A table for four in a small dining room is a bit of a con. You pay for four seats, and you use two, and the other half of the top sits there holding the mail while you turn sideways to get to the fridge.
That’s the problem a drop leaf table was made for, and it was made for it a very long time ago. I looked it up because I honestly thought these were a 1950s thing, and it turns out they were already in English houses in the late 1500s. Four hundred years of small rooms, and the answer hasn’t changed much. You hinge the sides of the top, you let them hang down when the table is in the way, and you lift them when people come to eat.
What Is A Drop Leaf Table?
A drop leaf table has a fixed centre and one or two hinged side panels, called leaves, that hang down when they are not needed. With the leaves down, it is narrow enough to stand against a wall. With them up, it seats about twice as many people.
Houzz puts it the same way: a table for two turns into a table for four or more, and the spec sheets I went through for this piece agree. The history is in Wikipedia’s entry on the drop-leaf table if you want it. England, late sixteenth century, and a few of those early ones still survive.
A Hinge Lets The Leaf Swing And A Support Keeps It Level
What surprised me is how much is going on under the top.
The hinges are the obvious part. They’re screwed to the underside, and they are not ordinary door hinges. One half is longer than the other, and Rockler’s page says always to put the longer half on the leaf.
Then there is the joint. On a well-made table, the top edge is rounded over, and the leaf edge is hollowed out to fit around it; woodworkers call that a rule joint. I assumed it was there for looks. It isn’t. Woodcraft’s guide says it supports the leaf along its whole length, so the hinges aren’t doing all the work, and it closes the gap so crumbs, fingers, and the corner of the tablecloth stay out.
Even then the hinges can’t hold a leaf level by themselves. Something has to swing or slide out underneath it. Christian Becksvoort wrote a piece for Fine Woodworking back in April 1995 that counts six ways to do this, from small wooden spinners on side tables to full swinging legs, and he likes the pull-out slide best because slides are less likely to sag.
One Table Does The Work Of A Console, A Desk And A Dining Table
This is what sold me on what a drop-leaf table does well. Leaves down, it’s a console table behind the sofa. One leaf up and it’s a desk, or breakfast for two. Both up, and it’s a really small space dining table same piece of furniture, same four legs.
People use them for sewing and crafts too, and one NORDEN buyer on IKEA’s site says that’s what theirs is for.
There is a catch, though, and the stores don’t hide it. Bed Bath & Beyond’s own buying guide says drop leaves won’t hold as much weight as the fixed part of the table. That makes sense once you’ve seen the underside. The leaf hangs on hinges and rests on one support, so dinner plates and a laptop are fine, but a person sitting on the edge is not.
Drop Leaf Table Styles Come Down To Old Wood, Wall-Mounted Or Built-In Storage
Old Solid Wood
Oak, maple, cherry, walnut, mahogany, usually on turned legs. If your grandparents had a folding table, it was probably this kind. They still turn up secondhand, and if you like going through thrift stores, I’d look for one there before I looked at anything new, because solid wood can be sanded back and refinished, and most new budget tables can’t—one of these looks at home next to other antique pieces.
Wall-Mounted
A wall-mounted drop-leaf table has no legs. It’s a top on a folding bracket. IKEA’s NORBERG is the one most people have seen, a little over twenty-nine inches wide and about twenty-four inches deep, and it seats two.
The detail I didn’t expect is that IKEA leaves the wall screws out of the box. Their reason is that the right fixing depends on what your wall is made of, which is fair, but it does tell you how much the wall matters with this type.
Drawers And Wheels
Some tables pack storage into the fixed middle. The NORDEN has six small drawers, three on each side, for cutlery, napkins and placemats. Others sit on locking wheels and are sold as kitchen carts or islands.
A Drop Leaf Dining Table Lives Best Against A Wall With One Leaf Up
Most of the year you want it against a wall with the wall-side leaf down, the other leaf up and two chairs at it. When people come over, you pull it into the room and open it all the way.
