I don't throw many (or any, really) formal dinner parties, but I still found this diagram helpful, if for no other reason than it illuminates Downton Abbey's dining etiquette.
All joking aside, seeing this diagram reminded me of a few table-setting rules I learned from my mother as a child: the knife blade always faces towards the plate; the coffee spoon lies horizontally above it; and the water goblet sits in the upper righthand corner above and angled to the (smaller) wine glass.
This probably isn't a daily set-up for you — if it is, I'd like to call on you at dinnertime, please! — but definitely worth knowing, if only in parts, for more formal occasions, like weddings and fancy business dinners.
Related: Formal Elegance: Do You Own Fine China?
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Certainly very helpful
I'll have to show this to my kids! They've been asking me where everything goes. And, I've been doing it wrong! I thought the salad fork went on the outside. Whoops!
Lauren @ Mom Home Guide
Wait... this means that salad comes AFTER the meat course/entree?
Lauren, I've always put the salad fork on the outside, too, because I was taught they went from outside to in in the order of the courses. So I just looked it up. Emily Post diagrams the same order as in the photo above, but the explanation states, "Salad Fork: If the salad is served after the entree, the small salad fork is placed to the right of the dinner fork, next to the plate. If the salad is to be served first, and fish second, then the forks would be arranged (left to right): salad fork, fish fork, dinner fork." So I guess we're both right, depending on course order.
In europe the salad is generally served at the end of the meal. That is why the salad fork is on the inside. If you eat your salad at the beginning of the meal, then put the salad fork on the outside.
Wow, that's pretty complex...but very clear!
Lauren, I think the salad fork goes on the outside if you are serving the salad before the main course, as is the American custom. I always learned that you move from the outside in, following the order of courses. I presume that this setting is for a dinner in which the salad follows the entree.
This is how I set the table for all my dinner parties, not just on super-formal occasions. The setting is designed for usability, and guests appreciate this clear, standardized approach.
It is more formal to have the dessert fork and spoon (and dessert/fruit/cheese knives) provided when dessert is served. Similarly, a coffee cup is generally only placed on the table at the beginning of the meal at a big catered event like a conference banquet or wedding dinner. In the States (I am not sure about the custom in Europe), there should not be more than three of any type of utensil (spoons, e.g.) at each place setting, other than an oyster fork, which can be the fourth fork. If more are needed, they are brought before the relevant course.
If I had so much stuff for each place setting, I would need a paper tablecloth so I can have a diagram like that one to explain what's what.
Bur pearmelon, if the meal is being served in courses the explaining is already done. You simply use the outside utensil for the course and then it is taken away at the end of the course and you are on to the next until dessert and coffee come along and you use the top utensils. It actually saves you from having to know 'which fork to use.'
For silver service in Europe, the coffee/teaspoon would normally only appear with the cup and saucer at the end of the meal after the dinner plates have been cleared. It wouldn't be on the table before that. The side plate goes with the soup bowl and would be cleared off the table after that course so you wouldn't have it on the table when the main course is served. In its place in this picture, there should be a dessert spoon so that the diner has an option to use either utensil depending on their dessert type. The rest is fine.
Yup, this is stuck in every culinary student's brain, alright =)