Every year, the holiday season rolls around and people find themselves hosting out-of-town friends and extended family. Do you always find yourself needing more seating in your crowded dining room during the holidays? Or perhaps, you simply have a growing family and you need room for just a couple more at your kitchen or dining table. Regardless of why you need more table space, the solution is the same – the table leaf.
Customers often come into our showroom asking about expandable dining tables and tables with leaves. However, they usually have questions or don’t know about all the options available to them. What is a table leaf? What are the different kinds of table leaves? What is a drop leaf, butterfly leaf, or draw leaf, how are they different, and how do they work?
With over three decades experience furnishing dining rooms and kitchens, our experts here at Woodstock Furniture & Mattress Outlet want to cut to the chase and answer all of your table leaf FAQs. Afterwards, you’ll be better equipped to know which type of dining table or leaves you’re looking for. Read on for everything you need to know about table leaves and expandable tables.
Table Leaf General FAQs
What Is a Table Leaf?
Sure, this seems like a basic question – and it is. However, if you’ve never had a dining table with a leaf or other expanding table before, it’s an important definition to know. So, what is a table leaf?
In any expandable table, the table leaf is the additional piece (or pieces) used to increase the table’s usable surface area. In other words, a table leaf is simply the part that makes the table larger. As you might expect, the plural of leaf is leaves.
As we’ll dive into below, leaves can be made to be completely removable, stored inside the table, or attached to the table by hinges or other mechanisms. They can also be situated in the center of the table, on the ends, or on the sides.
Why Is a Table Leaf Called a Leaf?
For this answer, you’ll have to humor us as we present a short history lesson. That being said, we aren’t linguists, so we’ll keep it real short. We promise!
To start with, the Old English word leaf means exactly what you think it means. From the original word meaning a plant’s thin, flat foliage, over centuries it eventually began to be used as a stand-in for any number of other thin, flat things – like thin sheets of metal or paper. Fast forward a couple more centuries, and the term leaf was being used to describe any broad, flat surface attached via a hinge.
Since the first known expandable tables had drop leaves – which have hinges, but we’ll discuss that below – eventually the name stuck and came to be used for any and all table additions. As they say, the rest is history.
What Are the Different Types of Table Leaves?
This answer depends on which question you’re really asking. To clarify, there are several different types of table leaves and several ways to differentiate them. For instance…
Center Leaves & End Leaves
First, you have the distinction between center leaves and end leaves. As the name suggests, a center leaf is put in the middle of the table to give it additional length. Meanwhile, an end leaf accomplishes the same thing, but is added to the edge of a table instead. Standard removable leaf tables and butterfly leaf tables are good examples of center leaves, while refectory tables and draw leaf tables are good examples of end leaves.
A benefit of end leaves is that you can typically affix them without having to pull out the frame, move the legs, or shift the table itself. However, since the legs (and thus the support for the table top) don’t usually extend underneath the leaves, there are practical limitations on how large end leaves can be.
Self-Storing Leaf vs Removable Leaf
Another way to categorize different expandable tables is by dividing between those with removable leaves and self-storing leaves. A removable leaf is unattached and can be added/removed from the table at will. However, it must be stored elsewhere when not in use. By contrast, a self-storing leaf is either permanently attached to the table by a hinge or mechanism and/or the table has a hidden compartment for storing the table leaf. Drop leaf, draw leaf and butterfly leaf tables are all technically self-storing.
The primary benefit of a self-storing leaf is that you don’t have to worry about finding a place to store an awkward, wide, and flat piece of table top. Unfortunately for removable leaves, people sometimes store them in places like the attic or garage where they’re exposed to temperature shifts and humidity. This can cause the table leaf to warp or crack. If you have a removable leaf, be sure to store them flat in a climate-controlled environment, like in a closet or under a bed.
4 Common Expandable Dining Tables: The Drop Leaf Table, Draw Leaf Table & Butterfly Leaf Dining Table
That brings us to the final and most important way to classify different table leaves and expandable tables. While there’s practically an unlimited number of ways to attach leaves to tables, there are 4 common table leaf designs that you see throughout the industry.
The dining room, as we know it today, is a relatively recent development. Until a couple hundred years ago, only the wealthiest people had a dedicated dining room with a permanent table. As a result, most homes (and most people) needed tables that could be easily set up and put away.
Eventually, this led to the very first expandable table with a leaf, known as the drop leaf table. As time passed and woodworking technology advanced, we see the development of draw leaf, removable leaf, and butterfly leaf designs as well. Let’s have a look at these 4 table leaf designs in that order.
What Is a Drop Leaf Table?
A drop leaf table is an expandable table where the leaves are typically attached to the sides or ends of the table using simple hinges. These hinged drop leaves can be locked in the upward position to provide more table space, but can fold downward and perpendicular to the table top when not in use. You can find drop leaf designs in everything from full dining tables, to small breakfast tables, to occasional tables. A gateleg table is a specific type of drop leaf table that has a fold-out support leg for each leaf.
What Is a Draw Leaf or Refectory Table?
The next type of leaf construction is called a draw leaf. With a draw leaf table, most commonly known as a refectory table, a leaf is stowed underneath each end of the table. When it’s time to expand the table surface, these self-storing end leaves can be pulled out, raised, and pushed right back into place. The draw leaf mechanism found in refectory tables is smooth, easy and convenient.
What Is a Standard Removable Leaf Table?
This is far and away the most common type of table leaf we see today, and is probably what most shoppers think of when they hear table leaf. In fact, the standard removable leaf is so common that we don’t really have a special name for it. The frame of this type of expandable dining table is telescoping, or on rails. These rails allow the frame to be extended to accept a removable center table leaf or even multiple leaves.
Additionally, with this design, the leaves are completely removable. However, some dining tables these days incorporate hidden leaf storage areas into the design. Just remember, if stored separately, be sure to store them flat in a climate-controlled environment.
What Is a Butterfly Leaf Table?
Finally, we come to the butterfly leaf. This is perhaps the most elaborate and advanced kind of table leaf design. As you expand the frame of a butterfly leaf table, it exposes a set of self-storing center leaves. These attached leaves typically fold outward from the center line and lock into place. When you’re done, they fold inward and store inside the table.
As the name suggests, the center-folding design resembles the wings of a butterfly. We love butterfly leaves, but do suggest sliding a thin piece of cloth between the leaves where they fold over on each-other. This prevents wood-on-wood contact, keeping your leaves beautiful for years to come.
More Dining Table Questions? We Have Answers!
Did we answer all of your table leaf questions? Which type of expanding dining tables do you think would work best for your dining room or kitchen? If you’ve got more questions, don’t hesitate to give us a call or message us on our convenient web chat.
Better yet, swing by our 3 North Georgia and Metro Atlanta furniture store locations and pay us a visit. Our dining table experts would love to help you find the table that’s perfect for your home!
