How to set the table - Anna Post

Have you ever helped set a table and found yourself wondering where to place the forks? Or sat down to eat at a restaurant and wondered which utensils to use? Well, here's some simple, traditional etiquette tips on how to set a table.

What would happen if you set a table like this? It doesn't look good, and you have to clean up the mess before you can even start. Let's try another way. To start, use a placemat or tablecloth, but not both, so the dishes aren't directly on the table. This is more about looks than etiquette, but it's rare to see nothing under a plate unless you're eating at a picnic table.

Set out any flowers, candlesticks, or other decorations you like. Candles are usually only lit at night. Start with utensils for the main course, putting your dinner fork on the left and your dinner knife on the right-hand side since these are the hands we use them with. Here's a helpful tip: You always eat outside-in, so to set for salad, we'll put the salad fork to the outside of the dinner fork and the salad knife to the outside of the dinner knife. We'll have salad first, then our main course.

Notice, too, that the knife blades are both pointed toward the plate. This is an old tradition from a time when dinner knives were quite sharp, and it was a sign of politeness and nonaggression to keep them pointed away from other diners. We might have some soup, and since soup usually comes first, the soup spoon goes outside the knives since we use our right hand to hold it. Here's another tip: Only set the table with what you'll need. If you're not eating soup, don't set a soup spoon.

Now, for dessert, we'll have ice cream, so we'll place the dessert up top since we don't need it for a little while. Notice that the bowl of the spoon is pointing to the left. This way, when it's time to eat, you just slide it down and it's in the right spot. If you were having cake, you'd set a fork and flip it 180 degrees so it would be right side-up on the left instead.

Next, we'll anchor our setting with the plate. You can also serve from the kitchen then bring them to the table. The bread plate goes up and to the left of the setting, and the butter knife goes on the plate at an angle, again, with the blade pointing in. There's only one spot left, and that's for the drinks. Set the wine glass to the upper right, and then place the water glass to the left of it at an angle. If you're like me and can never remember which goes where, think water, wine, w-a, w-i; a, i; they go left to right in alphabetical order.

Another tip: To remember left and right with the bread and the drinks, think B-M-W like the car. B, your bread plate, is on the left; M, your meal, is in the middle, and W, your water, is on the right. Lastly, the napkin traditionally goes to the left of the forks, though it's okay to put it underneath them, too. For a fancier meal like this one that takes up a lot of space, we'll put it in the middle.

Now we're ready to eat. Hopefully, these tips will be helpful the next time you're asked to help set the table or sit down at a fancy meal. Enjoy!