Even if your guests aren't familiar with table-setting ways, placing silverware in the correct order can make the table clean as you move through each course.
Types of Silverware and Their Uses
To add a bit of splendor to your table setting, you can set different silverware collections, including spoons, forks, and knives, depending on the dishes you serve. You can use a steak knife for slicing meat, a small salad knife for cutting veggies into bite-sized pieces, a fish knife for delicately chopping and maneuvering, a butter knife for spreading butter on bread, and a multi-purpose dinner knife. Each kind of knife has a different shape and size.
As for forks, the all-purpose dinner fork is the biggest of the bunch. There is also a salad fork, dessert fork, and fish fork, from next largest to smallest. If you're serving oysters, don't forget the three-bladed oyster fork. In total, there are different types of forks that come in a silverware collection, so you can set a lovely table if you want.
The three most common spoons you see on the table are the teaspoon, the dessert spoon, and the soup spoon. There are also special spoons for grapes, eggs, and particular drinks and desserts.
General Table-Setting Rules
Are you feeling overawed by a large number of silverware? Don't be! One of the most important table-setting rules is not to set needless silverware. Think about dishes ahead of time and only set out unique items if needed. Depending on what dish you're serving, this may leave only one dinner knife and one dinner fork for you.
After that, be sure to put everything on the right side of the plate. Keep the dessert cutlery and butter knife aside for now. All other forks go to the left of the plate, while knives and spoons go to the right. Odd is an oyster thorn; It also goes to the right.
If there is enough space on the table, the napkin should be placed to the left of the fork. However, you can also place the napkin under the fork if dining on a small table.
Silverware Placement Order
The next step is to organize the flatware in a specific order based on which dinnerware is used first. Your guests at your dinner party will start with the outer utensils, but when setting the table, you should place the inner utensils first: the dinner knife on the right and the dinner fork on the left. The handle direction should be toward the guest, and the knife blade should always face the guest's plate. You can also add some best black silverware to your table to give a lovely chic look to your dining table.
If you are serving a salad before the main course, place a salad knife to the right of the dinner fork and a salad fork to the left side. The soup spoon should be held to the knife's right as soups are usually served before the salad.
Place the bread knife at an angle to the plate so that the handle is at the 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock position. And finally, the black silverware for dessert is placed horizontally on the main plate. The dessert spoon is placed on top with its handle on the right, and the dessert fork is set under the spoon, with the handle on the left.
