Make a Short Checklist Before You Shop, Then Test the Final Options in Person
A meeting table takes up enough room that getting it wrong feels like a big mistake. The right length with the wrong base can leave someone’s knees boxed in. Even a beautiful tabletop may fight the lighting, show every fingerprint, or crowd the conference room once the chairs are pulled back.
Before you visit our Overland Park showroom, make four decisions about the room and the furniture you’ll need:
- How the room will be used
- Which conference table shape fits your room
- Which table surface you prefer, based on its intended use
- Whether you prefer new or pre-owned
Match the Table to Your Office
Different workplaces require different priorities:
- A law office may prefer a rectangular or boat-shaped table with a wood or veneer finish and clear presentation sight lines.
- A startup may value a laminate surface, flexible seating, and a modular layout that can change with the team.
- A medical practice may put ease of cleaning first and choose a smaller laminate or glass meeting table.
- A creative agency may want a broad matte table surface for samples, drawings, and group reviews.
Treat those as starting points, not rules. Let the room dimensions and your meeting habits lead the decision.
Measure the Room and the Route In
Table length alone doesn’t determine seating. Chair width, leg placement, power modules, and the amount of elbow room your team expects all affect the final choice.
Measure the room, then mark the proposed conference table footprint with painter’s tape. Pull chairs up to the outline and make sure people can sit down and pass behind it. Include doors, screens, credenzas, and columns in your calculations.
The table’s delivery path deserves the same attention. Record doorway widths, elevator dimensions, stair turns, and the tightest hallway corner. A conference table for sale that fits the room still has to reach it.
Choose a Conference Table Shape for Your Space
- Rectangular tables are popular because they use length efficiently, orient everyone’s sight lines clearly toward the ends of the table or people sitting across from them, and work well for presentations or formal meetings.
- Boat-shaped tables widen through the middle, giving people a little more elbow room and a clearer sight line toward others farther down the table.
- Rounded racetrack and oval edges make tight spaces around a conference table a little more forgiving. They can ease foot traffic where a square corner might sit close to a doorway or obstruct a busy path.
- Round tables suit smaller conversations and remove the visually dominant head seat, though they use floor space differently as the group grows.
- Modular tables are useful when the room changes jobs. Separate pieces can support training rows, smaller groups, or a U-shaped layout, then come back together for a larger meeting. Ask yourself how often the layout will actually change. A fixed conference room table may be the simpler choice when the room serves one purpose most of the time.
Compare Conference Table Surfaces by How You’ll Use Them
- Laminate is easy to clean and comes in a wide range of finishes. Look closely at the edge banding and corners, especially on a used conference table, because edges often show wear before the center of the top does.
- Veneer provides real wood grain over an engineered core. It gives a room warmth without the full weight of solid wood, though moisture and impact can mark the finish.
- Solid wood carries more weight and cost, and it may appeal to office managers when the table is meant to anchor a formal room for years, such as a law office or boardroom.
- Glass keeps the visual footprint light, which can help a smaller room feel open. It also shows fingerprints quickly, so inspect the edges and think about how often the surface will need cleaning. Metal is most common in the base or frame, where it can add strength without making the top look heavy.
Visit our 9,000-square-foot Overland Park showroom at 8106 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, Kansas 66204 and owner Jim Lust will be glad to show you the advantages of each shape and surface so you can purchase the perfect conference table for your office.
Check the Base Before You Choose a Conference Table
People often notice the tabletop first and forget to inspect the base. Pedestal and post bases can leave more open knee space. Panel or slab bases create a heavier, formal look but may limit where extra chairs can go. Trestle and metal-frame styles often split the difference.
Sit in every position you expect someone to use. Make sure knees clear the base and check whether a leg lands where you hoped to add a chair. On a conference room table with power, open the modules and trace the cable route. Confirm the connector types and make sure the room has a practical path to floor or wall power.
Used power modules deserve a closer check because older Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports may not suit current equipment. We can help you inspect each system and work with your facilities or technology team to confirm the piece you’ve chosen works with your room.
Decide Between New and Pre-Owned
A used conference table can put commercial-grade construction within reach of a lower budget and may be available to purchase that day when you shop at a trusted dealer like Santa Fe Office Interiors. However, you choose from the sizes, finishes, and bases currently on the floor, which change daily, so a very specific combination may take patience.
Ordering new gives you more control over the configuration, finish, edge, and base of your conference table. It also brings a manufacturer’s lead time and warranty terms. Santa Fe Office Interiors carries new and pre-owned options, including Harmony Collection tables, though exact showroom inventory changes regularly.
Keep in mind that buying used often stretches your dollars further, meaning you can get a used upscale conference table for the same price as a new but lower-quality brand.
Bring Your Shortlist to Our Overland Park Showroom
Call before you visit if you need a particular length, finish, brand, or quantity. We can check the floor and tell you whether a matching conference table is available that day.
Bring your measurements, a room photo, your usual seat count, and a picture or finish sample from nearby furniture in your office. Then sit at each conference table for sale, check the sight lines, and see how the surface looks beside your sample.
Visit Santa Fe Office Interiors at 8106 Santa Fe Drive, Overland Park, Kansas 66204, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment. Call Jim at (913) 901-8800 to ask what’s currently in stock. His office-furniture experience goes back to 1985, and a quick conversation can ensure your trip to visit us lands you the conference table you’ve been looking for.