Outdoor Table and Chairs: How to Choose a Dining Setting

Guide  /  Outdoor Dining

Outdoor Table and Chairs: How to Choose a Dining Setting That Lasts

Seats, piece count, shape and tabletop material. Get those right and the rest follows.

Outdoor Furniture Ideas  ·  11 min read

An outdoor dining setting gets used and abused more than any other outdoor piece. Size, shape and material decide how well it copes.

An outdoor dining table takes more punishment than almost anything else outside. Meals, drinks, sun, rain, and years of people leaning on it. Buy the wrong one and it shows fast: a warped timber top, a rusted frame, chairs that fade a shade lighter every summer. This guide works through the decisions that actually matter when you buy an outdoor table and chairs: how many it needs to seat, what a 5, 7 or 9 piece setting really includes, what shape suits your space, and which tabletop survives Australian conditions, so you can buy one outdoor dining setting that lasts instead of two that don't.

No. 01

How many seats you actually need

Start with how you eat outside most weeks, not the once-a-year Christmas lunch. A setting sized for the crowd you rarely host eats your whole patio for eleven months of the year. These are the widths to plan around, allowing roughly 60cm of table edge per person.

• 4 seats: around 90 to 120cm. Suits couples, small families, and courtyards.
• 6 seats: around 150 to 180cm. The most common family size, room for guests without dominating the space.
• 8 seats: around 200 to 240cm. For regular entertainers with the alfresco to hold it.
• 10+ seats: 250cm and up. Big families and frequent hosts. This is where an extendable table earns its keep.

Leave at least 90cm of clear space around the table so chairs pull out and people walk past without a squeeze. If that space is tight, size down or go extendable. For exact table lengths by seat count, see our outdoor table size guide.

No. 02

Piece counts: what a 5, 7, 9 or 11 piece setting gets you

Outdoor settings are sold by piece count, and the count includes the table. A 7 piece outdoor setting is one table and six chairs, so it seats six. Use this to turn a listing into seats, then check the table against the widths above.

Extendable tables blur the lines, in a useful way. The Nardi Tevere 147 runs at 147cm and seats up to six, then extends to 211cm and seats up to eight. The Nardi Tevere 210 goes from 211cm (up to eight) to 275cm (up to ten). Both use an integrated leaf that lifts into place, so there is nothing separate to store. That is why the same table turns up in 5, 7 and 9 piece settings: you buy chairs for the everyday number and borrow a couple more for Christmas.

The same thinking applies to the Nardi Trill Rio 210 Outdoor Dining Set, sold from 7 to 11 pieces around one 210 to 280cm extendable table, so you choose how many chairs to start with.

A 7 piece outdoor setting: one Tevere 147 extendable table and six Trill armchairs. Extend the table and it seats eight.

No. 03

Shape: round, rectangular, or extendable

Shape changes how a setting feels and how it fits. Match it to the space and the way you host.

• Round. Best for four to six and for conversation, since everyone can see everyone. Fits square courtyards and balconies well and has no sharp corners to walk into. Above six it gets too wide to reach across.
• Rectangular. The workhorse. Seats the most people per square metre and sits neatly against a wall or along a narrow alfresco. The default for six or more.
• Extendable. The answer when your everyday number and your entertaining number are different. Runs as a compact table day to day, then opens out for guests. Look for a smooth, self-storing extension mechanism rather than a loose add-on leaf.

If you host in bursts, an extendable table is usually the smarter buy than a permanently large one. Ranges like the Nardi outdoor tables in the Rio and Tevere lines are built around exactly this, extending in seconds without tools or a separate leaf to store.

Round for conversation, rectangular for capacity, extendable for both. Shape is a space decision as much as a style one.

Shop Outdoor Dining Tables

No. 04

Tabletop materials, ranked for Australian conditions

The tabletop is where an outdoor dining setting lives or dies. It takes direct sun, spills, hot dishes and rain, so this is the decision to get right. Here is how the common tops compare.

For a table that lives outside and gets used hard, ceramic and compact laminate are the safest buys. Both take a hot dish and a spilt drink without a mark and ask almost nothing of you. This is where cheaper settings typically fail: the frame might be fine, but a glass or untreated timber top ages badly inside a couple of summers.

