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Dinner gets finished, the plates get cleared, and somehow everyone's still sitting there an hour later. That's what a dining table does in most hom...
Dinner gets finished, the plates get cleared, and somehow everyone's still sitting there an hour later. That's what a dining table does in most homes: it earns its space. It's not just where you eat, it's where homework gets done, where people catch up at the end of the day, where the house feels most like itself. Getting the right one, with chairs that actually work with it, matters more than most purchases you'll make for your home.
A dining set takes the guesswork out of matching. The table and chairs are chosen to work together in proportion, height and finish, so you're not sourcing them separately and hoping they'll sit right. Here you'll find sets across a range of sizes from compact two-seaters through to ten-seater tables for bigger gatherings, in marble, glass, ceramic and mirrored finishes, with velvet knocker-back and button-back dining chairs in a range of chair colours and styles.
Finance is available on many sets, subject to status. We deliver nationally across the UK, with dining sets arriving in around 28 days. If you'd like to see any of the sets in person before you order, our Manchester showroom carries a good selection and you're welcome to come in without any obligation.
Glass Dining Sets Marble Dining Sets Round Dining Sets Ariana Dining Sets Louis Dining Sets Denver Dining Sets Gold Dining Sets Chrome Dining Sets Mirrored Dining Sets Rectangle Dining Sets Square Dining Sets 2 Seater Dining Sets 4 Seater Dining Sets 6 Seater Dining Sets 8 Seater Dining Sets 10 Seater Dining Sets

What's in this collection

Our dining sets cover a wide range of materials, shapes and sizes, but our collection has a clear character: marble tables paired with velvet knocker-back or button-back chairs are the heart of it, and they're what most people arrive looking for. That combination, a natural stone top with a statement upholstered chair, has a particular quality that works well in a proper dining room and holds up to daily use better than it might look like it would. Our marble dining sets are the most popular choice by some distance, and most of them are paired with knocker dining chairs whose lion-knocker back detail suits the character of a marble surface well.

Beyond marble, we carry glass-topped sets for a lighter, more contemporary feel, ceramic sets which are among the most practical surfaces we stock for a busy household, and gold and mirrored sets for rooms where the dining area is meant to be a focal point rather than a functional afterthought. Our chrome sets sit at the more streamlined end of the scale. Rectangular tables make up the majority of our collection and suit most rooms, but we have round sets for smaller or squarer dining spaces, and square sets for compact rooms where a rectangular table would feel oversized.

Our seater count runs from two up to ten, covering everything from a kitchen-diner in a first home to a dedicated dining room that needs to handle a full family gathering.

Choosing the right size dining set

This is the question that catches most people out, and it's usually because they measure the table and forget about everything around it. The table is only part of the footprint. You also need room to pull a chair back, stand up, and move around behind someone who's still seated. The generally accepted clearance is around 90cm between the table edge and any wall or fixed furniture. It sounds generous until you're actually trying to navigate a narrow gap with a plate in each hand.

What that means in practice is that a 1.8m table needs a room that can give it roughly 3.6m of length along its main axis once both ends are accounted for, and comparable clearance on the sides. A 1.5m table needs around 3.3m. Smaller rooms often work better with a round table than a rectangular one, partly because round tables use corner space more efficiently, and partly because a round table for four takes up less effective floor area than a rectangular one of comparable capacity.

For most families of four who eat together daily and occasionally have guests, our 4 seater dining sets are the practical starting point. A table that seats four comfortably with room for an extra couple when needed suits the widest range of homes. If you regularly have six around the table or want the flexibility to host without it being a squeeze, a six-seater is worth the extra footprint if the room can carry it.

The other thing worth thinking about is how the room works day to day, not just at mealtimes. A dining table in an open-plan kitchen-diner often ends up being used for homework, working from home, or just as somewhere people gather. A table that's slightly smaller than the maximum the room can hold often makes the whole space work better than one that technically fits but starts to dominate. It's a common trade-off and one that's easier to get right before ordering than after. If you're unsure what size suits your room, give us a call or send us the dimensions and we can give you a straightforward answer.

Dining table materials: what suits your home

The material question is really two questions in one: what do you want the table to look like, and how much do you want to think about it day to day?

Marble looks the best of any surface we carry, and it's honest to say that's a big part of why people choose it. The natural veining means no two tables are identical, and in person the depth and texture of the stone is considerably more impressive than any photograph. The trade-off is that marble is a porous natural stone that can mark if it's not looked after: acidic spills left sitting on the surface, wine, citrus, fizzy drinks, can dull the finish over time. It's not difficult to manage, but it does ask you to be a bit more attentive than you would be with glass or ceramic. In a household with young children who are still at the age where drinks end up on their side regularly, that's worth factoring in.

