An extendable outdoor dining table is more and more preferred because of its convenience, but this does not mean that choosing the best one among tons of products out in the market now is not a frustrating task.
We know many people made their buying decision only based on their preference, and then they soon regretted when receiving their ordered table because it totally did not fit their outdoor space as well as available furniture.
So, with a goal to help our beloved readers avoid that unexpected situation, we have spent time researching and finally completed this article to introduce you to the four best extendable outdoor dining tables and an in-depth buyer’s guide. Let’s get started!
Here are the best extendable outdoor dining tables you can buy in 2024:
- Best For Backyard: Christopher Knight Home Wilson Dining Table
- Simple & Elegant: Christopher Knight Home Exuma Dining Table
- Lattice-And-Botanical Motif: Christopher Knight Home Patio Dining Table
- Best For Lanai: Vifah Malibu Outdoor Oval Extension Table
| 4 Best Extendable Outdoor Dining Tables | ||
|---|---|---|
Best For Backyard | Christopher Knight Home Wilson Dining Table | |
Simple & Elegant | Christopher Knight Home Exuma Dining Table | |
Lattice-And-Botanical Motif | Christopher Knight Home Patio Dining Table | |
Best For Lanai | Vifah Malibu Outdoor Oval Extension Table | |
Best For Backyard: Christopher Knight Home Wilson Dining Table
Easy to assemble
Sturdy
Affordable
Heavy
If you are on the hunt for a simple, solid, and large dining table that is able to serve your big family in the backyard, you can’t go wrong with this Christopher Knight Home Wilson.
Made of Acacia wood, this unit is made to have a smooth finish, allowing you to clean it without difficulties. Moreover, as a kind of quality hardwood, the well-known hardness and durability of Acacia will ensure that your table will last for many years, but at the same time, it will be quite heavy for you guys to frequently change its location.
Many people used to think that an Acacia wood table would cost them an arm and a leg, but instead, these trees do not cost much to harvest, thereby, lowering the price passing on buyers.
| Christopher Knight Home Wilson Dining Table Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 93 pounds |
Dimension | 87.5 x 36.5 x 30 inches |
Top Material | Acacia |
Frame Material | Wood |
Highlight Features | Eight chairs fit around |
Christopher Knight Home Wilson is a basic but attractive extendable dining table for your great backyard.
Simple & Elegant: Christopher Knight Home Exuma Dining Table
Simple yet elegant design
Includes an umbrella hole
Lightweight
Expensive
Whether you want a simple or an elegant dining table to make a perfect addition to your family outdoor eating space, this Christopher Knight Home Exuma is going to meet your needs.
Constructed from aluminum, it is rust and weather-resistant, so you can rest assured that this unit can serve you well and stay in good condition for years.
Although it is made from metal, the table is lightweight, only around 60.3 pounds, suitable for those who would like to reset their outdoor room frequently.
It comes with an umbrella hole to help your family enjoy meals anytime, no matter how the weather is.
The table is quite expensive, so it is not really recommended for a tight budget but if you are willing to buy it, it will not let you down!
| Christopher Knight Home Exuma Dining Table Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 60.3 pounds |
Dimension | 80.75 x 37.5 x 28.75 inches |
Top Material | Aluminum |
Frame Material | Metal |
Highlight Features | Five chairs fit around |
Christopher Knight Home Exuma is designed to be a mid-end priced dining table with a high-end built quality.
Lattice-And-Botanical Motif: Christopher Knight Home Patio Dining Table
Durable (powder-coated)
Unique design with sophisticated patterns
Easy to assemble
A bit small legroom
Hard to clean
In the third place, we have another name from the Christopher Knight Home. Being made from metal, following the wicker style as well as being crafted with lattice-and-botanical motifs have created for this unit an unique and eye-catching outlook that can amazingly blend with any furnishing style.
The table is covered with powder, making it ideal to be an outdoor table, which can go through the harshness of weather although it is just made from regular metal but not aluminum or stainless steel.