Castlery’s measuring guide says to leave at least thirty-six inches between the edge of a dining table and the wall or the next piece of furniture, and to allow about twenty-four inches of table edge for each chair. In a small room, you can’t give up thirty-six inches on every side every day. With a drop leaf, you only need that space on the nights the table is open.
By the front door or behind a sofa, both leaves stay down, and it works as a console. Keep the top light. A lamp, a tray for keys, one tall plant. Everything on it has to come off before the table can open, and I think that’s why some of these never get opened.
For a balcony or a very small kitchen, I’d go wall-mounted, at normal table height (28 to 30 inches), with two folding stools.
And the spare chairs need somewhere to go. Fold them on a wall hook, or slide stools under the top.
A DIY Drop Leaf Table Repair Starts With The Hinges
If you bring an old one home, lift and drop each leaf a few times before you touch any sandpaper. A leaf that sags or wobbles is almost always due to loose screws, a bent hinge, or a worn support, and paint fixes none of those.
What you might end up buying:
- Drop leaf hinges, $11.99 a pair at Rockler, 1 1/2 inches wide.
- A folding bracket or a new wooden arm, if the support is missing.
- Wood glue and toothpicks or a bit of dowel, for stripped screw holes.
- Sandpaper, primer and paint, or stripper and stain.
Take the leaves off first. Three flat boards are easier to work on than a folding table, and that keeps paint out of the hinges. Do both faces of each leaf, since the underside is what shows when the leaf is down, and go thin where the leaf meets the top, because a thick coat there can keep it from closing.
Old paint needs care. Lead paint was used on household items in the US until 1978, and Pamela Turner, an associate professor at the University of Georgia, has warned that sanding old thrift store furniture can put lead dust into the air in your home. She recommends keeping surfaces damp and wearing a NIOSH-certified respirator with a HEPA filter. I’d test the paint before doing anything else.
Check The Material, The Supports And Both Sizes Before You Buy A Drop Leaf Table
Read the materials list and not the product name. I nearly got this wrong myself while writing this. The white NORDEN costs $359.99, and I had it down as solid wood until I read the list. The frame underneath is solid wood. The top and the leaves are particleboard with paint on it. That isn’t a reason not to buy it; plenty of buyers on IKEA’s page call it sturdy, but particleboard can’t be sanded back and refinished when an edge chips.
Assembly is the common complaint on that one, by the way. One buyer wrote that a screw was almost impossible to get in if it went even slightly off square, so have a drill ready.
In a store or at a sale, lift a leaf and press on the outer edge. A little give is normal. A big dip, or a support that won’t lock, is a reason to leave it or to offer less.
Then the weight question, and I have to be honest here. I looked for one number for how much a drop leaf can hold, and I couldn’t find one I’d trust. It depends on the hinges, the support and the wood. If the maker gives a load rating, use it. If not, treat the leaf as a place for plates.
Last thing. Measure it open and closed. Open, it has to fit the room with the chairs pulled out. Closed, it has to fit the place it stays most of the year. Take a tape measure if you’re buying secondhand.
If it were my small apartment, I’d hunt for an old solid-wood drop-leaf table and spend twelve dollars on hinges before I spent three hundred and sixty on a new one. Four hundred years in, and the plain version is still the one to beat.
Drop Leaf Table FAQs
Is A Drop Leaf Table Sturdy Enough For Daily Use?
Yes, as long as the hinges are tight and the supports lock. The fixed centre is as solid as any other table. The leaves are the weak spot, so tighten their screws once or twice a year.
How Much Weight Can A Drop Leaf Table Hold?
There isn’t one number; it changes from table to table. The centre carries weight like a normal table. The leaves carry less, because they hang on hinges and sit on one support. Use the maker’s load rating; if there isn’t one, keep heavy items over the legs.
What Is The Difference Between A Drop Leaf And An Extension Table?
On a drop leaf table, the extra surface stays attached and folds down at the sides. An extension table pulls apart in the middle, or has leaves that slide out from under the top, and stores its spare leaf inside the table or somewhere else in the house. An extension table usually seats more people, and a drop leaf folds up smaller.
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