Glass dining room table, budget mistake?

[nsmith]

DH and I just remodeled our kitchen and now redecorating the attached dining room. I love the idea of a glass dining room table to make the room look bigger but I am afraid we will scratch it to death. We are not the most careful family. Just wondering what your experience has been with a glass dining table that is used daily.

 

[angierae]

DH and I just remodeled our kitchen and now redecorating the attached dining room. I love the idea of a glass dining room table to make the room look bigger but I am afraid we will scratch it to death. We are not the most careful family. Just wondering what your experience has been with a glass dining table that is used daily.

We never scratched our glass dining room table but I got rid of it because it was CONSTANTLY dirty. Finger prints, etc. I never felt like it stayed clean for any length of time (DD did her homework and stuff there, as well.)

I got rid of it as soon as I could (it was a hand me down.)

 

[Pakey]

I had same issue as PP. No scratching but the table always looked dirty.

 

[mandas08]

Ours had light scratches,but I agree with the others the dirtiness was the real problem

 

[HM]

We have a glass table in the kitchen eating area. It spends most of it's time with a tablecloth or placemats to keep from getting scratched.

It does have a few scratches unfortunately.

We also have a nice wood dining table which also stays covered up to keep from getting scratched. I don't think it matters what you get, you'll worry about it.

 

[branv]

We don't have a glass dining table, but a huge coffee table with a big square glass piece. I HATE it. It is always dirty, always dusty, has been scratched, and anytime you put anything even slightly heavier on it it's nerve wracking. No thank you, never again.

Incidentally, I know not one, but two people who had their teen's friends break their glass tables. Luckily, no one was hurt despite one idiot having it break under his rear (don't ask me why someone would sit on a dining room table...teenage boys yadda yadda).

 

[okeydokey]

Horrible to keep clean.

 

[Serrina89]

I have a glass dining room table that I got from my father, have had it for 8ish years. I have no scratches on it and I windex the table once a week to clean it. I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

[Lilliputian]

I don't know what stage of life you're in, but if there's a possibility of toddlers regularly being in your home in the next few years, then don't. My parents had one when my oldest children were small, and it was very nerve-racking. Little ones just don't notice something that's clear, and they would walk right into the corners. Depending on how tall they were at the time, sometimes the corner came right to their eyes, which was really pretty scary.

My mom ended up finding a baby safety product that was padded fabric with elastic in it that circled around the edge of the table, and that worked well, but all of her grandchildren lived out of state at the time, so she didn't have it on there most of the time. Once she moved to the same state as my sister and starting having grandkids over more regularly, she got a new table.

 

[superme80]

I have 2 boys, so it would be a liability. My friend had one before kids and besides having to always clean it she loved it.

 

[ktlm]

We had a glass dining room table back in the 1980s when they were the big thing. We never had any issues with scratches, but I will agree with the others that say that everytime you so much as touch it, there will be finger prints and marks everywhere you make contact with it. Dust shows up really bad on them too. If you want it to look nice, you will be constantly cleaning it. You can't really just spot clean either, because if you only wipe down one spot, the rest of the table will look dingy and that spot will shine.

Also, if you have kids it is not the best idea. According to consumer repots, each year an estimated 20,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for injuries sustained from glass furniture. There are also reports of deaths of children caused by crashing through glass tables. If you have kids and are getting one, you need to be absolutely sure it is safety glass and I wouldn't trust what some furniture salesman tells you about it. I would definitely check all the specs on the manufacturer's website.

If you are in an adults only house, and don't mind cleaning the thing constantly it is fine. Otherwise, it probably isn't a very good idea.

 

[wishesuponastar]

I have a round glass dining table with 6 chairs. I agree that it does get dirty quick but I don't mind, just get out the windex. but we are probably going to be shopping for a new wooden table with a leaf.

 

[CoolDisneyCat]

A friend of mine was dancing on top of a glass table when the table broke and she was severely injured.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

A friend of mine was dancing on top of a glass table when the table broke and she was severely injured.

My mother had one for a year or so but it was horrible to keep clean.

 

[BenbowInn]

We have one and love it. We've had it for about 6 years and no real scratches on it. It's not hard to keep clean...just wipe it down a few times a day.

I'm also not worried about kids being around it. I simply make it clear that the table isn't a toy to climb around on.

 

[msd1776]

We have one in our kitchen so it is heavily used. Yes it gets dirty but you can see the dirt so I feel as though it is "cleaner" since you cannot ignore the crumbs, etc. I have a 10 yr old girl; I would not buy one if I had younger kids or boys, who like to rough house. I do have a couple of scratches on it, cannot figure out what happened. They are hard to see so they don't bother me. My old wood table had a ton of scratches and dings. I prefer my glass top table over my old wood table. If and when I want or need to replace the glass, I would simply get a piece of replacement glass which I think would just be a couple of hundred dollars.

 

[angierae]

We have one and love it. We've had it for about 6 years and no real scratches on it. It's not hard to keep clean...just wipe it down a few times a day.

I'm also not worried about kids being around it. I simply make it clear that the table isn't a toy to climb around on.

I guess it depends on your definition of "hard to keep clean". I can't imagine having something in my house I had to wipe down "a few times a day." (Except maybe the one part of my kitchen counters we all tend to use to prepare food, that gets wiped down after it's used, of course.)

But yeah, that's way too high maintenance for me.

 

[BenbowInn]

I guess it depends on your definition of "hard to keep clean". I can't imagine having something in my house I had to wipe down "a few times a day." (Except maybe the one part of my kitchen counters we all tend to use to prepare food, that gets wiped down after it's used, of course.)

But yeah, that's way too high maintenance for me.

Lol just look at it this way. A glass table is no dirtier than a wood table, it's just easier to see the dirt. So both tables will be equally dirty so it's just sanitary to keep any table that will be eaten on cleaned

I just timed it and it took 21 seconds start to finish to wipe the table off including throwing away the paper towel and putting the windex up.

To be fair I was worried about it at first but it's second nature now and I automatically do a quick wipe down every morning and then after dinner every night. Less than a minute a day. Of course I'm a total clean freak

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I have a scar right by my eye where I ran into the corner of my grandmothers's glass-top table when I was about 2.5YO. Luckily, it was just stitches, but when I look at that scar and how close to my eye it is, I imagine it must have been terrifying for my grandmother when it happened.