The table design has a decorative hurdle around the legroom. While it brings elegance and beauty to the unit, it makes the legroom tighter and less comfortable when sitting. Furthermore, as this product is designed with a lot of sophisticated patterns, it will take you more effort and time for cleaning.
| Christopher Knight Home Patio Dining Table Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 83.8 pounds |
Dimension | 63.6 x 37.25 x 29 inches |
Top Material | Wicker |
Frame Material | Metal |
Highlight Features | 8 chairs fits around |
Christopher Knight Home Patio Dining Table is an optimal choice for those who are looking for a beautiful extendable table with more complicated botanical ornaments.
Best For Lanai: Vifah Malibu Outdoor Oval Extension Table
Durable
Safer for children
Lightweight
Affordable
Unclear assembly instruction
Eucalyptus wood is quite vulnerable under the extreme cold
It’d be a pity if we completed this list without Vifah Malibu, an oval dining table that has totally been sturdily constructed with Eucalyptus wood.
The wood from Eucalyptus trees has always impressed us with its excellent durability. To be honest, it can serve you up to 20 to 25 years if you give it the deserved maintenance.
Unlike the other three Christopher Knight Home tables on this list with a rectangular table top, this unit is beautifully curved into a perfect oval. This design makes it not only more space saving than the regular rectangle shape but also safer for children to play around.
Besides, the price for this natural wood-made table is ridiculously affordable for every range of the family's budget.
There are only two downsides here. First, we find it easy to encounter difficulties during the assembly process because its instruction only comes with images but not any single words. So, sometimes, it will cause annoying unclearness.
| Vifah Malibu Outdoor Oval Extension Table Specifications | |
|---|---|
Weight | 68 pounds |
Dimension | 91 x 40 x 29 inches |
Top Material | Eucalyptus |
Frame Material | Wood |
Highlight Features | 8 chairs fit around; oval shape |
Vifah Malibu is an extendable outdoor dining table that will definitely improve the look of your lanai.
How To Choose The Best Extendable Outdoor Dining Table?
Size
An appropriate dining table size for your patio means that it will not only look fit with your place but also give you enough room to pull in and out the chair comfortably. Besides your dining space, you should also consider your seating options before reaching the final size option.
A regular dining table is often designed for 4 to 8 people. If there are only 2 to 4 people, a round table will be the best choice for space-efficient if you have just a small patio, otherwise, a rectangular one with a width of approximately 40 inches is also a great choice.
For 6 to 8 guests, 56-inch to 70-inch long rectangular tables are a great size. If you have such a big garden, a longer, larger table is still amazing. Simply put, these recommended numbers can be slightly adjusted, but one general rule here is that each seating should be far 6 to 12 inches from the others.
Legroom is the last thing that we want to talk about in this section. We used to experience a dining table with tight legroom, and trust us, it’s such an annoying experience that you will never want to try it out. So, if your family members are all tall or own long legs, be careful with this.
Style
More and more new products are being launched every single day, making it much easier to find a table design that can perfectly fit your patio or backyard. Here are outdoor dining table choosing suggestions for some common patio vibes and styles that we often come across:
Modern: modern style decor tends to focus on neutral colors, involving mostly around the black, white and gray palette, with just a few ornamental details. It also prefers the simplicity of geometric shapes. With this style, a sleek, rectangular wooden table is the best choice.
Industrial: industrial style is inspired by exposed bricks, ductwork and wood. Then, a combination between a wooden table top and thin, metal legs will be a beautiful complement, adding a better sense of unfinished rawness to your whole place.
French country: if the modern furniture style is suitable for simplicity-prefered people since it is likely to minimize detailed patterns as much as possible, the French country one are the optimal choice for those who are in love with elegant ornamental wooden furnishing with soft, and warm color tone like golden, yellow, red and brown. Therefore, a long wooden table with benches or thin, light chairs can complement a rustic, cottage feel for this decoration style.
If you are confused between complicated and simple design, choose the simple one because its simple elegance will never be outdated. There are many other styles that we cannot list all of them down here but in short, just picking up the dining table set that will harmonize with your available furnishing items and style.
