Buying guide: Kitchen tables

3 Am I redecorating my kitchen soon?
If you plan to overhaul your kitchen, you may want to hold off on the table purchase. Or at least wait until you’ve selected the style of your future kitchen to ensure there aren’t any style disconnects down the road.

If you’re buying before the deed is done, bring your kitchen cabinetry catalogues with you when you’re browsing.

Although some matches are obvious – a midcentury Saarinen Tulip table looks fab in a contemporary high-gloss Scavolini kitchen (or IKEA knock-off) – others are less so, yet equally effective. A Saarinen table also happens to look beautiful in a country-cottage style kitchen provided there’s a unifying theme such as colour.

4 Do I have an open-concept kitchen/main floor space?
A self-contained kitchen allows you to coordinate your table to the kitchen space exclusively. In an open-concept space, consider how the table will look from other vantage points and avoid jarring colours or styles that may stick out in a negative way.

Carry a theme from the adjoining area to ensure cohesion. For example, if your dining table is a rustic harvest table, gong for a similar look in a kitchen table is an obvious “do.”

5 What’s my design taste?
Finally, as with any furniture choice, your taste comes into play.
Kitchen tables tend to be less formal than their dining-room counterparts, but ask yourself if you want a very casual, rustic look, or one that’s more urbane and polished.

On the more polished side of things, you may want to opt for a contemporary-styled glass, marble or refined wood table.

If you’re thinking more casual, rustic and wear-friendly, consider either country/flea market style (heavy hardwood tables of solid wood, or planked harvest tables whether stained or painted) or industrial-kitchen style. A metal table surface may not be ideal for a dining table, but it can be just the thing for a kitchen table that also gets a lot of use as an additional food-prep surface.

Also ask yourself if this might be on area where you’re interested in pushing the design envelope a bit. In recent years, another big trend has been pairing a high-back, upholstered settee with small, café or bistro-style kitchen tables. With a white settee and a white-marble-and-black-iron-based table, the look is seriously chic – but not necessarily family-friendly.

Finally: Hold out until you find your perfect match. We spend more and more time in our kitchens today, so finding one that you love is vital.

Image courtesy of Pottery Barn 

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