About Dinner Table Place Settings

You've planned the perfect meal, so you will want to make sure your table presentation enhances the offering. Whether it is a romantic dinner for two or an everyday meal with your family, make meal time special by setting a beautiful table and place setting. Does this Spark an idea?

The Foundation

Covering your table with a tablecloth protects its finish and adds a decorative touch that makes even an ordinary meal special. Tablecloths are relatively inexpensive and can be thrown in the laundry.
Use a placemat for each guest If your table is large enough to accommodate them.
You may also want to use chargers. A charger is a slightly larger plate than a dinner plate. Coordinate chargers with complementary colors to your placemat and dish pattern. Center the charger on the placemat.

China

Place the dinner plate in the center of the place setting and a smaller bread plate to its upper left. Place the butter knife across the top of the butter plate. If soup or salad is being served, place the bowl or plate either in the center of the dinner plate or to its right.

Napkins

Place the napkin where it can be easily accessed, either in the empty water glass, under the utensils to the left of the dinner plate or directly on the dinner plate. There are some very creative methods of folding napkins (see Resources).

Utensils

A plethora of utensils exist for every imaginable use: butter knives, soups spoons, salad forks, steak knives, desert forks and fish knives.
Arrange the dining utensils so the user can start on the outside and work their way through the utensils toward the plate. For instance, the salad fork will be used before the main course, so the salad fork is the furthest from the plate to the left.
Set two forks to the left of the plate. The outside fork is the smaller salad fork. The larger fork, used for eating the main meal, should be closest to the dinner plate. To the right of the dinner plate, the knife goes closest to the plate and a spoon to the right of the knife. A larger, soup spoon is placed to the far right as it will be the utensil used first from those on the right. If you are serving a desert, you can place a third fork directly next to the plate or lengthwise across the top of the plate.

Finishing Touches

Candles and flowers add the finishing touches. You do not want the height of the centerpiece to block guest's views of each other. Use your creativity with grasses, roses, leaves, herbs or cut flowers from your own garden. Be sure to add the salt and pepper, and you have a perfectly dressed dining table.