Nothing makes a house feel more like a home than gathering your favorite people around your dining table for good food and to spark great memories. That’s why you want a table that not only gives you room to spread out and get comfortable but also serves as a stylish anchor for the room, setting a warm and inviting vibe. To help you find the right one for your space, we tapped five design experts to share their favorites. From an elegant wood design by Sundays Company to a marble-top Saarinen style, these are their top picks for leveled-up meals and effortless merrymaking.  

Unexpected details are what make this rectangular wood table feel elevated, according to Vancouver-based designer Karla Dreyer. The classic shape in solid oak has an air of familiarity, but it’s updated with gently curved corners and thick, rounded legs. It’s customizable too; you can choose from three different wood finishes and sizes that seat four people up to 10. A table with uniform features, like this one, calls for asymmetrical seating, Dryer says—think chairs on one side and a bench on the other. A textured runner is also a smart addition, to break up the long silhouette. 

Many of Dallas-based designer Jean Liu’s clients ask for a glass-top table, and the LC6, created in 1928 by famed Italian design house Cassina, is often her answer. Liu loves the striking contrast of the sculptural base fashioned from steel tubes—available in black or a playful icy blue—and the expansive top made from a single sheet of glass. With a table that packs an aesthetic punch, like this one, you need seating that’s equally impactful, Liu says, so look for a set of chairs with bold lines mirroring those of the table.

You can’t go wrong with this iconic design by architect Eero Saarinen (of Gateway Arch and JFK’s TWA terminal fame), according to Liu, who considers it her all-time favorite. The slim, sculptural profile dresses up a dining room without overpowering it, she notes, and the tulip-shape base gives you loads of legroom plus the freedom to choose dining chairs in any style. She owns the marble-top version, but it’s also available in 23 other finishes, in multiple sizes and with a gray or black base. 

For an earthy elegant look, Dreyer recommends this stately design crafted in a concrete-like material. The chunky base makes it a dramatic focal point in a room, and it’s easy to dress up or down, she says—go casual with rattan chairs, for example, or keep things sophisticated with sleek black leather seating.

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Wood tables bring instant warmth to a dining space, and this one’s clean-lined design keeps the look light and airy. It’s a favorite of Nashville, Tenn.-based designer Donna Gilliam, principal and founder of Donna Gilliam Interiors, particularly for its stylish and functional trestle feature, which gives diners room to rest their feet. The ability to customize the table’s shape, size and finishes opens up your seating options—go contemporary with a pair of low-slung benches or traditional with high-backed chairs, for example. And when it comes to styling the surface, Gillam suggests keeping things simple. “I like wicker placemats for this table,” she says. “It’s too pretty to cover with a tablecloth.”

When Honolulu-based designer and Studio Shaolin founder Shaolin Low needed a unique, not-exorbitantly priced table for a young client, she landed on this geometric option for its “friendly” abstract octagonal shape. “It serves the purpose of a round dining table in a more interesting way,” she says. The light walnut finish shows natural variations in the wood and softens the angular shape. Low paired it with cane chairs and a fabric chandelier for a boho-chic vibe, but you could also balance the weighty, wood-veneer piece with a set of cushy, open-back seats.

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“A table with a very strong personality” is the way César Giraldo, principal and founder of César Giraldo Design in Los Angeles, describes this showstopper of a piece. The brainchild of Italian architect Vincenzo de Cotiis, it’s crafted from hand-painted fiberglass and stromatolite, a variety of fossilized layered rock. The table’s specialized materials mean you’ll often find “a different, fascinating design element depending on the angle you’re observing it from,” says Giraldo, who suggests adding equally distinctive seating like a vintage wood and leatherette set.

On the hunt for a just-right table for clients wanting a mix of traditional and contemporary elements, Low landed on this striking six-seater. The rich tone of the acacia wood, the sophisticated, midcentury lines and the unexpected touch of cane paneling all meld to make it a stylish anchor for the room. Low’s clients paired theirs with classic dark wood chairs they already owned, but seating that brings in a new texture, like velvet or bouclé, would be a smart choice too.  

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