Commercial patio sets for the two-tops, single pieces for the odd corners

A set is a fast order and a fixed mix. One click gets you a table, its base and the chairs that go with it, all in the same frame and finish. What it will not do is bend to a corner that seats three.

That's the whole trade, and it points to a simple plan for a city front: buy sets for the run of two-tops, then fill the odd spots with single pieces. Below is how we count the lines and the minimum, and how to add to the patio next spring without a mismatch.

What a set fixes for you

Look at what you actually choose on a set page. Our black aluminum patio set with faux teak seats asks two questions: the top size, with its base, and how many chairs. The smallest top is 24 inches square and the largest is 30 by 48, with a 24 by 30 and a 30-inch square between. The chair count is two or four. The frame is black aluminum with plastic teak seats, and the chairs stack.

Everything else is decided. Chair model, frame color and table height arrive matched, which is exactly why a set is quick. Nobody has to check that a chair from one page suits a table from another.

The count is simple at the curb, too. When the truck pulls up, hold the pen. Count every pallet and carton, match the number to the driver's paperwork, and only then sign, with any crushed or missing carton written on it. Count against that paperwork, not against your own list of sets, and photograph anything damaged before the driver leaves.

The same logic runs up to rail height. This gray aluminum bar-height set with teak-look seats pairs a high-top with two or four matching bar stools, from the same four top sizes. The outdoor bar stools guide covers spacing along a rail.

When single pieces fit better

A set comes in twos and fours. Real sidewalks do not.

There's the corner by the planter where a chair on the fourth side would block the walkway, so the table seats three. There's the spot under the window where only one chair fits. There's the top size the set does not list. Each of those is a piece order.

The chair from the set above is sold on its own: this black aluminum chair with natural faux teak slats stacks, weighs 10 lbs and measures 23 1/4 inches wide. Put three of them around a faux-teak-topped aluminum table in the 30 by 30 size, and the corner seats three in a look close to the run beside it. Browse the patio tables and patio chairs for other single pieces.

Lines, counts and the minimum

Two rules shape every outdoor order we take.

The first is the line. A line is one configuration. Eight sets with the 24 by 30 top and two chairs are one line with a quantity of eight. Two more sets with the 30 by 48 top and four chairs are a second line, because the configuration changed. Order the same chair in two finishes and that is two lines as well.

The second is the minimum. Eight pieces is the floor, and a chair counts the same as a table, in whatever split suits the front. Sets clear it quickly, but a small order can fall short. Two bistro sets with two chairs each come to six pieces, a table and two chairs per set. Add a third set and you are at nine.

Here's a worked order for a sidewalk front with one awkward corner. Line one, eight two-chair sets at 24 by 30: 8 tables and 16 chairs, 24 pieces, 16 seats. Line two, two four-chair sets at 30 by 48: 2 tables and 8 chairs, 10 pieces, 8 seats. Line three, one 30 by 30 aluminum table. Line four, three single chairs. That's 38 pieces and 27 seats on four lines. Anyone reading it can see the plan at a glance: sets for the run, pieces for the corner.

Adding chairs next season

The mistake buyers make shows up a year later. The patio did well, you want six more chairs, and you order the same item from memory. When they arrive, the slats are a shade off.

Finish and color lists change over time. Before any reorder or addition, ask for a fresh swatch from the free samples page and confirm the color against the pieces already on your sidewalk. Swatches ship by UPS Ground and are usually in transit 2 to 3 business days.

Note the configuration of every line when you first order, too. Top size, chair count, finish. If you saved the layout in a plan, the details are already written down.

What happens after you press submit

Sending the order costs you nothing yet. A person here reads every line first and then emails a confirmation: the final order, how to pay, and freight priced for every address you ship to. The prices you see are the configured price of what you picked. Freight is not in them.

Put a PO number in the order notes if you use one. Tax-exempt buyers and resellers note their status there as well, at the moment the order goes in, so the invoice comes out right the first time. The how to order page walks through each step, and the guide to commercial outdoor furniture suppliers covers lead time and freight before the season starts.

Count the sets on the chalk lines

Chalk the front on the actual sidewalk: every two-top, every four, every corner that breaks the pattern. Count the spots that take a set and the spots that don't. That count is your line list.

Then build it in an outdoor plan, one line per configuration, with a note on each odd corner explaining why it's a piece order. The outdoor furniture sets page has every set we list, and the outdoor restaurant seating guide helps if the mix of twos and fours is still open.