Dining table legs?

10 years ago

So, I've purchased a 10' church pew to use for my dining room table which is being built. It's 10' from the outside of the one armrest to the outside of the other.

I'm having a dining table built by the same person who made all my cabinetry.

I'm thinking of having the dining room table be longer (by a foot) than the pew (though could be convinced to go shorter).

So, the big question is what kind of legs. A key piece of this decision is that the table will have to be move up against the pew when not in use (so that the edge of the table is flush with the back of the pew Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½ie. where one's back would be resting when sitting on the pew).

I had been thinking pedestal legs because that'd make it easier to scootch the table over but now that I'm thinking of going longer (I had, originally, been thinking of a 9' table) I think I could get legs on each corner and have the table legs, when pushed in, be on the outside of the edge of the pew.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? At this particular moment I'm still leaning toward pedestal legs (3 probably) but could be easily made to question my own opinion if someone were to offer an opinion in an even slightly authoritative way.

Many thanks!!

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Comments (6)

chibimimi
10 years ago
If you use legs, they will have to be at the corners of the table in order to fit outside the pew. This will leave you with a big, long stretch of unsupported table top -- slightly over 10' with nothing holding it up. You can't add legs in the middle of the sides or they'll bang into the pew. Even if you have a master engineer design the tabletop so it won't sag, it's going to look odd.

IMO, pedestals are going to work best for this situation.
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
10 years ago
The pew, if it has arms as ends, should be longer than the table so you can enter the pew. I would suggest a table like this.
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BeverlyFLADeziner
10 years ago
Here's another option for a pedestal table base.
Phronesis
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks all. I'm convinced. Pedestal legs are the way to go (particularly for the reasons Chibimimi gives Ã¯Â¿Â½Ã¯Â¿Â½" I was inclined to think this, but you made the point very well).

The pew does have arms that are a foot high. Does this mean, as beverly27 says, that the table needs to be shorter than the pew?

Here's a picture of a pew/table combo where the table is longer (granted the arms are half the height of mine)

Here is a link that might be useful: [pew w/longer table[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/walnut-horizontal-grain-kitchen-contemporary-kitchen-indianapolis-phvw-vp~1259331)
PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
10 years ago
These pictures indicate the two possible conditions.

If the pew is longer than the table, then you can sit down in the pew and slide over to your position. If the table is longer than the pew, you'll have to pull away either the pew or the table each time someone tries to sit down or get up. Not easy to do if there is food and drink on the table. Otherwise there's simply not enough room to slide your legs and your butt through the space available.

The only way I see the table can be longer than the pew, is if you have a pew that has no arms as obstacles.
Phronesis
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you so much Beverly for your time. I really appreciate it. I am convinced intellectually (everything you say makes sense and I'd even said it to myself). I think it's that I *want* a longer table. Clearly, I'll just have to set up tv trays to really prove it to the non-intellectual part of my brain.

Honestly, thank you so, so much, I really appreciate and you may have even eliminated the need to take out the tv trays :-)