Tables · 5 min
The 12-inch gap that makes a bar height patio set work
A tall table and the wrong stool means one of two things. Knees jammed under the top, or elbows up in the air like a kid at the grown-ups' table.
Read this guideSidewalk & Sky Outdoor Restaurant Furniture / Topic collection
Outdoor tables, from bistro two-tops to bar-height sets
Bistro tables for a narrow sidewalk, bar and counter-height sets for a rail, folding tables for a lot that clears out at night, teak-look dining tables and metal tops. These guides cover sizes, bases and the sets that come with chairs.
Measure the curb before you buy
Start with the party you seat most. A 24 by 30 inch two-top fits a curb strip; a 36-inch square seats four in comfort. Then look underneath: give a round base a spread of two thirds of the top or more, extra in wind, and let the umbrella hole decide whether shade comes from the table or a separate stand.
Guides in this topic
10 guides
Tables · 6 min
The folding patio table for a sidewalk that empties every night
The sidewalk is yours from opening until close.
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Tables · 5 min
An outdoor bar table starts at the base, then the top
High-tops along a rail turn a narrow terrace into a bar. Eight feet of depth will not hold a dining set and its chairs with room to pass.
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Tables · 5 min
Outdoor bistro sets and the two-top math of a city sidewalk
Two chairs, one small table, a strip of sidewalk. That is the whole unit, and on most city fronts it is the unit that pays.
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Tables · 5 min
One outdoor bistro table, picked top first and base second
The chairs are already stacked by the door. Twelve of them, good ones, bought last year. What the sidewalk needs now is six tables, and only tables.
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Tables · 5 min
Size the outdoor dining set 4 guests share before the two-tops go down
The fours go down first.
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Tables · 5 min
The outdoor metal table, read frame first and finish second
Put your palm flat on a black steel tabletop at two in the afternoon in July. That's what your guest feels when they rest an arm on it.
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Tables · 5 min
Under the top: picking an outdoor table base by spread and height
Wind comes round the corner of the building and hits the tabletop first. What happens next depends on the iron, steel and spread underneath it.
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Tables · 5 min
Solid wood outside: living with a teak outdoor dining table
Teak is wood. That sounds obvious until you read a patio catalog where half the tables say teak and most of them are aluminum with plastic slats.
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Tables · 6 min
How wide should a round outdoor dining table be on a city sidewalk?
Corners catch things on a sidewalk. A hip, a stroller wheel, the strap of a bag swinging past the rail.
Read this guideTake it outside and set it up
Outdoor plans
Save finished configurations by space, then copy a plan when another sidewalk, roof or courtyard opens.