Guide  /  Sizing

Picnic Table Sizes and How Many People They Seat

Real millimetres, real seat counts, and the clearance an attached bench needs that a dining table does not.

Outdoor Furniture Ideas  ·  6 min read

A picnic table is sized by the bench, not the top. Get that right and the seat count follows.

Picnic table sizes get described in vague terms like six seater or family size, which tells you nothing about whether one fits your courtyard. Our timber picnic tables come in three lengths, with one aluminium bench setting alongside them. Every dimension below is measured off those products, not estimated. Check the space first, then pick the length.

No. 01

The short answer

Three timber lengths with attached benches, plus one aluminium setting with separate benches. Across the timber tables, width, height and bench dimensions are identical, so length is the only variable.

Shared across the three timber sizes:

• Table height 790mm. Taller than a standard 750mm dining table, which is normal for a picnic setting.
• Table top width 700mm. Two place settings facing each other, with serving space down the middle.
• Overall width 1410mm. Top plus both benches. This is the number that catches people out in narrow spaces.
• Bench height 470mm, depth 280mm. A 320mm gap to the table top, roomier than most indoor dining.

The aluminium Nardi Rio runs to standard dining height instead: table 750mm, bench 475mm, and a deeper 345mm bench. Its benches are loose, so its footprint depends on how far off the table you sit them.

No. 02

How much bench space one adult needs

Work on 600mm of bench per adult. That is what the seat counts above are built on. A bench has no armrests, so people self space, which is why a bench setting absorbs an extra guest better than fixed chairs.

• 450 to 500mm per adult is the squeeze. Fine for a quick lunch, not a three hour Sunday. Allow 650mm if you want real elbow room.
• 400 to 450mm per child. A 1200mm bench takes three primary school kids where it takes two adults, so it often works out as a six seater for a young family.

Six hundred millimetres per adult turns bench length into a seat count.

No. 03

Clearance: how much room the setting really needs

A dining setting needs around 900mm behind each chair so it can be pulled out. An attached bench never moves, so you need very little at the sides and more at the ends, which are the only way in.

• Allow 800mm clear at each end so people can swing a leg over and shuffle along rather than climb over each other.
• Allow 400mm at each side to walk past a seated guest, taking 1410mm out to about 2210mm of used space.
• Total zone is roughly 2800 x 2210mm for the 1200mm, 3400 x 2210mm for the 1800mm, and 4000 x 2210mm for the 2400mm.
• Check the delivery path. The timber tables arrive assembled at 1410mm wide, wider than most side gates.

Sizing a conventional table with chairs instead? Different numbers, covered in our outdoor table size and seating guide.

No. 04

Timber, metal or recycled plastic

Our picnic tables are timber, our one aluminium option is the Nardi Rio, and we do not do recycled plastic at all. The difference between the three shows up the moment someone sits down in February.

• Timber. Stays closest to air temperature in direct sun, so it is the one you can sit on in shorts at 2pm in January. In exchange it wants a wash a few times a year and a recoat if sealed. A scratched board sands back.
• Metal and aluminium. Close to maintenance free and hard to damage, which is why councils specify it. The problem is heat: a dark powdercoated seat in full afternoon sun gets uncomfortable, and the real fix is shade. Our Nardi Rio aluminium bench setting comes in anthracite, so plan it under a tree or umbrella rather than open western sun. Near the coast, once salt gets under a chip in the powdercoat, corrosion runs.
• Recycled plastic. No sealing, no splinters, no rot. Picks up heat like metal in dark colours, and long spans flex without extra frame support.

The timber tables are treated pine built in Australia. The Rio is Italian powdercoated aluminium and carries a two year warranty against the timber range's nine months. Our wider timber outdoor furniture range shows how timber performs across settings.

View The 1800mm Six Seater

No. 05

Attached bench or separate bench seats

An attached bench is one unit. Nothing walks off, blows over or needs rearranging, which is why it wins wherever furniture is left unsupervised.

A separate bench is the better buy in three situations:

• Someone finds stepping over a fixed bench difficult. Older parents, a knee injury or a pregnancy all make it a real obstacle.
• You want back support. Our Australian made timber bench seat runs 2070mm long, seats three and has a backrest, which no attached bench can offer.
• The seating needs a second job, or you are seating one side only. A loose bench pushes back against a wall when the table is not in use.

Two honest notes. The timber bench seat matches the 470mm seat height, but at 850mm to the top of its backrest it will not tuck under a 790mm table. Plan it alongside, not under. The Rio benches are the opposite: no backrest, and they slide fully under the table, which is the biggest space saver in a narrow courtyard. See our outdoor bench seating page.

Loose benches move and tuck away. Attached benches never do, which is the whole trade.

No. 06

Home use versus a park, school or shared courtyard

A backyard table has an easy life. The same table in a public reserve gets far more use, no supervision and occasional deliberate abuse. What changes:

• Fixing down. Fifty to seventy kilograms stops a table drifting across a lawn, not two people carrying it off. Bolt through the legs into a concrete pad at install, not after the first incident, and check the fixings each term. Timber moves seasonally and bolts loosen.
• Spacing between tables. Allow 1500mm minimum between outer bench edges, more where wheelchair or pram access is required.
• Vandalism and wear. Timber takes carving and graffiti, but unlike powdercoat it also takes a sand and a recoat, which makes the repair a maintenance job rather than a replacement. Where a spec mandates metal, the Rio is our aluminium option, though loose benches have to be chained or accepted as loseable.

No. 07

Care, and what it honestly looks like after three summers

The timber tables arrive bare so you choose the finish. Neither path is wrong, but they look very different by year three.

• Left bare. Treated pine silvers off within six to twelve months of full sun and settles into a soft grey. Structurally fine, the treatment does the protective work. Expect fine surface checking along the boards, which is the timber breathing, not a fault.
• Sealed or stained. Holds colour and keeps the surface smoother underhand. The commitment is a recoat every second season in full sun, sooner on a west facing courtyard. Skip two and you are sanding, not brushing.
• Either way. Wash a few times a year with warm soapy water, and keep leaf litter and standing water out of the bench joints, where rot starts.
• Warranty. The timber tables carry a nine month manufacturing warranty and maintenance sits outside it. None of this applies to the Rio, which needs a wash and nothing else.

Sealed at three years, it looks close to new with a deeper tone. Bare, it looks like a grey timber table that has been outside three years, which for a lot of Australian backyards is the point.