BH | Studio Hambledon 72-Inch Marble-Top Dining Table

A stone-topped table is one of the grandest things a dining room can hold. Marble slabs on wooden bases graced eighteenth-century dining rooms and sideboards, and green marble has been prized since Roman times, when it was quarried in Greece and carried by sea to Rome.

The middle size, it lays a long slab of deep bottle green marble, veined in pale grey, across two broad hardwood panels finished in warm chestnut. The panels are made from kiln-dried wood, so they stay stable. A slim vertical gap splits each one, the edges are eased round, the top is secured with metal plates, and adjustable padded feet sit underneath to set it level and protect the floor. It seats six to eight, no two stone tops are quite alike, and assembly is easy.

This is the table for dinner parties as well as weeknight meals, big enough for six every day and eight when friends come. It belongs in a dining room with dark walls and candlelight, set with white plates, green glass and a low arrangement of ferns down the centre. Pull up tailored upholstered chairs for a formal look, or mismatched bentwood ones for a relaxed one. Brass, smoked glass and a deep red rug bring out the richness of the stone.