I’ve found that a lot of furniture proportions can be derived directly off the body, and most often can have a handspan as the common factor/module. For example, typical working counters are half your height (4 hand spans) and an arm deep (3 hand spans). Chairs are 2 handspans high; a step stool is one and so forth. Dining tables stumped me though. Best I could come up with his one hand width (not span) above your navel when sitting down. Not very precise, though—too many variables I think. The other night—the middle of the night–I realized you could just take half of your body height to your chin and it seems to work out fine for most folks. It comes out to be one half of five-sixths your height (or five-twelfths your full height). For example, a six foot tall person is five feet to under the chin; and one half of five feet is two and a half feet or thirty inches. (Also 5/12 X 72 = 30).Which is the most typical dining table height and too high for most woman and children. Guess who made up the standards?
4 thoughts on “Table Height Revelation!”
Brian Ashton
I expect that most people assume the modern kitchen counter is the height that is most comfortable for the average person. Not so. I have discovered that kitchen manufacturers designed counter heights to optimize the number of pieces they can get out of a 4 x 8 sheet. It would be difficult to go back to pre industrial times for a counter height because kitchens were different then. I redid my kitchen a couple years ago and what I worked out was to use commercial base cabinets (Ikea) but rather than using their feet I made a base out of 2 x 6 lumber and faced the kick plate with the hardwood I used on the floor. The counter height is dramatically higher than the norm but even my vertically challenged wife loves the new height. It would be interesting to explore the ratio of counter top to the average persons height. My best guess would be waist height, not wrist to floor. I believe many family cooks would have happier backs if counters were made to a properly proportioned height.
Brian Ashton
I expect that most people assume the modern kitchen counter is the height that is most comfortable for the average person. Not so. I have discovered that kitchen manufacturers designed counter heights to optimize the number of pieces they can get out of a 4 x 8 sheet. It would be difficult to go back to pre industrial times for a counter height because kitchens were different then. I redid my kitchen a couple years ago and what I worked out was to use commercial base cabinets (Ikea) but rather than using their feet I made a base out of 2 x 6 lumber and faced the kick plate with the hardwood I used on the floor. The counter height is dramatically higher than the norm but even my vertically challenged wife loves the new height. It would be interesting to explore the ratio of counter top to the average persons height. My best guess would be waist height, not wrist to floor. I believe many family cooks would have happier backs if counters were made to a properly proportioned height.
Jim Tolpin
Wrist height is where I locate my planing bench height. That’s way too low for most people (and me) as a general work surface. For that I go with half my height–and that seems good for most people. (which is why counters are standardized at three feet (or a little less)–half of six feet.
Brian Ashton
My mistake. I went back and checked and my counter is actually 37 1/2 ” from the floor. Like I said, a little higher than most and really comfortable to work at. Interesting, when I watched your video on work bench height. My kitchen counter is somewhere between your planning bench and your sawing bench. My handspan is 8″ so my counter is 4.68 handspans. 4 1/2 would have given me your 36″ counter. Just playing around my cubit is 18″ so 2 cubits and we’re back to 36″. I guess I just like my counter a little higher.