HOW TO SET A PROPER TABLE
The one unbreakable rule for how to set
a dinner table is
that everything must be geometrically spaced - all places must
be at equal distances, and all sterling silver flatware
balanced.
| A: Napkin |
B: Service Plate |
| C: Soup bowl on plate |
D: Bread and butter plate w/ butter
knife |
| E. Water glass |
F: White wine |
| G: Red wine |
H: Fish fork |
| I: Dinner Fork |
J: Salad fork |
| K: Service knife |
L: Fish knife |
| M: Soup spoon |
N: Dessert spoon and cake fork |
SILVERWARE
The silverware used at a formal table setting should be
sterling silver flatware. It is not necessary that all
the sterling silver match, although all forks or all spoons
should be of the same pattern. Dessert sterling silver
flatware, which is not brought to the table but is brought in
with the desert plates, need not match the dinner
flatware. Knives and forks should match.
INDIVIDUAL PLACE SETTINGS
The distance between places at the table set must
never be so short that guests have no elbow room. About
two feet from plate center to plate center is ideal. If
the chairs have narrow and low backs, people can sit much
closer together. The service plates are first put around
the table at equal distances. The sterling silver
flatware is placed in the order of its use, with the
implements to be used first farthest from the plate. The
salad fork is placed next to the left of the plate, then the
meat fork. Just to the right of the plate is the salad
knife and on the outside is the meat knife. The cutting
edge of each toward the plate. Outside the knives are
the soup spoon. Dessert spoons and forks are brought in
on the dessert plate just before dessert is served.
If bread or rolls are to be served, a butter
plate should be used. The butter plate is located above
the forks at the left of the place setting. The
butter knife is laid across it, slightly diagonally from upper
left to lower right, with the sharper edge of the blade toward
the edge of the table.
The wineglasses chosen
for the formal table setting depend upon the menu,
but their table setting arrangement is according to size, so
that little ones are not hidden behind large ones. Place
them directly above the knives in a straight row slanting
downward from the upper left. Generally only one - at
the most, two - wines are served, so a water goblet and one
(or two) wineglasses are all that are necessary.
Frequently wine is not served at all, and iced-tea glasses or
simply tumblers for water or mugs for beer are
used.
If you plan to serve coffee with the meal, the
cup and saucer go to the right of the setting, with the coffee
spoon on the right side of the saucer.
Follow the above rules and your formal
table setting will always fit proper dinner table etiquette.
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