Choose the right kitchen table for your home
Are you sitting comfortably? If so, maybe you don't need that new kitchen table.
A kitchen table is often the focal point of the whole house. It is the place where the whole family gathers and where meals are prepared and served and common experiences are shared. Despite that its design, wellbeing and status are often ignored or glossed over.
When choosing a kitchen table, obviously much is going to depend on the decor and dimensions of the kitchen itself. A state-of-the-art aluminum table in a traditional kitchen with tiled floor and timber beams is going to look out of place and as pointless a purchase as a large refectory table for the small kitchen of an apartment. The size of the kitchen will also go some way to dictating the materials from which the kitchen table is constructed - ie the bigger tables will tend to be made out of timber, cast iron or aluminum and the smaller ones from glass and plastic although exceptions can always be found.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of the various kitchen table materials?
Plastic
This provides a cheap and easy to keep clean surface but one which is prone to damage by heat and which will not be pleasing aesthetically nor give any feeling of strength or permanence.
Timber
The most traditional of materials which tends not to look out of place anywhere. Its main disadvantage is that it can be damaged by heat or surface scratching. You tend to get what you pay for with wooden tables so make sure that the supports are strong and the construction materials of good quality.
Formica
Less popular these days but can still be found. It is cheap and bright and cheerful but that is about all that can be said for it. It can be damaged by heat, scratched by sharp objects but, at least, it is usually easy to recover with a new layer.
Glass
Not recommended for big tables because the necessary thickness of the glass required to support its own weight makes for very hefty table legs. Despite the many improvements in non-shatter glass, people are still suspicious of how safe it is (thank the television for that). It can look very appealing in a modern kitchen but a good quality one will not be a cheap purchase. Heat and scratch resistance in an expensive glass table are usually excellent.
Cast Iron
This is usually combined with a timber surface and is, therefore, similar in summary to a timber kitchen table save that the cast iron element makes for a more expensive purchase.
Aluminum
Ditto but makes for a more 'modern' look.
Whatever you do make sure you choose the right kitchen table.
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