How is set a table

The napkin should be ideally made of cloth. Place the plate in the center of the placemat. It should cover just the right side of the napkin. If you want to have a fancy setting, use ceramic plates. Place the dinner fork and salad fork on the napkin. The dinner fork should be very close to the plate without touching it, and the salad fork should be just a centimeter or so to the left of the dinner fork. The tines of the forks should be pointing away from the diner.

You would have your salad before your dinner, and you should eat from the outside in, using the utensils from left to right, so the salad fork would go to the left of the dinner fork. Remember that you should be eating with the utensils from the outside in, starting with the ones on the outside of the plate and working your way closer to the plate until the end of the meal.

Place the knife to the right of the plate. The knife should be pointing away from the diner and the cutting edge should be facing the plate. If you sit down and mimic the gesture, you'll see that you would pick up the fork with your left hand and the knife with your right, so that's where each utensil should go.

Place the teaspoon to the right of the knife. The teaspoon will be used for stirring coffee or tea at the end of the meal. Place the soup spoon to the right of the teaspoon.

Do this if the first course will be soup, so that this will be the first utensil you pick up when you have your soup. Place the wine glass on the top right corner of the placemat. To place an additional glass for water, just position it above and to the left of the drinking glass. The tip of the knife should be pointing to the water glass. Add any additional plates and utensils that you may need.

If your meal includes more courses or items, you may need to add the following additional plates and utensils: A bread and butter plate and knife. Place this small round plate about five inches above the forks. Place a small knife horizontally over the plate, with the blade facing to the left.

A dessert fork and spoon. Place the small dessert fork and spoon horizontally a few inches above the plate, with the spoon on top of the fork facing left, and the fork facing right. A coffee cup. Place the coffee cup over a small saucer a few inches above the outermost utensil on the left and a few inches to the left of it.

A red and white wine glass. If you have two different glasses , then the white wine glass will be the one closer to the guest, and the red wine glass will be slightly above and to the left of the white wine glass.

You can remember this because guests should move from white to red wine. Method 2. Put the placemat in the center of the table. The placemat can be more casual than it would be for a formal table. A solid-colored cloth placemat will do. Put the napkin to the left of the placemat. You can fold a cloth or a paper napkin in halves or fourths. Put the plate in the center of the placemat.

The plate doesn't have to be ornate or elaborate. Just try to use matching plates for all of the settings. Place the dinner fork to the left of the plate.

You'll only need to use one fork for a casual meal. The blade of the knife should face the plate, just as it would in a formal setting. Place the soup spoon to the right of the knife. If no soup will be served with the meal, then eliminate this utensil. Place the dessert spoon horizontally above the plate, facing left. The dessert spoon should be substantially smaller and less concave than the soup spoon.

Place the dessert fork parallel to and below the dessert spoon, facing right. The dessert fork should be substantially smaller than the dinner fork.

It should be directly below the dessert spoon without touching it. Place the wine glass a few inches above and to the left of the soup spoon.

For a more casual setting, the wine glass can be stemless. Place the water glass a few inches above the soup spoon.

It should be placed further back than the wine glass, and to the left of the wine glass. Real Simple home editor Stephanie Sisco says the biggest difference between a casual table and a formal table is the use of chargers, also known as presentation plates. Traditionally, formal place settings also tend to forgo placemats, but she says you can opt to use a round placemat underneath a charger for an even more formal look.

A formal table setting includes many pieces: a tablecloth, chargers, dinner plates, soup bowls, salad plates, bread plates, napkins, salad forks, dinner forks, knives, soup spoons, butter knives, dessert spoons, water glasses, red wine glasses, and white wine glasses. Though this may sound overwhelming, if you know how to set a casual table, it's a very easy leap to knowing how to set a table with charger plates.

To see all of this in motion, check out this video on how to lay out a proper table setting. After the soup course is complete and the bowls are cleared, a salad plate will take the soup bowl's position. Traditionally, a charger holds the spot for the dinner plate, and is removed after the salad course so the place is never bare.

If you do not want to clear the table after the soup course and bring out dinner plates, you can place a dinner plate on top of the charger. Save FB Tweet More. How to Set a Table, diagram of how to set a table properly.

Getty Images. Credit: Getty Images. Basic Table Setting. Credit: RealSimple. Lay the placemat on the table. Put the dinner plate in the middle of the placemat. Lay the napkin to the left of the plate. Place the fork on the napkin. To the right of the plate, place the knife closest to the plate, blade pointing in. Place the spoon to the right of the knife.

Note: The bottoms of the utensils and the plate should all be level. Place the water glass slightly above the plate, in between the plate and the utensils, about where 1 p. How to Set a Casual Table. Place the salad plate on top of the dinner plate. A second rule, with only a few exceptions, is: Forks go to the left of the plate, and knives and spoons go to the right.

The oyster fork is the only fork placed to the right of the setting if it will be used. Finally, only set the table with utensils you will use. Not serving soup? Then, no soup spoon for you. A formal affair, and menu, however will necessitate a few more utensils and a bit of style thrown in to properly pull off a fancy at-home meal. That being said, many skilled hosts have been able to pull off a formal meal with limited tableware by putting practicality first and utilizing a dash of creativity and maybe some very quick dish washing between courses.

Here are few basics along with links to more details to help you set your table. The basic or casual table setting can be even more casual than what is pictured here. Many families and restaurants regularly set the table casually in one of two ways. To the right of the plate is the knife blade facing in toward the fork and plate and a spoon if necessary set to the right of the knife. The water glass is placed above the knife or at 45 degree angle to the right of the knife.

The informal or semi-formal place setting is fairly basic and setting it will depend on personal style, the courses you are serving, and what you have to work with for utensils, dishware, and glassware.

Take note that the dessert utensils can either be brought out with dessert or set above the setting during the entire meal. If set for the entire meal the fork is placed so that the handle is pointing toward the left and the spoon sits above the fork with its handle facing to the right. The butter knife is placed on the butter plate with the blade facing in toward the diner. The table setting is mostly designed for right-hand dominant diners and thus the handle of the butter knife is placed so that it points to the right.

This makes it easier for the right-handed diner to pick up the knife in the their right hand.