing more work here than the length. At 88cm you can seat someone at each end — two down each side and one at either end makes six. Drop to our 66cm width and end seating stops being realistic, so the same 140cm table becomes a four-seater. If you're seating six, the 88cm width isn't optional.
Within that range: 140cm works well with benches. If you're using six separate chairs, or you like a bit of elbow room at Sunday lunch, 150cm or 160cm is the more comfortable choice.
Seating eight
Over 160cm, at 88cm wide. That gives you 170, 180, 190 or 200cm, and 200cm is the longest table we make.
Three down each side and one at each end makes eight, and the 88cm width is what makes those end seats work. At 170cm you're seating eight comfortably on benches. At 180–200cm you have room to spread out, put dishes down the middle, and seat eight in chairs without anyone negotiating for elbow space.
This is where the room becomes the constraint rather than the table. A 200cm table needs somewhere to live, and the clearance around it matters as much as the table itself — more on that below.
66cm or 88cm? The width decision
Most retailers treat 90–100cm as the standard dining width and offer nothing narrower. We make a 66cm, and it exists because a lot of UK homes have nowhere to put a 90cm table.
66cm wide goes into galley kitchens, narrow kitchen-diners and small new-build dining rooms where a standard table won't. It's designed for seating along the two long sides. The honest trade-off: there's limited space down the middle for sharing platters, candles or a centrepiece, and end seating is tight. If you're seating six, this isn't the one.
88cm wide is closer to conventional dining width. Room for dishes in the middle, and — the important part — enough depth to seat someone at each end. It needs more clearance around it, so measure before you commit.
One small thing worth saying plainly: our wider top is 88cm, not 90cm. You'll see 90cm quoted almost everywhere, and people often round ours up. If you're measuring a tight alcove, use the real number.
How much room do you actually need?
The table is only half of it. You need space to pull a chair out, sit down, and walk behind someone who's already seated.
The widely published guidance is to leave around 90cm between the edge of the table and the nearest wall or furniture. That's not our figure — it's the industry standard, and it's a sensible one. In a tight room you can drop to less on one side if that side isn't a walkway.
Practically: measure your room, subtract 180cm from the length and the width, and what's left is the largest table that will sit comfortably. If that number comes out smaller than you hoped, the 66cm width is the lever to pull before you give up on the room.
A bench helps here too, because it slides fully under the table when it isn't in use. That's floor space you get back every time you're not eating. Our bench sizing guide has the exact lengths.
A few honest notes before you order
Our tables are 74cm high. You'll see 75cm or 76cm quoted as the UK standard elsewhere. It's a small difference and it works with standard chair seat heights, but if you're matching to chairs you already own, that's the number to work with.
We make rectangular tables only. If you've got your heart set on round or oval, we're not the workshop for you, and we'd rather say so than waste your afternoon.
We make benches, not chairs. If you want chairs, you'll be sourcing them elsewhere — worth factoring into your sizing, since chairs need more length than benches do.
Waxed pine marks. It's a softwood with a wax finish and it will pick up marks over time. That's the material, not a fault. The upside is that wax is repairable in a way lacquer isn't — a minor mark disappears with a re-wax you can do yourself. Better you know now than in month two.
Parts may arrive separately. Your complete order arrives within 10–14 days, but steel legs and homeware come from different suppliers on their own timelines, so pieces can turn up across more than one delivery inside that window.
Choosing your size
Four people, tight room: 90–130cm, and 66cm wide if the room is narrow. Six: 140–160cm at 88cm. Eight: 170–200cm at 88cm.
You can see every length and both widths on our dining table collection, and the benches that pair with them. Everything is made to order in our Sussex workshop, so you're picking a size rather than hoping one's in stock.
And if you've measured your room and the numbers don't quite land — an awkward alcove, a chimney breast, a door that opens the wrong way — just ask us. Those conversations are half of what we do.
— Richard & Holly
South Downs Creations, Sussex