BH | Studio Malton Rectangular Dining Table

The long kitchen table has been the working heart of the farmhouse for as long as there have been farmhouses, and in the farm kitchens of the English north it was where bread was kneaded, accounts were done and everyone ate together. Scandinavian makers of the mid-twentieth century kept that plain, sturdy idea and softened it, rounding the corners and letting the grain of the wood do the decorating.

This rectangular table has a thick top with softly rounded corners, which are kind to hips in a busy kitchen, on four stout, cylindrical legs of solid hardwood. The top is a wood veneer finished in Honey, a warm golden tone, or in Jet, and the legs carry non-marking glides. It seats six comfortably, or eight when the whole family comes, and it is rated to hold 300 lbs. Assembly is required.

Set it in a farmhouse kitchen with a bench down one side and chairs on the other, a long runner and a bowl of apples, or in a dining room where it holds homework, jigsaws and dinner in turn. In a big open-plan room it can double as a workspace by day. With woven cord chairs, white crockery and a linen pendant shade, it gives the easy Scandinavian farmhouse look, warm in winter and fresh in summer.