Meeting Room & Boardroom Tables

Narbutas Parthos Meeting Table on PET Felt Upholstered columns with red chairs

Do you need a Boardroom Table or general Meeting Tables? Or perhaps mobile stacking tables for flexible meeting spaces, conferences and training? We have a range of tables which serve specific purposes as well as broader general requirements such as dining, breakout, open plan meeting spaces and drop-in or touchdown working.

We still do the same beautifully crafted traditional tables in exotic wood veneers with inlays and cross-banding that we’ve been supplying for many years. There’s a place for them in many a prestigious boardroom and executive office, but today there is an increasing shift from ‘elaborate’ to ‘simplicity’ and ‘fixed-purpose’ to ‘versatility’. Furthermore, there’s a growing need for tables (rather than desks) in the office in order to fulfil the trend towards collaborative spaces and drop-in working.

So, we offer a broad selection of styles, sizes and types in low cost MFC finishes to laminates and natural wood veneers.  We have something to suit the needs and budget of most organisations, big and small.  Here is a selection of our popular ranges.

Bespoke Wood Veneer Boardroom Tables

Our bespoke range of boardroom tables are made in the UK and are very competitively priced indeed. Based on a substantial 38mm thick wood-veneered table top with solid timber edging, these tables can be made to a size, shape and specification of your choice from a wide variety of natural wood veneers. Here are a few examples of tables of different shapes and different leg styles in a variety of single and multiple veneer designs, but they can be made in any combination of shape, size, wood veneer finish and leg or base profile. Typically these are around 120cm wide and any length you need from about 160cm to many metres long.

Oracle-Slab-Base_Glass-Inlay_Walnut.Rectangular Boardroom Table. Slab Base. Walnut Veneer. Illuminated Panel
Oracle_Slab-Base_Walnut-with-Special-InlaysRectangular Boardroom Table. Slab Base. Walnut. Special Inlays
Oracle_Square-Base_Walnut Rectangular Boardroom Table. Square Base. Wenge Veneer
Oracle_5_260pxDual-curved Boardroom Table. Cylindrical Bases.Cross-Banded Maple
Oracle_4_260pxBarrel Shaped Boardroom Table. Arrowhead Bases. Oak & English Pippy Oak Inlay
Oracle_3_260pxBarrel Shaped Boardroom Table. Trefoil Bases. Oak & English Pippy Oak Inlay
Oracle_6_260pxOval Boardroom Table. Conical Wooden Bases. Dual Walnut & Maple Veneers
Oracle_7_260pxRounded-end Boardroom Table. Cylindrical Wooden Bases. Swiss Pear & Maple Veneers
Oracle_1_260pxBarrel Shaped Boardroom Table. Aerofoil Wooden Bases. Maple & Walnut Veneers
Oracle_8_260pxRectangular Boardroom Table. Polished Chromed Bases
Oracle_9_260pxRectangular Boardroom Table. Conical Wooden Bases
Oracle_10_260pxRectangular Boardroom Table. Cylindrical Wooden Bases
Oracle-AV-2_390pxAudio Visual Conferencing Table in Maple with Madrona inlays. TV on powered monitor lift concealed within base
Specially adapted V shaped table for Video Conferencing and audio visual Video Conferencing Table in Maple with Madrona inlays. TV on powered monitor lift concealed within base

Bespoke-Large-Table

Boardroom Table in Maple with Walnut Inlays and Aerofoil style bases

What Size Meeting Table Do I Need?

There are no fixed rules as it depends on what the table is being used for.  Anyway, the amount of space you have within the room may well be the limiting factor, but here are the main considerations you might want to make.

Comfort
It’s not at all helpful that us suppliers suggest different seating capacities for any given size of table,  so why is that?  Well, it’s simply that some will state the physical capability and others will allow for varying degrees of comfort – and comfort is a matter of opinion and circumstance.  For instance, a closer cosier spacing might be considered acceptable for informal meetings with colleagues but inappropriate for boardroom or client meetings.

