The search for the elusive kitchen table

I've been searching for months now for the perfect kitchen table for the new house.  I had an idea in my mind of what I wanted and I was having the hardest time finding the exact thing.  Tables were either too long, too short, not the right color, or not the right finish.  In case any of you are working through this same dilemma right now, I wanted to share the rabbit trails that I went down to find our table!

I determined from early pictures of kitchens that I wanted a built in banquette seating area on one side of the kitchen table with an upholstered back.  I love the look of this and thought it would be good for growing kids.  But we didn't have a table picked out when we drew our plans so our architect just gave us the biggest banquette area that we could fit.  These were two of my favorite inspiration pictures for this area.

Source: postcardfromparis.com via Tales of a on Pinterest

Source: houseandhome.com via Tales of a on Pinterest

As you can see, they both required a rectangular table.  And the top picture was the type of table that I wanted. One like the reclaimed wood tables from Restoration Hardware.

Trestle Salvaged Wood Extension Table from Restoration Hardware

But that table had some negatives to it.  #1 - It was pricey.  #2 - The reviews that I had read online about it weren't fantastic and a lot of people mentioned it would warp easily.  #3 - It was totally unfinished wood so spills, stains, etc (which are very common with little ones) might end up ruining the table or have me stressing over keeping it in tip top shape.

So I started searching far and wide for a table that would fit our size (it needed to be around 72" long to leave people room to get into the banquette), style (it needed to be trestle to, again, let people get into the banquette), and budget/quality ratio.

Most of the tables that I found from reputable furniture designers (Four Hands, Gabby, etc) were all way too large for our space.  So I started searching online and found some links to Amish furniture craftsmen who could make essentially what I was looking for.  But when I got through the actual selection of what I wanted I found that those tables were even more than the Restoration Hardware ones! (Although, to be fair, they were finished instead of unfinished.)

Some of the tables that I considered were the Del Ray Rectangular Table, Trestle Table,  Turino Dining Set, Austin Trestle Table,  Old English Pine Trestle Table, and World Market's Arcadia Extension Table.  All of these I was concerned with quality or bad reviews or it just wasn't exactly what I was picturing for our table.  So I kept looking.  I finally stumbled upon a furniture store called Zin Home.  I did some checking online and they appeared to be a reputable brick and mortar furniture store in New Jersey.  I then found our new table, the Kingdom Oak Trestle Dining Table.

It was on sale with free shipping and got great reviews so I went ahead and purchased it.  I am so excited to get it in the house and start enjoying it!  Hopefully it will be the perfect addition to our new kitchen!