Cafe tabletops that take the wet cloth: laminate, wood, resin and granite

Stand at your counter at two in the afternoon with a wet cloth in your hand. Somebody has just left a plate, a ring of coffee and a scatter of crumbs. That's the test every cafe top sits, dozens of times a day, and it is the right place to start choosing one.

The top is the face of the table. Customers touch it, staff wipe it, and trays, elbows and chair backs knock its edge. We list four kinds of material for cafe tables: laminate, solid wood, resin and granite. Each comes at a listed thickness, in its own set of shapes and with its own warranty period. Here's how to read them for a working shop, and how to size them for the seats you need.

Buy the top for the cloth

Our rule is short. Choose the top you can clean with the cloth and cleaner you already use, at the pace your shift runs.

That matters for more than looks, and it is the one choice on this page that also touches your warranty. Use a cleaner the top was never meant for and the warranty no longer covers that damage, so the care notes for a top are part of what you are buying. Ask for those notes with your quote, and check them against the spray bottle under your counter. If the two disagree, change the top or change the spray before the first table goes out.

Laminate, the everyday top

Laminate is the everyday choice, and we list it with several kinds of edge.

• The aluminum edge laminate tabletop is listed at 1 1/4 inches thick, in square, rectangular and round shapes.
• A laminate top with a PVC edge also measures 1 1/4 inches and adds a drop-leaf option.
• A laminate inlay framed by a wood edge has the same 1 1/4-inch thickness and the same four shapes.

The edge is where a top shows its age first, because that is what the chair backs and trays hit. A metal or PVC edge suits the table by the door that gets bumped all day; a wood edge gives a warmer line where people sit longer. Laminate tops on an indoor table carry a 1 year warranty. The whole range is under laminate table tops.

Solid wood, which moves

Wood looks handsome on day one and honest in year three if you treat it right. A solid wood butcher block tabletop is listed at 1 1/2 inches thick, and you can have it square, rectangular, round or drop-leaf.

Two facts belong in the decision. Solid wood tops carry 6 months against defects, shorter than laminate. And the warranty does not cover the natural movement of solid wood: it shifts a little as the air in the shop goes from steamy at the morning bake to dry under the heating at night. Wipe it, dry it, and don't leave a wet cloth sitting on it. If that sounds like more care than your staff will give at the rush, put the wood tops where people linger and laminate where they don't. More choices sit under wood table tops.

Resin and the marble look

Resin tops are the thickest we list for a cafe. The plain resin top stands 2 inches deep, in dark mahogany or walnut.

Maybe you want marble at the pastry counter. What we list there is a resin tabletop in black marble finish, 1 1/8 inches thick, in square, rectangular and round shapes. It has the look; it is resin, and we describe it as resin. If you want stone, granite is the stone we carry. See every resin top in resin table tops.

Granite, the stone option

A granite table surface is listed at 1 1/4 inches thick, in rectangular, square and round shapes, and it is one of the few tops we list for both indoor and patio use.

Stone is heavy kit. A granite two-top is a thing you set down once and leave. Think about who will move a granite two-top when you rearrange the floor, and put it on a base with a wide footprint. Measure the base from foot to foot and make it two thirds of what the top measures across, or more, whatever the material. A heavy top makes that rule matter more. Our granite table tops page shows the options.

How many seats a top gives you

Material is half the order. Size is the other half, and the figures are simple:

• A 24-inch square seats two, with not much room for plates.
• A 30-inch square gives the same two people room for lunch plates as well as cups.
• Four people want 36 inches square, or a circle 42 inches across. Five or six need a 48-inch circle.

Now the worked example. Say you are choosing between 30-inch and 24-inch squares for ten two-tops. A 30-inch square is 900 square inches of surface, and a 24-inch square is 576. Across ten tables that's 9,000 square inches versus 5,760, a difference of 3,240 square inches, or 22 1/2 square feet of top for your staff to wipe after every customer. If most of your trade is a coffee and a pastry, the smaller top gives you less to clean and room for another table. If it's lunch plates, the 30-inch earns its keep.

Thickness matters for height too. Put a top on a 28-inch standard base and the table finishes at 29 1/4 inches with a 1 1/4-inch laminate top, 29 1/2 with 1 1/2-inch butcher block, and 30 with a 2-inch resin top. All three land inside the dining range of about 29 to 30 inches. For a taller table, read the guide on the bar height bistro table; for how many chairs each top size seats, see bistro table and chairs; for bases, sizes and the full table, start with bistro tables.

A swatch on the counter for a week

Order free table top material samples before you commit. We email to say the request is in hand within one business day, and the parcel goes UPS Ground, and the trip itself takes 2 to 3 business days.

When they arrive, leave them on the counter by the till for a full week of real trade. Set a cup on each, wipe each with your own cleaner at close, and look at them under the shop's evening light. The materials page sets out what each surface is, and the table tops category has every size. Choose the one that still looks right on Friday.