Birch Dining Table - Dinec of Canada

[pkr914]

I'm looking at a table I can customize to an extent - size, leg, stain, edge, apron that seems to be made by Dinec, a furniture manufacturer in Canada. They use solid wood but it's birch. We're downsizing from a house and the ideal size dining table to go in the new space is 42 or 44" X 66". But the table needs to be able to extend and seat 12. Most tables seem to start out at a 72" length, not a 66", but Dinec provides a lot of options, including self-storing leaves. I'm curious whether you have an opinion on this brand and suggestions for any other companies to look at. The style will be "transitional", deco, or contemporary. Thanks, Phyllis

[drcollie]

There are thousands of brands of furniture, and no way anyone can know them all. With a set of detailed photos that show construction, its pretty easy to determine how well made it would be but you have to post the photos (and include bottom of the table, inside leg joinery, table open detail, etc.

Birch makes a very nice furniture wood and takes stain nicely, but a lot of cabinentmakers won't work with it in wide board construction because its very unstable during the build process. The more figure or fire in the wood, the more unstable it becomes. Its not unusual for a cabinetmaker to make a table top in figured Birch, go home at the end of the day, and come back the next morning to discover the whole top twisted during the night and is no longer viable, just good for firewood. Once a piece is completed and finished, then the chance of 'blowing up' as its called is reduced considerably.

[pkr914]

Thank you so much for the quick reply! I couldn't find pictures showing construction per se but here is a link to the company's website showing their choice of legs and stains. I don't know if this is helpful but I appreciate learning from you and others and joining this site because these are very big purchase decisions. http://www.dinec.com/dpc.asp