A sophisticated table setting can swiftly make any meal, from your regular weekday supper to a fancy dinner party, feel like a special occasion. It’s a simple way to show your guests that you value their company, and that the meal you are sharing is important to you.
That said, the complexity of your dinner table setting will depend on the occasion and the meal, as well as your personal preferences. The more courses and options, the more utensils you’ll need to arrange—and the more table-setting know-how you’ll want to acquire.
Our recommendation? Start with the basics and then build up complexity as needed. We’ll take you through three levels of formality so you can know how to set a table for any meal.
Bon appetit!
#1 Settings for Casual Occasions: Start with an Outline
If you want to present your guests with an informal table setting that's still neat and classy, you can start here. This is the ideal basic table layout for one-course meals, and it’s the outline upon which more complex settings, such as mixing china patterns, are based.
Follow these basic table setting guidelines for a casual occasion:
- Prepare your table. In a casual table setting, you can forgo the tablecloth and use a runner instead.
- Start with the dinner plate in the center.
- Forks, including the dinner fork, go on the left.
- Napkins go either left of the fork or underneath it.
- Knives, including the dinner knife, go on the right, blades turned toward the dinner plate.
- If there’s a spoon, it goes to the right of the knife.
- The water and wine glass (if needed) go in the upper right corner of the setting.
Our next two levels above the informal table setting—semi-formal and formal—both begin with this casual table shape, so it’s an excellent fundamental place setting to start with.
#2 How to Set a Table for Semi-Formal Arrangements: The Outside-In Rule
This level of formality is ideal for dinner parties or get-togethers where the vibe is somewhat casual, but you still want it to feel special. It’s primarily suited for two- and three-course meals.
The most important piece of new information for this level is the outside-in rule. Any time you’re serving multiple courses (think salad or soup before an entree), the utensils should be laid out so that guests use the outermost ones first and work their way inward.
Starting with the basic table setting from above, you can add these steps to take things up a notch:
- Place each utensil needed for appetizers on the outside of the existing utensils. The steak knife and other knives and spoons go on the right, and forks on the left.
- The napkin should be folded to the left of the forks, or in a napkin ring and placed on the central dinner plate.
- If the soup bowl will be served first, place a soup spoon to the far right.
- A salad plate with accompanying salad fork may be placed left of the forks.
- A bread plate and butter plate may be placed above the forks, with the butter knife pointing towards the meal so that the handle is easily reached.
The dessert plate and utensils can either be brought out before dessert or set with the rest of the meal's utensils. If you choose the latter, there are two options:
- Place the dessert fork on the left, innermost towards the plate, and the dessert spoon on the right, innermost of the spoons but before the knives.
- Place both fork and spoon horizontally above the plate. The spoon goes on top with its handle facing right, and the fork goes on the bottom with its handle facing left.
#3 Formal Table Setting Arrangements: Placing Everything You Need
If you’re planning a formal dinner occasion, you may be planning to serve more than three courses (at least an appetizer, entree, dessert and more) and your formal table setting will require several more utensils and dishes. To keep everything orderly and visually pleasing, it can help to take a few additional steps to keep your table from overwhelming with options.
Here are some tips for a formal table setting: