Having the space for a dedicated canteen, dining room or breakout area is a real luxury for commercial companies and educational or public institutions in these days of sky-high property prices, so it’s crucial to make sure no space is wasted when designing the room.
Canteens and dining spaces are high-traffic areas with high standards of cleanliness, so they demand specialist, contract grade furniture that often has to fit the seemingly opposing briefs of being both easy to move for deep cleaning and robust enough to withstand hot food, drinks and staining.
Contract-grade or contract standard furniture is furniture that is specially designed and built for commercial use. Unlike domestic furnishings, contract pieces must withstand continuous daily use by larger groups of people and be sized accordingly. It may also need to adhere to different safety regulations.
Canteen tables, chairs and benches will be subject to much harsher conditions than office furniture and consequently they are designed and supplied by specialists. Contract furniture suppliers will also be able to offer useful advice on space planning, materials and installation.
This depends on the type of tables you choose. Does your room layout work better with traditional long dining tables and benches or do you need more flexible seating like round dining tables, or even high tables and bar stools?
A useful approximate guide to commercial dining table and canteen table sizes would be as follows:
