Hi
We are thinking of buying one of these tables for the new house we are building. It will go into an area that is supposed to have a dining table(which we rarely use in our current home) which is part of a much larger area encompassing kitchen, gathering area and dining.
Are you still happy with the table?
Did you install can lights in the ceiling above the table? If so how many? What location above the table? Etc.?
Any other thoughts, comments or suggestions would be welcomed.
Thanks
Robert
Yes, quite pleased, and when I have traveled and stopped in other places and looked at alternatives, I have seen nothing comparable.
Due to a divorce, I moved. I got the table. Robertson arranged the move, so I got to see it disassembled and moved and reassembled again, and remained impressed how well built it is (should be for the price). This also let me re-assess some aspects of it, so some thoughts...
Lighting is tough. Pool table light ideally needs to be from above, and extend nearly to the end of the table. Dining light fixtures never extend that far (I would say you need light at least 7-8' long if it is a single fixture). I looked and looked for one I would like that long without success. Oh, there are a LOT of them, but they all look like pool hall lights, which was not the goal when dining. I think what I might have done (and might have worked) is picked a modern, artistic light "bar" types (e.g. in geometric designs) and then used 2 or 3 of them to give me the length.
Then I realized I really wanted a ceiling fan above it (and you can't hang that kind of light from a ceiling fan, plus there was not vertical space). So I tried again with spots over the table as well as a ceiling fan, and I screwed up a bit. I moved the spots more outside to reduce strobing from the fan, and that caused sharp shadows. I needed to switch them to floods (softer light). I would think hard about even putting a ceiling fan above your table, and instead use only lights. At the first house I had eyeballs in can just outside the perimeter of the table and spotlights in them (i.e. floods are usually about 40 degrees, these were 15 degrees on the ends and 25 degrees on the sides), and that worked very well mostly because of high ceilings (12'). New house was too short for that so moved them out, and shadows were awful.
If you skip the fan, ceiling lights, even pointing straight down, are fine if there are enough of them. You are probably going to want at least 50% more or maybe even double what you would use if it was a normal living room, and definitely want a dimmer for when not playing pool.
If you need a fan, good luck. It's really tough to get something that works well for both.
Other than lighting, it's great. It lived about 18 months at the first house, and stayed level and flat, not a hint of any change over time (all those lovely steel beams I think, plus steel in the joints of the frame). The stainless requires a bit of buffing occasionally to take out fingerprints, but looks great and is thick and tough, no dings from normal use visible.
The wood on the top and rails was well finished and held up well.
I mentioned somewhere else - avoid the brown pockets, the leather finish is awful (unless they changed) and scratch easily. They replaced with black and while it is not the best looking leather I have ever seen, it is very durable, not a mark shown now after a year or more. One day I might get inspired and find some higher quality leather pockets, or have some made (note they need to be shorter than standard so they do not hang down in people's laps, especially the side pocket).
If you are looking at a 9' table, it is a VERY large table for dining. We have sat at most 9 people and it still feels pretty empty. If you plan for the 10-12 that it could easily seat one problem is what to do with all the chairs for storage. The table top takes up little room and has a rolling cart, but all those chairs take a lot of space. My wife bought a bench for one side -- it can slide back under the table when not in use, but to me it looks strange on a dining table (but to be fair I then, cued to notice, saw a LOT of benches on dining tables at furniture stores, so it is not uncommon). So think about chairs vs. bench(s).
In that vein think about height. The stainless table only came in two heights, I think 30 and 32. 30 seems low but fits chairs better, 32 with a normal chair leaves people sitting too low relative to the tabletop. We had a lot of trouble finding chairs tall enough for 32 not from Canada Billiards. So we ordered from them (they will make them any height you want). The super nice thing about this table is they make it thin, so people fit under it nicely to eat -- the bad thing is the nature of a pool table generally, it is naturally just higher than a dining table. You either need to settle for it being lower for pool (e.g. the 30") or find taller chairs and get the taller table and feel more natural for pool. Taller chairs are tough to find. It's not that it is uncomfortable to sit 2" higher, it is just that they do not MAKE them that high.
We actually compromised a bit - 30" plus a 1" block of granite cut square under each leg. They actually look pretty good, add a bit of decoration. We did this because my wife thought 2" higher chairs would be uncomfortable. She was wrong, you would not really notice -- but, you cannot find them readily, everything is about the same height for a 30" table. So decide early - lower pool table, or work hard finding chairs tall enough, or buy theirs.
Note the table did not come with any kind of protective cover to go between the table top and pool top (to protect the cloth from spills). We have eaten on it a dozen times at least now, and never once had a spill, but it will happen. I bought a box of painters poly (the really thin stuff), and cut a couple runs of it and cover the table, then fold it back an inch or so from the edge, and set the top right on top. A spill will only hit the poly not the cloth. Takes about $0.75 worth of poly each time, and I throw it away afterwards. 10 minutes to cover, 1 minute to remove. Actually better than something durable as it is really thin and does not get in the way of the top. A box lasts almost forever.
If you get one try to buy from someone who has put them together before, they are different than their normal tables. A good installer is key (that's probably true for every table). Also, be very sure to try the top on in its entirety before they leave. Pocket placement is crucial to the top fitting (there are cut-outs they fit in).
I've been through a lot of houses and a lot of furniture over time, and to me it really makes a beautiful piece of furniture in either mode. It's the best looking dining table I ever had, which is saying something considering it is a pool table. FAR better than its competition in that regard. But expect to spend some time finding the right chairs and lighting to go with it, manufacturers of accessories really did not plan for something quite like it.
But yes, well made, holding up well, still love the table. Let me know how it goes.
Linwood
PS. I also had a pro teacher (Scott Lee) come give me a lesson; hopefully he was not just being polite, but he was impressed with it as a pool table as well. There doesn't appear to be any real compromise in that regard. He hangs out around here at times, you might PM him and ask if you want an independent opinion from someone who has been on a LOT of tables.