Glass is the easy-going option. It doesn't react to food or drink, wipes clean without any effort, and the toughened glass we use in our dining tables is tougher than it looks. The transparency also keeps a room feeling open in a way that a solid surface doesn't, which makes a real difference in a smaller space. The honest downside is fingerprints, particularly on the underside where they're more effort to reach.

Ceramic is arguably the most practical surface in our collection. It handles heat, resists scratching, and doesn't react to spills. It tends to suit a contemporary interior and often comes in bolder tones and patterns. If a busy household and low maintenance are the priorities, ceramic is genuinely worth considering.

Gold and mirrored finishes are about presence and personality. They suit rooms with a more maximalist or decorative character, and they look particularly good with the right lighting. They do show marks and need wiping down regularly to stay looking their best, which is worth knowing before you decide rather than after.

Dining chairs: understanding your options

Chairs are half the purchase and they deserve as much thought as the table. The two most popular styles in our collection are knocker-back and button-back, both upholstered, and both well suited to the marble and glass tables they're most often paired with.

Knocker-back chairs take their name from the lion door-knocker hardware on the back panel. It's a distinctive, decorative detail that gives the chair a confident, statement quality: the kind of thing that makes the dining set feel like a deliberate choice rather than a functional one. They pair particularly naturally with marble tables, where both the table and the chair are leaning into the same instinct towards something classic and considered.

Button-back chairs have a quilted, tufted back panel that reads as softer and more structured. They're slightly more restrained than knocker-back but no less well-made, and they suit people who want the chair to feel considered without it being the loudest thing in the room.

Both styles are typically available in velvet upholstery, and velvet is a good choice for a dining chair that'll be used mostly by adults. It looks rich, it's comfortable, and it cleans up well enough with a soft brush and occasional spot treatment. It will flatten a little in the areas of heaviest contact over time, and it's more susceptible to marks than a plain weave fabric. If the chairs are going to be in daily use by young children, leather or a plain fabric might serve you better over the long run.

Chair colour matters more than people often expect. The upholstery colour and the leg finish both connect the chair back to other elements in the room, and getting that right makes the set feel like it belongs in the space rather than just sitting in it. If you're unsure what colour works with your room, it's one of the easier things to get a second opinion on before you order, and we're happy to help with that.

Spreading the Cost

Finance is available on many of our dining sets, subject to status. A dining table gets used every day and tends to stay in a home for a long time, so it's worth getting the right one rather than the nearest affordable one. Spreading the cost makes it easier to make that call, and the difference in longevity between a set you're genuinely happy with and one you're settling for tends to make it worthwhile. Finance options are shown on the individual product pages.

Why buy from Shawcross

We're based in Manchester with a showroom, and we deliver nationally across the UK. Our showroom is worth visiting for a purchase like this. Marble looks different in natural light to how it photographs, chairs feel different once you've sat in them, and the proportions of a set are much easier to judge when you're standing next to it. Come in without any obligation; plenty of people visit just to get a clearer sense of what they're choosing between, and that's a perfectly good reason to make the trip.

If you can't get in, we're happy to help over the phone or by email. Whether it's a question about room fit, the difference between two chair styles, or just working out which direction to go in, we'd rather you got the right thing than the wrong one.

Dining Set FAQs

Should I buy a dining set or choose a table and chairs separately?

A set is the simpler route for most people, and the practical advantages are real. The table and chairs have been chosen to work together in proportion, height and finish, so there's no risk of ending up with chairs that sit too low, a style that clashes, or a frame finish that doesn't quite match. For most buyers who don't have a strong reason to mix and match, a set removes a decision that's easy to get wrong.

Buying separately makes sense in a few specific situations. If you already own a table you're happy with and just need new chairs, that's an obvious one. If you've seen a particular table and a particular set of chairs that aren't sold together, and you're confident they'll work, there's no reason not to buy them separately. The dining tables collection covers the full table range without chairs if that's your starting point. Bear in mind that when you're mixing and matching, it's worth checking seat height against table height: the standard dining chair seat sits at around 45cm, and most dining tables are built to accommodate that, but it's worth confirming rather than assuming.

What size dining set do I need for my room?

The rule of thumb most designers and retailers use is 90cm of clearance between the edge of the table and any wall or piece of furniture. That sounds like a lot until you imagine trying to pull a chair back, stand up, and walk past someone who's still seated. With less than 90cm it starts to feel like an obstacle course. With more, it's comfortable.

What that means in practice: for a 1.5m rectangular table, you're looking at a minimum room length of around 3.3m along the table's axis once clearance is counted on both ends. For a 1.8m table, closer to 3.6m. Width needs the same treatment: a table that seats people on both long sides needs 90cm clear on each side, plus the width of the table itself and the depth of the chairs. It adds up faster than most people expect.

