What to Do If Your Dining Table Is Too Low

If your dining room table is too low, it can be very uncomfortable. Maybe your knees hit the table when you sit or you find yourself bending down to pick things up from the table. Perhaps it does not fit well with the other decorations in the room. Whatever the reason, there are several simple fixes to this.

You can raise your dining room table from the bottom by adding lifts, feet, or replacement legs. Any of these options will raise your dining table, preventing you from needing to purchase a new, taller one.

Read on to find out which of these fixes works best for you and will help make your dining room table perfect for however you want to use it.

Raise Your Dining Table Using Lifts

Pre-purchased table leg extenders already exist, and it may be the easiest option for you to purchase them. If you are looking to purchase lifts for your table, you will be able to choose 

• Material
• Height
• Appearance

Lifts come in many types of material. You can choose one based on several factors, such as matching the original table and sturdiness. If your table is small, you may worry less about how sturdy the lifts are and focus more on a matching aesthetic. If you are going to use it to hold heavy items, however, you want to make sure you are creating a strong dining room table. 

The two most common options are plastic and wood for the lifts. If you have a wood table, you could get a set of wooden lifts that fit perfectly to your table’s legs. If your table legs are made of any other material, it may be easier for you to choose plastic. You can find a set of four in varying styles. This is definitely one of the most affordable options.

Lifts are quick and easy to use, but they do not generally provide a lot of height for your table. They are good if you want to raise it slightly, or if one of the legs is uneven and you want to prevent the table from rocking under heavy weight, but they are less useful if you want to make a significant change to the height of your dining room table. If you are trying to raise it more than a few inches, this may not be the best route. 

Similar to choosing material, you are able to choose the color of your table lifts. This is a nice option if the legs of your table are going to be exposed or you would prefer everything to match, regardless of who is going to see it. There are simple black risers that fit along the outside of each foot, are unlikely to damage the floor your table is sitting on, and do not draw attention if someone happens to be walking by. 

Some lifts have designs on them while others are meant to blend in with the rest of the table. Some of the designs include tapering shapes, engravings, and fun colors. If you use your dining room table to host guests and want to give it a boost without looking like you made a quick fix, there are some tasteful options to choose from. It may even look like you chose the lifts for decoration instead of practicality.

Adding Feet and Legs to Raise Your Dining Table

If you want to add something directly to your table legs but think the lifts are unattractive, adding feet and legs is a great option to consider. This is a little more complicated than using risers, but it is helpful to consider

• Material options
• Height availability
• Complexity

Table feet are available in many materials, but it is easiest to install them on metal tables. The most common and affordable types available are wooden legs, plastic tubes, and metal poles. Because these attach directly onto the table instead of resting directly underneath it for lift, the different materials have different options for how to install them.

Wooden legs are the most common to add on to with wooden extenders or feet. When you do that, you will typically be able to find a wood that matches what the current table leg is already using. If you are adding metal onto a leg, it will likely be noticeable that you made a repair at home.

Adding legs and feet to a table is more effective than risers in increasing the height of the table dramatically. You can add inches of height without creating extreme instability if you are cautious about the installation. Generally, the height difference created from the legs is enough to improve the use of the table without ruining the stability and making it a riskier choice.

Leg installation is not extremely complicated, but it is more difficult than adding risers. You do not have to be an expert at home repairs to add additional height to your table’s current legs, but it is helpful if you already have some materials at home to build upon. Usually, they are installed by drilling into the current legs, but some people prefer to use a strong glue or other adhesive.

Add New Legs to Your Dining Table

If you hate the current short legs for your table and want to replace them entirely, it may be best to buy or make new legs that can be directly installed on the table shelf. If you are thinking about this option, be sure to consider

• Appearance
• Strength
• Cost

Starting over on the appearance of your dining room table can be great motivation to get entirely new legs. If your current legs are unattractive, do not match the aesthetic of the room, or are a material that you think looks bad for the dining room, you can find new ones. If you are choosing new legs, you can pick simple or elegant, engraved or plain, color and material to fit your needs. It can almost be like getting a new table.

While you are picking new legs to increase height to your table, you can also factor in how strong you want the table to be. If you are currently concerned that your dining room table might not hold up the weight that is being put on it, you can choose legs made from stronger material to provide additional support. If you feel like your current legs are unnecessarily strong and bulky, you can choose something more subtle.

Some legs are more expensive than others, and you have the freedom to craft your own budget if you are making new legs. If you have some crafting skills and happen to have materials lying about your house, you may even be able to create a new pair at no cost. If you are not sure how to do this, you can buy new legs online or at a home improvement store for just slightly more than the cost of risers.

Outro

Overall, if your dining room table is too low, you have many options to choose from so you can keep the table. You can insert risers below it, add extensions to the legs, or create altogether new legs to give your table the boost you would like.

These options vary in cost and purpose, with different levels of change occurring to the table depending on what you need. Be sure to consider how high you would like your dining room table to be, and what you want it to look like, before choosing which alteration you are going to make.