Most patio furniture sets fail on the floor plan. A sofa blocks the kitchen door, a dining table eats the path to the lawn, and the chairs hit a planter each time someone stands up. Kettal sells its outdoor furniture in families that share a frame and a fabric, which suits a planner: you draw the whole terrace first, then fill it from one family.
Start with the floor
Measure the terrace and draw it on paper. Mark the doors, the steps, the grill, the planters and anything else fixed in place. Then draw the routes people take: from the kitchen to the table, from the living room to the pool, from the gate to the house. Those lines stay empty.
Two numbers help. A dining chair needs about three feet behind it so a guest can push back and stand. A walking path needs about three feet too, a little more if people carry trays along it. Subtract the paths and the floor left for furniture can shrink by a third.
Split the terrace into zones
A patio furniture set covers up to three jobs: eating, lounging and lying in the sun. Few terraces fit all three at full size, so rank them. A family that eats outside five nights a week needs the table first. A couple who read on Sunday afternoons need the sofa.
Put dining close to the kitchen door, because plates travel that route. Put the lounge group where the evening light lands and where you can see the garden. Put loungers on the sunniest strip, and check the sun at the hour you will use them, since a spot that bakes at noon can sit in shade by four.
five steps from a bare terrace to a set
- 01Measure the floor, the doors and the path people walk
- 02Zone split the space into dining, lounging and sun
- 03Pick one family so frames and fabrics match across zones
- 04Add tables sized to the number of seats you chose
- 05Plan winter where the cushions and loungers go in November
Pick one family for the whole set
Kettal builds collections that share a frame and a material across chairs, sofas, loungers and tables. Buying from one family keeps the terrace calm: the aluminum matches, the fabric matches, and the pieces line up.
Kettal Landscape covers the most ground. It has sled base chairs in rope, a rocking armchair with teak, sofas, a modular sofa, stackable and reclining loungers, a folding deck chair and garden beds with roller blinds for wind and glare. The collection text says the project matters more than the product, and the range follows that brief: you can furnish a pool deck, a dining terrace and a lounge corner from one system. See the Landscape collection.
Kettal Molo by Rodolfo Dordoni suits a big lounge zone. The sofa modules are rectangles on aluminum frames with legs in teak or concrete, and you can pull them apart and set them out again. A long run for a summer party can become two sofas facing each other in September. Molo adds coffee tables in aluminum or marble and two loungers, one on castors and one that stacks. See the Molo collection.
You can mix families on purpose. Teak dining chairs from Riva around an aluminum table read fine. Two materials on one terrace look planned, and you can keep counting from there.
Size the tables to the seats
Pick the seats first and let them set the table size. Four dining chairs sit well at a square table. Six need a long rectangle. A coffee table works at about two thirds of the sofa length, placed 14 to 18 inches from the seat edge so you can reach a glass without standing.
what fits on your terrace
| Terrace | Dining | Lounging | Sun | Kettal families to look at |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balcony, up to 60 sq ft | Two chairs, small round table | One lounge chair | None | Ringer, Atlantic, Eolias |
| City terrace, 150 to 250 sq ft | Four chairs, square table | Two seater sofa, two armchairs | One lounger if the sun reaches | Park Life, Riva, Band |
| Garden terrace, 300 to 500 sq ft | Six chairs, long table | Corner or modular sofa | Two loungers | Landscape, Molo, Bitta |
| Pool deck or hotel, 500 sq ft and up | Tables for groups, stackable chairs | Several sofa groups | A row of loungers, a garden bed | Landscape, Park Life, Molo |
Plan for winter before you order
Ask where the cushions go when the weather turns. Aluminum frames and Porotex fabric can stay out through a wet season, and Kettal's stackable pieces go into a garage in a pile. Deep sofa cushions need a dry shelf or covers. If you have no storage, lean toward sling seats and rope, which dry fast and hold up in the rain.
Send us the drawing of your terrace with the form below. We reply with a set drawn from one Kettal family, the finish and fabric options, and a price for each piece.
