A poolside table that looks set at lunch and clears in a minute

Noon by the pool is a fast service. Guests arrive in pairs and fours, eat in half an hour, and leave a table of wet glasses, crumbs and sunscreen behind them. The next party is already waiting at the host stand.

A poolside table has to suit that rhythm. It should look set and even from across the deck, take a plate and a drink for every guest without crowding, and wipe clean in the minute your team has before the next seating. Choose it for three things: the meal, the sun and the rinse. Dining tables only here; this is the pool restaurant, set as carefully as the dining room indoors.

Size by the party, then by the deck

A pair can squeeze onto a 24-inch square. Treat that as the smallest you will ever set, never the goal. Most pool restaurants set pairs at 24 by 30 inches; move up to a 30-inch square when the pair orders a shared plate and a bucket of ice. Four guests fit a 30-inch square in close quarters, sit comfortably at 36 by 36 inches, or spread along a 30-by-48-inch rectangle, which lines up neatly along the edge of a pool.

Rounds work too. Four guests can manage a 36-inch round when the deck is tight, and a round of 42 or 48 inches takes four to six. By the pool, rounds soften a long rectangular deck, though they are harder to push together when a party of eight walks up from the water.

Work through one stretch of deck. Say the pool restaurant has a strip 60 feet long beside the water, which is 720 inches. A 36-inch square four-top with chairs pulled out takes about 72 to 84 inches of that length, counting 18 to 24 inches behind each chair. At 84 inches you set eight fours with a little to spare; at 72 you set ten. Swap every second four for a 30-by-30 two-top and you gain flexibility for the couples who make up much of a lunch crowd. Pushed together, two of those two-tops become a 30-by-60 table for four, which is handy when the deck fills at one o'clock.

Tops and bases listed for outdoor use

Every table on the deck needs a patio listing. In our range those tops and bases are built from one of four materials: aluminum, resin, synthetic teak, coated steel. A dining table from inside will not last a season by the water.

An aluminum outdoor table with a faux teak top shows one complete choice: a synthetic teak top in dark walnut on a black aluminum base. It stands 30 inches high, has an umbrella hole, and comes in four sizes: a 30-inch square, a 36-inch square, and rectangles of 30 by 48 and 30 by 60 inches. Those four sizes cover the two-top, the comfortable four and the long four in one family, so the deck reads as one set. Browse faux teak tables for others in that material.

Resin is the other easy choice for a wet deck. The Bella outdoor resin table has a resin top on a resin base, stands 30 inches high, weighs 30 pounds, and comes at 31 by 31 or 31 by 55 inches in black, brown, dark gray, taupe, teal or white. Its light weight helps on a deck that is hosed down every evening. More resin and metal choices sit among the patio tables.

Shade through the middle of the table

At midday the umbrella belongs to the table. A table with an umbrella hole keeps the pole in the center, where it shades every guest equally and stays out of the aisle. A separate stand beside each table takes floor the servers need.

If you prefer to build the table from a top and a base, the dark walnut outdoor resin tabletop lists the umbrella hole as an option, yes or no, and sizes from a 24-inch square up to a 48-inch round. Its thickness is 1/2 inch. Order the hole only where an umbrella will stand, and leave it out of tops that sit under a fixed awning. Our tables with an umbrella hole collect the complete tables that already have one.

The base has to hold the top

Here is the mistake to avoid. A buyer orders a handsome top and the cheapest base that fits under it, and the first gust across the pool rocks the table and tips the umbrella. Carry this rule of thumb to every order: a base's spread, foot to foot, should come to two thirds of the top it carries, or a little more.

Run the numbers for a round outdoor umbrella base. It is steel, black, 28 inches high, and comes in 17, 22 and 30-inch round spreads. Under a 36-inch round top, two thirds is 24 inches, so the 30-inch spread is the one to choose. Under a 30-inch round, two thirds is 20, and the 22-inch base meets it. Under a 48-inch round, two thirds is 32 inches and none of the three spreads reaches it, so look at another base or a smaller top. Compare the rest of the outdoor table bases the same way.

Then check the height. Put the half-inch top on the 28-inch base and you reach about 28 1/2 inches before any mounting plate, against the 29 to 30 inches of a typical dining table. Set that beside the seat height of your pool chairs, and look for a drop of 10 to 12 inches from the table surface down to the seat, and ask us to confirm the pairing before you order.

Six months and a hose

Our patio tables, chairs and stools carry six months of warranty, and that cover does not extend to outdoor furniture left without care. So the closing routine counts. Rinse chlorine and sunscreen off the tops each evening, let water run off and the bases dry, and cover the tables or move them into storage when the season ends. Our materials page covers care by material.

Put the table count in a plan for the pool restaurant in property plans, with the top size, the base spread and the umbrella holes noted line by line. Note which tables sit in full sun and which under an awning, too, because the umbrella count follows from that line and not from the table count.

Then pair the tables with seating in our poolside chair guide, or read the poolside furniture guide for the pool bar and the umbrellas.