“Buy the table for the meals you eat every week, and the top for the summers it has to survive.”

No. 05

Chairs: the half people underspend on

People pour the budget into the table and treat the chairs as an afterthought. The chairs are what fail first. They cop the same sun and rain with far less material to survive it, and you touch them every time you sit down.

• Material. Powder-coated aluminium and UV-stabilised resin handle Australian sun without fading or rusting. Rope and Batyline sling seats dry fast and stay comfortable without cushions.
• Comfort. If meals run long, you want a supportive back and, for lounge-style dining, a bit of give. Sit in them before you commit if you can.
• Storage. Stackable chairs make life easier on smaller patios and when weather rolls in.

Match the chairs to the table on material and quality, not just looks. A good set of outdoor dining chairs should still look near-new at year five, the same as the table they sit under.

No. 06

Where cheap outdoor settings fail first

The frame and the top get all the attention. The failures usually start somewhere smaller. Five things to check before you pay.

• Frame joins. Welded beats bolted, and bolted beats riveted. Pick up a chair and give it a shake. Anything that wobbles on day one will be worse by year two.
• Fasteners. Stainless steel only. Ordinary steel screws rust through a powder coat from the inside out, especially near the coast. The underside of the table is a quick read on quality.
• Cushion fabric. Solution-dyed acrylic, the type Sunbrella makes, holds its colour for years in full sun because the colour runs right through the fibre. Printed polyester fades far sooner. If nobody can tell you the fabric type, assume the cheaper one.
• Cushion foam. Quick-dry foam drains after rain. Standard foam holds water and breeds mildew, and a cushion that is still damp days later will not see out the season.
• Sling seats. Batyline and similar PVC-coated polyester slings are the durable benchmark. Cheap sling sags, frays at the seams and pulls away from the frame.

No. 07

Match the setting to where it lives

The same outdoor table and chairs age at very different rates in different spots. Use where the setting will actually sit as your first filter.

• Covered alfresco. Lower stress on every material, so more options open up. Compact laminate and timber both work here, and cushions last noticeably longer.
• Open patio, full sun. UV-stabilised everything: resin chairs, a ceramic or compact laminate top, solution-dyed cushions. Avoid timber unless you are committed to oiling it every year.
• Coastal homes. Salt corrodes anything ferrous. Choose resin, powder-coated aluminium with stainless fasteners, and a ceramic or compact laminate top. Rinse with fresh water now and then.
• Poolside. Chlorine and salt water splash punish cheap finishes. UV-stabilised resin is the safest pick, with aluminium close behind.
• Balconies. Weight, footprint and access through the lift all matter. Light, stackable resin or aluminium in a 3 or 5 piece setting usually beats squeezing in a bigger table you will resent.

Common Questions

Outdoor table and chairs FAQs

How many people does a 7 piece outdoor setting seat?

Six. The piece count includes the table, so a 7 piece setting is one table and six chairs. A 9 piece seats eight and an 11 piece seats ten.

What size outdoor table do I need for six people?

Plan on around 150 to 180cm for a rectangular table, allowing roughly 60cm of table edge per person, plus at least 90cm of clear space around it. An extendable table such as the Tevere 147 seats six at 147cm and eight when extended.

What is the most durable outdoor table top for Australian conditions?

Ceramic and compact laminate. Both take sun, rain, heat and spills without marking and need almost no maintenance. Glass and untreated timber are the weakest options outside.

Are resin outdoor dining chairs worth it?

Quality UV-stabilised resin is one of the lowest maintenance chair materials you can buy. Nardi Trill armchairs, for example, are a single fibreglass polypropylene shell made in Italy, drain rainwater, stack for storage and are rated by Nardi to 160kg.

Should I buy a round or rectangular outdoor table?

Round suits four to six people and conversation, and fits square courtyards and balconies. Rectangular seats the most people per square metre and is the default for six or more. If your everyday number and your entertaining number differ, go extendable.

Can I leave an outdoor dining setting out all year?

Resin and powder-coated aluminium settings with ceramic or compact laminate tops are built to stay out year-round. Store or cover cushions in long wet spells and give everything a wash with mild soap and water now and then.