slo’s TUESDAY poll - Placemats On Your Kitchen Table

[slo]

Do you keep placemats on your kitchen table?


I keep seasonal ones on my table - Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
They are decorative only, so we don’t eat on them.
I’m looking forward to putting them away this weekend - I’m tired of moving them on and off the table every time we eat - LOL!

 

[NannyBeBe]

I use placemats for every meal and use different ones every day. I have a closet full of placemats and other table linens.

 

[Disneylover99]

I have placemats somewhere in my dining room hutch. I think I got them as a wedding shower gift eons ago. I have no use for them. To me, they’re pointless. I should dig them out and toss them.

 

[ronandannette]

No - I don’t have a kitchen table. It’s not an eat-in kitchen although there is an island with a stool if one wants to down something quickly. We have a dining room table that’s usually outfitted with a table runner and flowers or a seasonal centrepiece of some sort. That’s where we have all our family meals but just as often when it’s only one or two of us, we eat on the couch in front of the tv.

 

[TippyThomas]

I have seasonal and decorative ones that my mother used. I use those now as well.

 

[ronandannette]

Do you keep placemats on your kitchen table?


I keep seasonal ones on my table - Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
They are decorative only, so we don’t eat on them.
I’m looking forward to putting them away this weekend - I’m tired of moving them on and off the table every time we eat - LOL!

Question: Why don’t you eat on them? Aren’t they intended to put the plates on? I’ve never really seen anybody take the placemats off before setting the table.

 

[design_mom]

We have placemats on the table. They are woven but out of some sort of synthetic material that can be washed. We use them for meals and wipe them off after meals. If they need a more thorough cleaning, I put out the other set and wash them. (I have 8. We normally use 4 at a time, so I can swap... or if we extend the table fully, I have enough for everyone.)

When we first started using placemats, I had stoneware plates with an unglazed "foot" at the bottom. They were scuffing the table, so we got placemats. I've since replaced the plates and I don't think we NEED placemats anymore, but we still use them.

 

[WDWEPCOT]

Fully decorated table - placemats / charger plates / decorative plates for each holiday or season / table cloth / center piece / napkins / with decorative rings - my family has grown used to my obsession with decorative touches and stopped complaining - Haa haa

 

[slo]

Question: Why don’t you eat on them? Aren’t they intended to put the plates on? I’ve never really seen anybody take the placemats off before setting the table.

They are cloth and they don’t come out of the washing machine looking the same way they went in. I‘ve had to wash a few over the years and I was bummed with how they looked afterwards, so now everyone knows to move them off the table.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Yes I have placemats on my dining room table. No kitchen table. We have a small island in the kitchen with no placemats. DD eats there sometimes.

I don’t like putting a table cover so placemats work. I change them out often to match the seasons. With two kids who miss their mouths (and I have a teenager and young adult, it never ends) and plop very hot plates and cold cups that leave rings right on the table, if I didn’t have placemats my table would have stains and marks all of the time. It saves me a lot of frustration.

 

[Meriweather]

I have lots.....seasonal ones and everyday ones. 4 on kitchen table. That is where we eat when the grand kids are over. I don't take them off. On that table they are vinyl or plastic.
I have 3 on the kitchen bar, which is where DH and I eat everyday. They are usually the cloth ones. I don't take those off either

 

[bobbiwoz]

I’m the other, used to use them often, now I don’t. However if someone gifted me, or if I saw ones I especially liked when traveling, I would use them again.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We always have placemats on the kitchen table, but we always take them off before we eat. They're for show. We have a dining room with a table in it but that gets a tablecloth only and we only eat in there Thanksgiving Day. The rest of the time we use the table for putting stuff on it that we don't know what else to do with and hanging our coats and jackets over the chairs.

 

[Christine]

I have a glass kitchen table so I don't like the sound of dishes against the glass or things clanking on the glass. I use placements when eating but I generally don't like to keep them on for "show." I think they look cluttery unless the table is set.

 

[tvguy]

No place mats. They would clash with the table cloth.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I have pretty decorative ones that I swap out for dining with pretty vinyl ones.

 

[mumto3girls]

I said sometimes because we were gifted some Halloween ones years ago when “Booing” was common in our neighborhood. They are decorative and cute so I use them. I think I also have an everyday set we were gifted when we got married but I never use them. I think there were 4 but we are a household of 5 except when oldest DD is away at college.

 

[Wendy31]

Yes, we have placemats on our kitchen table, & they’re usually seasonal/holiday.

There are actually only a few months out of the year that the placemats are generic & not seasonal/holiday, and, in thinking about it, actually maybe just March & September.

They stay on the table when we’re not eating & when we’re eating. We don’t take the placemats off the kitchen table when we eat because, otherwise, what’s the point of placemats in the first place? If they get stained or start looking worn, I buy new.

We do not have placemats on our dining room table. I like the look of placemats on a kitchen table but not on a dining room table... I guess maybe because I think of placemats as a more casual, ”kitchen” look?

One Christmas VERY early in our marriage before we had a separate dining room, as part of my Christmas decorating, I “set” the kitchen table w/ Christmas placemats, chargers, & Christmas dishes & glasses. And what a pain it was having to clear the table of all the fancy place settings every time we wanted to eat! We also kinda used our kitchen table as a dumping ground for mail & whatever was in our arms when we came home from work. So that was the ONLY year I’ve ever set the table just for show.

 

[xjillianpaige]

No. They'll just get dirty and it's more laundry for me to do.

 

[Breezy_Carol]

When the kids were growing up, we never used placemats with the table we had for 25 years. When DH and I got a new, nicer table a year ago, we started using placemats to protect the table.