As an example, let’s take a table of 2m in length and 1m in width being used with simple armless conference chairs that are 50cm wide.  If we were to consider only the physical size of the chair and place them tightly together side by side, then theoretically we’d get 4 chairs along each side of the table and 2 chairs at each end giving us a total table capacity of 12!  But this is an extreme interpretation and in practice it simply wouldn’t be feasible. It would be difficult getting the chairs in and out and people would be sitting elbow to elbow/knee to knee. Therefore, our suggestion is as follows:-

As a general rule of thumb, if asked, we always suggest a minimum of 80 cm linear table width per seated position.

 

Chair Size
Regardless of comfort levels, the size and type of chair you are using should be considered.  There can be a considerable difference in width between one chair and another as illustrated left showing 2 of the chairs we offer that are used in meeting and boardroom environments.  These are just 2 examples and some chairs can be even wider or narrower.  It’s important then that the chairs will actually fit if you are opting for a more cosy configuration.

Circular Tables
The same principles apply to round tables.  You can work out the circumference (diameter x 3.14) to get the total edge length and use the general rules of thumb above.  HOWEVER, you need to bear in mind that although upper body contact is not such an issue, foot and leg contact beneath the table is far more likely because people will all be seated with their legs angled towards a central point. The closer they sit to the edge of the table the more pronounced the problem becomes.

The Optimal Position of Meeting Table Legs

The type and position of table legs or bases may well determining how many people you can seat at the table. It could also impact on comfort.

The most versatile design incorporates legs or bases that are inset from the edge of the table top at both the sides and at the ends. This means that users can sit in any position without leg obstruction.

MFC, HPL or Natural Wood Veneer?

Office tables are widely available in MFC (melamine faced chipboard), HPL (high pressure laminate) and Natural Wood (real wood) Veneers.  There are pros and cons to all, and choosing the most appropriate finish comes down to practicality, durability, appearance and cost.

Natural Wood Veneer is usually the highest cost – sometimes considerably so – and most would agree that it has the most attractive appearance. However, it is the least robust of all and is highly susceptible to scratching, pitting or denting and marking (e.g. staining from hot drinks cups). Therefore, it needs to be used in the right environment where it can be treated with care and is perhaps used less frequently – in a boardroom or executive office for example.  A beautiful and expensive wood veneered meeting table can very quickly become worn and tired if used in the wrong environment.

MFC is the most widely used finish surface for office furniture.  This is because it is reasonably robust, easy to produce and is the lowest in cost.  MFC is available in a vast array of colourways and textures, ranging from solid colours to imitation wood effects. Many years ago most of the wood effect finishes didn’t look very realistic, but today’s MFCs are a different story and it is often very difficult to spot the difference between natural wood and MFC without close inspection.  Most look very realistic indeed and some even have a grain texture to them.  Perhaps though, the giveaway can be a slight plastic appearance to the edging strip which is a different harder wearing material to MFC and is necessary to cover the chipboard core because the melamine can not ‘wrap around’ the edge of the table.  So, MFC is reasonably hardwearing, certainly far more so than natural wood veneers, but can still be scratched and pitted with heavy use.

HPL (High Pressure Laminate) looks exactly like MFC but is much harder wearing. HPL is generally used for kitchen counter tops because it is far more resistant to scratching, heat and pitting than MFC. On office tables, HPL is often applied to an MDF rather than a chipboard core and this means that there is no need for an edging strip because the bare MDF can be varnished, stained or polished, and is often chamfered to create an elegant, slimline appearance. Just like MFC, the wood-effect finishes can look pretty realistic.

Modular & Mobile Stacking Tables

Flexibility in today’s office is all important. The need to adapt the usable space in an instant to accommodate fewer or a greater number of people for a seated meeting, or to clear the space of tables to make way for a seminar/conference chair layout or a reception, or to create a different shape of table layout to accommodate a specific type of conference – all requiring foldable modular type tables which are easy to wheel from one part of the building to another, and which take up minimal space when not in use.

Octopus Interiors offers a range of modular meeting tables in a variety of styles, shapes and sizes which address the flexible space issue for both large and small organisations.  These range from quality but plain through to elaborate wood veneer tops with decorative inlays and chrome frames for the more prestigious environment.

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Contact Us
Octopus Interiors Limited: 27 Hertford Avenue, London SW14 8EF | Phone: 020 7367 0800 | E-mail: info@octopusinteriors.com



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