Dining table size calculator: seats, table and room
Enter how many people sit on each side and at the ends. This works out the table size for a rectangle, oval, square or round table, the room it needs with a walkway around it, and the seating run and overhang for a kitchen island.
36" minimum; 42"–48" if people walk behind the chairs
Advanced settings24" a place · 6" corners · 36" min width
24" per diner is the NKBA figure; 30" for armchairs
Each corner beside a seated end
Room for two place settings
A table for 8
84" × 36"
Seats
8
Room needed
13 ft × 9 ft
Where the number comes from
- Table length3 at 24" plus a corner allowance at each end
- 84"
- Table width
- 36"
- Room lengthTable plus 36" each end
- 13 ft
- Room widthTable plus 36" each side
- 9 ft
The place width and the clearances are planning rules, not code: 24" a diner and the 32" / 36" / 44" seating clearances are from the NKBA's kitchen planning guidelines, and every one of them is editable above.
Worked example: a table for 8
8 people at a rectangular table — 3 down each side and 1 at each end, 24" a place — need a table 84" × 36".
With 36" from the table edge to the wall all round, the room has to be 13 ft × 9 ft.
Seated round, the same 8 need a 61 1/8" table: 8 places of 24" around the edge, divided by π.
- Table
- 84" × 36"
- Room
- 13 ft × 9 ft
- Round, for 8
- 61 1/8"
These are the figures the calculator above opens on. Change any field and it works the same problem for your numbers.
Embed this calculator on your site
Free to use. Paste this HTML into your page; the calculator runs in a frame, with no ads and nothing to sign up for.
About table and room sizes
- What size table seats 8 people?
- A rectangle 84" × 36" with three down each side and one at each end, at 24" a place and a little extra at the corners so the side diners are not knee to knee with the ends. Round, eight places of 24" around the edge make a circumference of 192", and divided by π that is a 61 1/8" table — the 60" round sold for eight is a squeeze.
- How much space do you need around a dining table?
- 36" from the table edge to the wall is the usual minimum, enough to push a chair back and stand up; 42" to 48" where people need to walk behind somebody seated. The NKBA's kitchen guidelines give 32" where nobody passes, 36" to edge past and 44" to walk past. At 36" all round, an 84" × 36" table for eight needs a room 13 ft × 9 ft.
- How much table space does each person need?
- 24" of table edge a person is the planning figure — the NKBA's kitchen guidelines use it, and so do most dining-room references. It is enough for a place setting and elbows without touching. Allow 30" for armchairs or for a table where people linger, and remember the corners: someone on a long side cannot sit right at a corner with somebody at the end.
- How much overhang does a kitchen island need for seating?
- Enough for knees, and it depends on the height. The NKBA's knee-space figures are 18" at table (30"), 15" at counter (36"), 12" at bar (42"), with 24" of width per stool. Three stools at a counter-height island need 72" of seating and, with 44" behind them for people to walk past, 59" from the cabinet face to the wall. Check the overhang against the top's support limit too.
You might also need
- Countertop overhang supportWhether an overhang needs corbels or brackets, and how many, by material and run length.
- Desk and workbench height calculatorSeated and standing desk, chair seat, monitor and workbench heights from your elbow height or your height, with the sources named.
- Bookshelf spacing calculatorHow many shelves fit a bookcase for the books going on it, even marks for each one, and whether the span will sag.