Must Have Dining Table Accessories for 2025

For those that own one, a dining table could serve as a centerpiece for the dining room or kitchen or even the living room, depending on the area of your home. This means, your dining table should also appear neat and welcoming both to household members and guests.
 
As a matter of fact, a well decorated dining table can enhance the overall décor and ambience of your home, regardless it’s a compact apartment in overtly urban settings or a relaxed home somewhere in the backwaters of this country. And there’re several ways to decorate a dining table while ensuring it blends well with the overall décor.

This is possible through dining table accessories that’re available both online. Broadly speaking, I would recommend all households that do own a dining table to own two or even more distinct sets of these accessories. 

And there’re several reasons I make such a suggestion from my personal experience.

To fully comprehend my suggestions, let me ride you through some of the broad ways we Indians utilize our dining tables.

History of Dining Tables in India

For those uninitiated, dining tables originated in India and not in the western world, as commonly believed. Excavations of the Indus Valley Civilization in India and Pakistan reveal, stone and wood dining tables were in use as early as 3300 BC or over 5,000 years ago, when the western world was not even civilized. For your information, the first traces of civilization in Europe emerged only 2700 BC and then too, they weren’t as advanced as dwellers of Harappa and Moen-Jo-Daro, to be precise.

Therefore, owning a dining table isn’t any foreign concept imported into India by colonial invaders.

Similarly, dining table accessories existed in India since thousands of years. In those days too, they were made of materials such as fabric, animal skin and leather or treated tree barks, among others.

In fact, it’s believed that the ancient foreign rulers of India such as the Mughals began using dining table after finding they were ubiquitous across the subcontinent. They dispensed with the practice of sitting on elevated platforms on floor for meals and quickly adopted dining tables due to convenience.

Till date, the evolution of the humble dining table continues in India with newer types churned out to match rapid, widespread modernization of this country and needs of the population based on various metrics such as smaller dwellings to ease of shifting.

Reasons to Use Dining Table Accessories

You might wonder what’s the use of knowing the history of dining tables for buying accessories. In simple words, the two are connected. The history of dining tables in India is intricately connected to the way we’re using them, till date.

Here’s how.

In India, a dining table serves various purposes as it has been doing over centuries.  A dining table serves as a gathering place for the household or a venue at our homes for entertaining guests. 

Secondly, a dining table is also used to display something to our household members or visitors because it provides a superb and prominent platform.

Other than these, students use a dining table instead of study tables for doing homework or studying. A family gathers around their dining table for shared meals and bantering. 

Additionally, dining tables also feature prominently in festival celebrations when sweets and savories are laid out for guests to partake.

Furthermore, in India, a dining table serves as platform for various containers ranging from liquor bottles to jars of pickles, vinegars, sauces and seasonings. Sometimes, a dining table is also used for religious ceremonies. It could be used by kids for arts and crafts.

As you can see and possibly imagine, a dining table in India has infinite uses, each depending on the household that owns one.

Additionally, we have dining tables at offices too. Dining tables are commonplace at restaurants and venues such as party halls or expo centers. This makes the dining table a very desirable article of furniture in India.

Must Have Dining Table Accessories

Since we’re now aware of the importance of a dining table at our home or even office and business, here’s a list of some must have accessories. Using these accessories could lend your dining table that neat, inviting look while syncing with the overall décor of a room and concealing any flaws including scratches and stains.

1. Tablecloth

A tablecloth is the best accessory to have for any dining table. These are available in various shapes, sizes and colors. Tablecloth in modern times are made of cotton, linen, polyester-cotton blends, jute, bamboo, river reeds, faux leather as well as plastic. You can utilize one or more of these types for a dining table.

There’re several purposes a tablecloth serves: it conceals any unseeming flaws on the tabletop such as scratches, stains, uneven surfaces, inherent patterns and cracks, if any. Additionally, a tablecloth also protects your dining table from these elements by serving as a barrier over the tabletop. 

In India, we’re fortunate enough to have a wide assortment of tablecloth that match all purposes and suit each budget. They’re easily available online. However, it’s worthwhile to buy a superb tablecloth from any best brand to get value for money and desired results.

2. Table Runners

Table runners are long, rectangular pieces of fabric of other materials. Unlike the tablecloth, they don’t cover the entire tabletop. Instead, they form the centerpiece of the table and often are used jointly with a tablecloth. However, if need be, you can deploy a table runner without any other accessories.

A table runner serves multiple purposes. They’re very useful to highlight food or other stuff placed on the dining table since their designs, patterns and colors are generally different and match the table or tablecloth. Table runners also help prevent stains from food and drink. They’re very useful if you’re serving a buffet meal for self-service during a party or event or even your routine meals with family.

Table runners are generally made of slightly thicker material. They come in cotton, linen, poly-cotton blends, faux leather, waterproof and water-resistant as well as in natural materials such as river reeds or river grass, bamboo, pineapple or fruit fiber, tree bark and other such stuff. You can get both, ordinary table runners as well as very pricey designer ones.

3. Tablemats/ Placemats

Tablemats or placemats as they’re called are unfortunately the most neglected dining table accessory in India. That’s because most people aver, a dining cloth provides adequate protection and décor to their dining table and hence, spending more isn’t really needed. However, using placemats or tablemats has its own unique advantages.

Generally, tablemats are meant to be heat resistant and hence, you can place hot cooking vessels and pans on these directly. But before doing so, ensure that your placemats are indeed heat resistant and insulative. Secondly, tablemats also enhance the décor and serve as a buffer between diners and the tablecloth. Meaning, if food and drink spills, it would most likely fall on the placemat, sparing the table cloth.

Placemats also are made of various materials such as bamboo, fruit yarn, river grass or reeds, heatproof beads, cotton and linen or even faux leather, depending on the purpose. They’re available for all tastes and match every budget. You can also change tablemats frequently to match mood or for a special occasion or celebration, instead of changing the tablecloth and table runner.

Using these three must have dining table accessories would not only protect your dining table against stains and spills but also help conceal any snags and table legs, where needed.

Wrap Up

Therefore, I encourage you to own all these three dining table accessories for your homes and offices. A dining table usually evokes happy memories and heralds happy time too. These must have accessories for your dining table will help enhance that joy further, without burning a hole in your pocket.