Round tables tend to suit smaller or squarer rooms better than rectangular ones because they use corner space more efficiently and feel less dominant at low occupancy. A round table for four takes up considerably less effective floor space than a rectangular table for four, even at a comparable diameter, because there are no dead corners with nobody sitting in them.

If you're working with a specific room and aren't sure what size works, send us the dimensions. It's one of the more common questions we get and it's a straightforward thing to help with before you order rather than after.

What's the difference between round, rectangular and square dining sets, and how do I choose?

Shape affects how a dining set lives in a room more than most people anticipate before they buy, and it's worth thinking through properly.

Rectangular tables are the most common choice and suit most rooms because they follow the natural proportions of a typical rectangular dining room or open-plan space. They seat people efficiently along both long sides, with the short ends available for additional seating when needed. For a household that regularly hosts, or where the table will flex between everyday use and larger gatherings, rectangular tends to be the most practical format.

Round tables work well in smaller or squarer rooms, and they have a social quality that rectangular tables don't: everyone is equidistant from everyone else, which makes conversation feel easier at a full table. There's no head of the table, which some households prefer. The trade-off is that a round table at larger sizes becomes very wide, making it harder to reach across to the centre, and the curved edge means you lose the option of pushing it against a wall when you need the space back.

Square tables occupy a middle ground. They work well for four people in a compact room, and they suit a square dining space particularly well because the geometry of the table and the room align. Past four or six seats a square table becomes impractically wide for the same reason as a large round, so they tend to suit smaller households or rooms where space is limited in both directions.

If you're unsure which shape suits your room, it helps to mark the table's footprint out on the floor with masking tape before you order. Add 90cm clearance on each side and end, and see what's left. The answer usually becomes clear quickly.

How do I know which dining set will work with the rest of my room?

The most reliable approach is to start with what's already fixed in the room: the flooring, the walls, any fitted furniture, and the amount of natural light the room gets. These things won't change when the dining set arrives, so the set needs to work with them rather than against them.

Dark marble or glass tables tend to read better in rooms with good natural light or pale walls, because the depth of the material gets the contrast it needs to look intentional. In a north-facing room with limited light, a very dark surface can make the space feel heavier than it should. A lighter marble or a glass top will keep the room feeling open.

Gold or mirrored finishes add a lot of visual presence and work well in rooms that lean into a maximalist or statement look: high ceilings, feature walls, decorative lighting. In a pared-back or Scandi-influenced interior they can feel out of place. Chrome and glass combinations tend to suit contemporary, minimal spaces better.

Chair colour and upholstery matter more than people often realise. A grey velvet chair reads very differently against a white marble top than against a black one, and the chair leg finish ties the set back to other metals or tones in the room. If you have brass or gold fittings elsewhere, a gold-frame chair set creates a thread through the room. If everything else is brushed steel or matte black, chrome or dark-frame chairs will sit more naturally.

If you're in any doubt, a visit to our Manchester showroom is genuinely useful for this kind of decision. Seeing the materials in person, and being able to hold fabric samples up to your phone photos of your room, makes the call considerably easier than trying to judge it from product photography alone.

Can I use different chairs to the ones shown in a set?

Yes, and it's a common thing to do. The sets here show particular table and chair combinations, but if you prefer a different chair style with a given table, that's straightforward. The practical considerations are seat height, which should be around 45cm from the floor to sit comfortably at a standard dining table, and frame finish, where matching or deliberately contrasting the chair legs to the table base tends to look more intentional than an accidental near-miss.

If you're looking at a marble table and considering different chairs to the ones shown, it's worth thinking about what the chair legs are doing in the room. A gold-legged chair next to a gold-frame marble table works. A chrome-legged chair next to the same table also works if that's deliberate. What tends to look unfinished is two similar but not identical metal tones that weren't consciously chosen together. If you're mixing, either match closely or go for a deliberate contrast.

We're happy to talk through chair combinations if you're not sure what'll work. It's easier to get a second opinion before ordering than to realise the combination isn't quite right once it's in the room.

How does delivery work, and can I see dining sets in person first?

We deliver nationally across the UK. Once your order is placed you'll receive a confirmation, and we'll be in touch closer to the time to arrange a delivery date that suits you. Dining sets are delivered in around 28 days. The furniture arrives in components and will be assembled in your home by the delivery team. If there's anything about your property worth knowing in advance, such as a narrow hallway or restricted parking, let us know when you order so the delivery team can prepare.

If you'd prefer to see dining sets in person before you commit, our Manchester showroom carries a good selection and you're welcome to come in without any obligation. It's worth the trip for a purchase like this: marble looks quite different in natural light to how it photographs, chairs tell you a lot more once you've sat in them, and the proportions of a set make more sense when you're standing next to it. Call ahead if you'd like to confirm whether a specific set is currently on the showroom floor before making the journey.