Balcony Table Size for Four People

2026年10月30日

Short answer: two people eat comfortably at a 70 cm round table; four need 90–100 cm of width. Then the floor tax: each chair needs 60 cm of pull-back depth behind it, and you want 10 cm between table edge and railing so nobody's elbow becomes street litter. On a typical 6 m² balcony, that maths means a 90 cm table and four chairs is not a dining set — it is a puzzle.

Shop the pieces in this guide

Set of 2 Steel Tables, Nesting, White — view product

Outdoor Metal Sectional Sofa Set Cushioned 2 Single Sofas — view product

The good news: balcony dining is more about shape than size. The right silhouette on the right balcony seats more people than a bigger table on the wrong balcony.

The size table, with the floor included

Table	Seats	Total floor footprint	Fits a balcony of
60–70 cm round	2	~1.9 × 1.9 m with chairs	3 m² and up
70 × 70 cm square	2, tight 4	~1.9 × 1.9 m	3.5 m² and up
90 cm round	4	~2.3 × 2.3 m	5 m² and up
90–100 × 60 cm rectangular	4	~2.2 × 1.8 m against a wall	5 m², long shape

That footprint column is where balcony dreams die: the table itself is half the story, the chairs-out position is the other half.

Shape beats size on a narrow balcony

A round table seats the same people in less perceived space because there are no corners to bruise hips on a 120 cm-wide balcony, and you can rotate it 15° to steal a few centimetres when someone squeezes past. A rectangular table pushed long-ways against the railing leaves the walking lane free — on a balcony 2.5 m or narrower, a wall-hugging rectangle beats a centred round every time. Folding and half-round balcony tables exist for exactly this: a wall-mounted drop-leaf gives you full dining when open and disappears when you want the floor back, and folding chairs with slim 25 cm frames stack behind the door.

The 10 cm railing gap

Keep 10 cm between the table edge and the railing, more if the railing is lower than 110 cm. It stops elbows knocking the rail, stops plates sliding into next door's geraniums, and — on anything above the ground floor — keeps the set outside the reach-over zone. Wind at height gets gusty: an umbrella-weighted tablecloth or anything lightweight on the table becomes a kite the first breezy evening.

Folding buys back 40%

A folding table plus stackable chairs reclaim about 40% of the floor when packed compared with a fixed set. If the balcony is your only outdoor space and you also want to dry laundry, do yoga or just stand, folding is not a compromise — it is the difference between using the balcony 200 days a year and navigating an obstacle course 200 days a year. The trade: folding joints are the first thing to fail, so check the locking mechanism yearly and never lean on a folded-open table edge with your full weight.

Materials on a balcony: shorter list than you think

Wind, sun and rain hit a balcony harder than a sheltered garden. Powder-coated metal, resin and PE rattan cope; thin glass tops are a pass (one dropped bottle ends the era); untreated wood greys within a season at height. If the balcony is covered, everything is forgiven — but most are not, so pick the set you are happy to wipe down after every rain spell, or store the cushions inside as a matter of routine.