BH | Studio Caldera Round Dining Table

A caldera is the great round hollow at the heart of a volcano, and the name suits a table built around a single central form. Round dining tables on one pedestal became fashionable in Regency England, when hosts found that a table with no corners and no legs at the edge made for easier conversation, and the shape soon crossed the Atlantic to the dining rooms of Federal America. It is still the friendliest shape for a small dining room.

This table has a broad round top of wood veneer over a wood blend core, finished in a deep, dark walnut tone, smooth and easy to wipe down after meals. It rests on a wide drum pedestal wrapped in steel with a burnished brass-tone finish, lifted on a short, narrower neck so the top seems to float. The round top seats four to six, and with the base kept to the centre, chairs slide in and out freely and no one fights a table leg for room. It is rated to hold 198 lbs, and assembly is simple.

It suits a smaller dining room, a kitchen eating area or the dining end of an open-plan living space, seating four to six while the round shape keeps traffic moving. Use it for weekday dinners and for friends who stay late over a second bottle, with a low brass pendant above and a bowl of figs in the centre. Dark wood and warm metal look rich with cream bouclé chairs and a deep green wall.