You know you're growing up when a dining suite suddenly becomes important to you. Without warning a bitch about Jordan with your mates over a Big Mac and fries has morphed into deli cold cuts a glass or seven of Jacobs Creek, and a serious dissection of the latest Philip Roth chez vous. So now of course you feel the need to provide the venue to suit your elevated position in life.
While the popularity of the dining room ebbs and flows over the years, the love of a suitably classy dining suite to which to invite and delight your friends and family never does.
If you can't decide whether you like light or dark woods, the Wharf dining table, made from distinctive sappy walnut solids and veneers, has interesting colour and contrasts between the top and legs. Ideal if you want to create a grown-up dining area but want something that looks slightly more out of the ordinary. Seats six people comfortably and needs partial assembly (ie, the legs need screwing on).
Wharf dining table, £395, (L180 x W90 x H74 cm).
www.johnlewis.com
Sometimes bigger is better when it comes to a dining table. Happily Matthew Hilton's Cross dining table can seat up to 14 people when extended (L295cm) and folds away to a more discreet 200cm. Made from a wenge stained solid oak base with a veneered top. Big, handsome and sturdy, who could ask for more?
Cross dining table, £1450, SCP (L200 (extending to 295) x W90 x H75 cm).
www.scp.co.uk
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