Tables · 5 min
The bar height bistro table at the window: stool first, then the top
How tall should the table by the window be?
Read this guideTillworth Cafe Furniture / Topic collection
Bistro tables, tops and bases, piece by piece
The biggest topic we write about, because a cafe table is two decisions: the top and the base. Small, round and rectangular bistro tables, counter-height and bar-height ones, metal, wood and stone tops, cast iron bases and ready-made sets.
Measure the counter first
A bistro table has one job: hold two cups and a plate without rocking. The articles take each part in turn, from the size of the top for the party to the spread of the base under it, and the surface that will still look decent after a few thousand wipes. Read them before you buy a [table](/furniture/tables) for a floor that has no slack.
Guides in this topic
12 guides
Tables · 5 min
Bistro table bases that keep a two-top from rocking
Nobody comes into a shop to admire a table base. They see the top, the cup on it and the plate of scones.
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Tables · 6 min
Bistro tables for a working cafe: top, base and height
A bistro table has one job. It holds two cups and a plate, and it holds them still while a regular leans on one elbow and reads the paper.
Read this guide
Tables · 5 min
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.
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Tables · 5 min
Cast iron bistro table base: weight low, foot wide, glides level
Watch a light two-top through one lunch shift. A customer stands, catches the edge with a hip, and the table shuffles an inch toward the aisle.
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Tables · 6 min
A granite bistro table starts with the base underneath it
A granite top lands on a bistro base like a sack of flour on a shelf.
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Tables · 5 min
The marble bistro table question, answered plainly
"Do you have marble?" It is one of the first things owners ask when they picture the counter and the window tables of a new shop.
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Tables · 6 min
Buying a metal bistro table for inside and the sidewalk
A metal table is a tool you wipe after every guest.
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Tables · 6 min
A modern bistro table that stands as firm as it looks
A modern bistro table is mostly a question of what you leave off. No turned column, no scrolled foot, no wood grain fighting for attention.
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Tables · 5 min
The rectangular bistro table that pushes together for four
Ten in the morning, and a family of four walks in wanting to sit together. Your floor is all two-tops.
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Tables · 5 min
Round bistro table sizes, seats and the base underneath
A round top has no corners.
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Tables · 6 min
Choosing a wood bistro table for the wear, not the glow
Wood looks its best on the day it arrives. The real question is how it looks in its third winter, after thousands of cups, a few dropped forks and every wipe at close.
Read this guideTake the notes to the shop floor
Shop plans
Save stools, chairs and tables with their options and counts, then copy the plan when the next shop or a refit comes round.