Cafe tables

A table has one job: hold the plate level and stay put. Here are 87 complete tables, indoor and patio, from small squares for the window to long tables for a shared counter. Pick the height first, dining or bar, and the size second, because the finish is the easy part and can wait until the floor plan is drawn.

Size by the party, not the floor

Start from who sits there. Two people need a 24-inch square at the very least, and 24 by 30 gives their plates some room. Four can squeeze around a 30-inch square; at 36 inches a side, or on a round of 42, they sit easy, and a 30 by 48 rectangle puts four against a wall. Five or six belong at a 48-inch round. Budget roughly 24 inches of edge for every person, 18 when the shop is packed to the door.

Our guide on how to choose a bistro table runs those sizes against heights and bases, and small bistro tables for tight floors counts what a narrower top gains you at the window. For cleaner lines, read the notes on the modern bistro table.

Squares are the most common shape here, then rectangles, then rounds, with a few drop-leaf tops that fold down when the room needs to breathe.

Inside or out

A good share carry a patio listing, with tops of aluminum, synthetic teak, steel or resin sitting on metal or resin underneath. Indoor tables lean toward solid wood and wood tops, with cast iron and steel underneath. Never move an indoor table onto the pavement for the summer. Even the patio ones want a rinse, somewhere for water to drain, and a cover or a store room at season end.

Where to look next

Ready-matched pairs of top and base are in the complete table sets. For a window ledge or a stand-up corner, the bar-height tables take stools instead of chairs. A shared table for laptops and strangers is in the communal tables, and the folding tables cover the catering order or the sidewalk sale.

Building your own? Pick a top from the table tops and a base from the table bases, and you can change the top later without touching the base.

A solid wood butcher block table suits a bakery's long wall. Prices across the department range from about $67 to $515 a table. Before you price a whole floor, read what a cafe table costs: the top, the base and the options each add their share.

Sketch the floor on a shop plan with each table and its chairs. Keep a 36-inch lane open for staff carrying plates, keep the path from the door to the till clear for the line, and then count the seats again. The number on paper is the number you order.