The BeMade Journal

Guides to porcelain, sintered stone and the details that make a bespoke dining table worth living with.

Oval Calacatta Black porcelain dining table in a bright white room set for Christmas, with a fir and eucalyptus garland on the bare stone, white taper candles, tan leather chairs and a Christmas tree by the window

Room Design29 September 20267 min

Christmas Table Setting Ideas for a Stone Dining Table

Skip the tablecloth this year. Three Christmas schemes matched to the stone, how to set the table step by step, and what the surface can take on the day.

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Gloved hands polishing the edge of a large white marble-effect porcelain slab with a handheld polisher, water spraying across the wet stone, racked slabs in the workshop behind

Craft22 September 20268 min

Why BeMade: The Case for Your Bespoke Dining Table

Commissioning a table you have never touched takes trust. Here is exactly what sits behind ours: the materials, the stock, the samples, the showroom and the people.

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A hand gliding flat across a silk-finish porcelain dining table top, a soft band of window light rolling off the satin surface and fine grey veining showing beneath it

Materials17 September 20267 min

Polished, Silk or Natural: Choosing a Porcelain Finish

The same slab can read as glossy and dramatic, softly satin or quietly matte. Here is how each finish behaves in real light and real use, including what each one gets wrong.

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Five dining room flooring samples laid edge to edge on a pale background: wide-plank engineered oak, large-format porcelain tile, grey LVT plank, honed limestone and loop-pile wool carpet

Room Design10 September 20266 min

The Best Flooring for a Dining Room

Engineered wood, porcelain, LVT, stone or carpet. What each one does under a dining table, and how to set floor tone against table tone.

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Overhead view of a rectangular stone-effect dining table and six tucked-in chairs centred on a large flat-weave rug over an oak floor, with an even margin of rug on every side

Room Design1 September 20265 min

What Size Rug Goes Under a Dining Table

The 60cm rule that decides whether chairs stay on the rug, the pile that survives daily use, and how to keep chair legs off your floor.

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Six dining table surface samples fanned out on pale linen in raking daylight: travertine, white marble, green onyx, black with gold veining, concrete grey and walnut

Materials23 August 20266 min

Dining Table Materials and Finishes: Choosing the Right Character

Once the size and shape are settled, character does the rest. Travertine against marble, silk against polished, and how each choice behaves in daily use.

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Rectangular dining table with a stone-effect top and sculptural base in a panelled dining room lit by a chandelier

Buying Guides14 August 20266 min

How to Choose the Perfect Dining Table for Your Space

Proportion, clearance, shape and seating. The measurements that decide whether a dining table anchors a room or fights it.

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Rectangular porcelain dining table with a white marble-effect top on a sculptural X base in a sunlit dining room

Buying Guides5 August 20266 min

Porcelain vs Marble Dining Tables: Which Should You Choose?

Marble is beautiful and unforgiving. Porcelain gives you the same look with none of the anxiety. Here is the honest comparison before you commit to a surface.

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Overhead view of a hot cast iron pan set straight onto a pale marble-effect sintered stone table top, with a glass of red wine, a halved lemon and a chef's knife beside it and a cloth wiping away a water ring, the surface unmarked

Materials27 July 20266 min

What Is Sintered Stone? A Complete Guide to the Surface

How sintered stone is made, why it behaves so much like premium porcelain, and which of the two actually makes more sense for a dining table you use every day.

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