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[Kachina624]

Unfortunately a formal table setting is one of life's niceties that seems to have gone by the wayside.  My mom made sure her daughters knew how to do it.  Have you watched people eat in restaurants lately?  They are pigs.  Using the right fork is the least of their transgressions.

[Day1128]

I knew some of this, but I definitely don't have that much flatware or dishes to use. I DO set the table correctly when we eat at the table. I like following some customs that have been established. 

[Mominohio]

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@IamMrsG wrote:

Yes, I know how to set a table, and, yes, I care.  While, of course, not as formally as shown in the photo, we lay a table correctly at each meal, i.e., we regularly use bread plates, folded napkins, salad and dinner forks, wine glasses, etc.   

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I have always set the table for virtually every meal as well.

We only have one table (in the dining room, kitchen is too small for one) and I keep a nice tablecloth on it. I make sure there are cloth napkins at each meal, usually the food is in bakeware/serveware that matches the dishes, and all appropriate silverware and serving pieces used as well.

Even if we are having a simple meal, I like a nicely set table.

[Mominohio]

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@Snowpuppy wrote:

Being the resident Tableware Ho, yes, I do set a formal table for the holidays 😆

I took DS to a white tablecloth restaurant beginning in middle school to teach him how to order, pay, who sits where, etc. 

It's paid off. As a young man out on his own dining with high dollar clients, he's not a klutz. 

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I agree about teaching kids to be comfortable in formal situations.

My goal was always for my son to be comfortable sitting on a park bench conversing with a homeless man as well as dining at the country club. 

[ECBG]

Yes, I do.  I grew up eating like this at my grandmother's on Sundays.  I always set the table "properly" but have always gone "all out" on the weekends because I wanted our sons to always be comfortable whereever an interview or business meal might take them.

I made my juniors and seniors do this before the prom and they all came back and couldn't thank me enough.

[ECBG]

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@Mominohio wrote:

@newname0

I knew most of it, but like others here, I've never set a table this formally. We don't entertain at that level.

What threw me for a loop not long ago, was my mom was here for a holiday dinner, and she was setting the table (something I usually do the night before, because I love a pretty 'formal' set table and enjoy looking at it for awhile before it is 'wrecked' with a meal Ha!). I about freaked out, as she was putting the fork on the wrong side, and just really doing everything backwards. She is the one that taught me how to set a table, so I was a little confused to say the least. 

I don't know if it is because she never sets a table anymore, living alone, and has just forgotten, or what. I didn't say anything, but moved things around when she wasn't looking.

I always thought this is something people should know, even if they don't use it in their own homes, because you can be out somewhere, and a little embarrassed if you don't know which piece is for what.

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@Mominohio,If you are only using a fork, it goes in the right because tha napkin on the left is the balance.  It could have been correct for her when eating without a knife.

[newname0]

My husband is in College Placement and they have once a year something called the Etiquette Luncheon where they teach seniors who are looking for a job how to properly eat if their interview is over lunch or dinner.  The placement settings are formal and the menu features difficult things to properly eat without messing up.  It's very instructive. 

[151949]

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@Dusty1 wrote:

We are NOT formal here, but I have always set my table "corrctly". I never knew where all of those other things belonged, because I have never used them, but it is good to know. Just in case. And, notice the knife is facing the correct way, also. LOL  I have always place my napkin under my fork. Is that the correct thing to do? Or do you lay it to the side?

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When pressed for space I put the napkin under the fork and the cup & Saucer above the knife and spoon . You gotta do what you gotta do.

[lucymo]

We don't use that many pieces in a table setting but we do place what we use correctly.  It doesn't take any more time to put the silverware or glasses in the right place and I think it makes the place setting  look balanced.  We are not formal and do not have several course meals,  but do like a well set table.