Materials
Concentrating on style to synchronize your patio furnishing is great but don’t make light of other important factors, especially the weather-resistant ability since you will place your beautiful dining table set outdoors. For this reason, some materials will be more highly appreciated than the others, however, if that location is under the roof, overlooking them is accepted ;)
Wood: in terms of style, a classic wooden table is exactly a one-size-fit-all material because it can complement most garden styles. Stil, once you determine to use it, be prepared that it will require most maintenance. As wood is not so durable, it often wears out and warps, particularly fast when located under the harsh environment, so an annual new paint or oil coat is the least maintenance to keep your table appearance in its pristine condition.
Metal: metal dining table is an exceptionally ideal choice if you are looking for something elegant and durable as well. However, the cons of this material is that it is the heaviest and will get really hot under the sun. Moreover, while cast-aluminum and stainless steel, the top-notch categories of metals, are rust-resistant, other cheaper kinds such as iron might rust when it is not maintained and coated appropriately.
Plastic: plastic furniture might look cheap and more prone to be out of fashion after an extended period of time, but it’s extremely lightweight, which is suitable for frequent rearrangements and cleaning.
Wicker: a wicker table can be made of bamboo, rattan and so on, allowing it to be sturdy but lightweight. Thanks to its unique texture, this material enables you to move it around at ease, but does not lose the sophisticated look that a charming dining table set demands. However, it is easy to get mildew and hard to clean, so our advice here is a wicker table going with a glass panel on top.
Assembly and Cleaning
Any furniture items, not just a dining table should be easy to assemble. Actually, most extendable dining tables come in ready-to-use condition, so this is not a really big deal. But we just want to mention to mind you first, in case you come across any products that require a professional-level assembly process. You don’t want to struggle for hours just to find out how to construct your table, right?
Besides constructing, cleaning is another factor to consider since you will have to frequently clean your outdoor table, no matter which materials it is made of. As we have mentioned earlier, plastic and metal are the two easiest to clean because they usually have a smooth surface.
With wood and wicker, a wooden table whose surface has been smoothened and made of a whole piece of wood will make the cleaning process less tired than one that is paired up of different pieces, and a wicker one should have a glass panel on its top.
Which Brands Make The Best Extendable Outdoor Dining Table?
Christopher Knight Home
Christopher Knight Home is a very notable brand name in the home interior and exterior furniture field. All of its products are designed and constructed by a team of professional and talented designers. That’s why it comes as no surprise when three out of four suggested items on our list are from this manufacturer.
Besides dining tables, it also provides a wide range of furnishing items, so if you have demand for other products, search this brand on Amazon, overstock, and so on and it will soon fulfill your list.
FAQs
Why are extendable outdoor dining tables expensive?
Besides being sturdy like other kinds of tables, an outdoor dining table requires elegance in its appearance. Perhaps that’s why making it needs more craftsmanship, leading to the rise in its price.
What is the most durable wood for a dining table?
In our opinion, the best four wood kinds for not only dining tables but also many other woody furnitures are oak, maple, cherry and walnut. Of course, each of them will have its own distinctive benefits, but overall, they are the top-rated woods for your dining table.
What wood is best for the table top?
Simply put, the answer for this question is just like the second one. Still, in detail, red oak, brown maple and rustic cherry are our top favorite wood colors for the table top because of not only their quality but also the attractive vibe that they could add to the table.
How thick should a dining table top be?
The table top thickness is determined mostly by two factors. The first one is the dining table style itself. For example, while 90% of traditional, antique table tops are often under 1 inch thick, the contemporary style tends to have an extra thickness around 1 ¾ inch.
The second aspect that partly affects the table top’s thickness is the leg width. Well, a dining table will look really ridiculous and funny if its legs are too large but the top is too thin or vice versa, right?
Are pine dining tables good?
To be honest, pine is not durable as wood types that we have mentioned earlier, but it’s still a good choice, especially for those who are into the rustic or country style.
Conclusion
Outdoor dining table is where you and your guests relax, and enjoy a cup of tea or some delicious dishes while experiencing fresh air. So, don’t let that chill moment be ruined because of some regrettable mistakes during the buying process.
If you find yourself overwhelmed because of tons of factors that need considering before purchasing your best extendable outdoor dining table, don’t worry as we have got you covered!
Last but not least, thank you for trusting and joining with us. Good luck!
