Butterfly leaf dining tables hide their extra leaf in the table. You pull the two ends out, and the leaf unfurls from the middle, turning a table for six into a table for eight. No searching for a board in the closet or hunting under the bed the day before Thanksgiving. That’s why you buy one. The thing is, a table with moving parts wears out, and it helps to know what’s in there before you pay.
The Leaf Folds In Half To The Side
The leaf is two panels hinged together. Folded up, it’s tucked in a pocket under the tabletop. To open a butterfly leaf table, you do the following
- 1. Undo the latches in the bottom of the table, if your table has them
- 2. Pull the two ends out. They ride along rails called slides or runners.
- 3. Lift the folded leaf out of the gap.
- 4. Open it up like a book. Spread out, the two panels look like a pair of wings for the namesake.
- 5. Push the ends back in until they fit snugly against the leaf, then latch
One person can open it in under a minute. To put the leaf away again, reverse the process.
An 18-Inch Leaf Takes You From Six Seats To Eight
Many of the tables I found online use an 18-inch leaf. A common size is 60 inches closed and 78 inches open.
The National Kitchen & Bath Association recommends two people per 24 inches of table edge. At 60 inches, you have two people on each long side and one at each end, for six. At 78 inches, you can fit three on each side for eight total. Smaller butterfly leaf dining tables go from four seats to six the same way
One limitation you should know about. Only one leaf fits inside the table. If you need to go from six seats to twelve, a self-storing leaf won’t get you there. Both rectangular and oval tops come with this type of leaf so that you can choose the shape.
Butterfly Leaf Dining Tables Wear Out At The Screws, Slides And Seams
The top itself rarely fails. The small things under it get in the way.
Loose screws: Liam Cope at Engineer Fix points out that opening and closing the table repeatedly can loosen the hinge and runner Screws. I’d check them once a year with a screwdriver.
Sticky slides: Dust and dry runners make the ends hard to pull apart.
Crumbs in the pocket: There’s a seam right across the middle of the table, and food falls through it. Enough junk down there and the leaf won’t fold back into place.
A leaf that’s a different color: The leaf sits in the dark while the top gets daylight every day. Wood changes color in light, so after a few years the two may not match.
Then there’s the seam that you can see. Closed, the table has one line running across the middle. Open, most have three: one on each side of the leaf and the fold in the middle. Those lines never go away. If that would bug you at dinner every night, don’t buy this kind of table.
Do These Three Things In The Store
One buyer’s guide I read has a store test I like:
- Open and close the table by yourself. It should slide easily.
- With the leaf in, push down hard on the table. It should feel as solid as it did closed.
- Look at the seams. On a good table, they’re tight and the grain lines up pretty well.
Solid wood holds the hinge Screws better than MDF
Every hinge and slide on this table is screwed into the underside. Screws grip solid wood well. In MDF and particleboard, they strip out a lot easier, and a stripped hole means a wobbly hinge. So on a table with this many screws, I’d pay for solid wood, or at least a solid wood frame.
That same buyer’s guide says the mechanism is “more important than the material,” and I mostly agree. A solid oak table with rough slides is worse than a cheaper one that glides. Check both. Our guide to a solid wood dining table has four quick ways to tell real wood from veneer.
A Drop-Leaf Shrinks More, A Butterfly Leaf Stores Itself
Butterfly leaf folds up inside the table. A dining room with no spare closet. Drop-leaf. Hangs down off the side
| Leaf type | Where it goes | Best when |
| Butterfly leaf | Folds up inside the table | A dining room with no spare closet |
| Drop-leaf | Hangs down off the side | A very small room, or a table pushed against a wall |
| Removable leaf | A closet, or under a bed | Big holiday crowds, since these can take more than one leaf |
We went through all of them in our post on picking a dining table with a leaf.
Wax The Slides And Skip The WD-40
Caring for a butterfly leaf extension table mostly means keeping it clean.
Brush or vacuum the crumbs out of the seam and the pocket every time you open it. Wipe the slides with a dry cloth while you’re in there.
If the ends still stick, Cope suggests furniture wax or a silicone spray on the runners. He says to avoid oil-based lubricants because they trap dirt. That’s why I’d leave the WD-40 in the garage. Read your manual first, though. Some makers don’t want anything on the slides.
Two more habits help. Open the leaf a few times a year even when you don’t have guests, so its color keeps up with the top. And when it’s out, use coasters and trivets on it the same as the rest of the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do Butterfly Leaf Tables Break Easily?
No. The small hardware gets loose long before anything breaks. Hinge screws and runner fasteners loosen with use, and dirty slides start to stick. A screwdriver and a dry cloth fix most of it.
How Do You Hide The Gap In A Butterfly Leaf Dining Table?
You can make it smaller, but you can’t make it disappear. Push the ends in tight and latch them, and keep crumbs out so the leaf sits flat. For a dinner party, a tablecloth covers it. A top with strong grain hides the line better than a plain one.
Is A Butterfly Leaf Better Than A Drop-Leaf Table?
For a regular dining room, yes. The table stays full width, and the leaf stores itself. A drop-leaf is better when you need the table to shrink down to a small size between meals.
