Table cover after knigge

• 2013

Table manners after Knigge still up to date

If you have invited guests and want to host them attractively, you should stick to some basic rules. Named after the famous writer Baron Adolph von Knigge, the account manager provides basic instructions for entertaining guests, which behavior is attached to the table and, above all, has to look like a laid table.

Cover a table properly

First and foremost, a perfect table is part of a kniggegerechten table. From the complete cutlery over correct glasses to noble cloth napkins everything should be present and thereupon and also correctly covered.

As the tablecloth should usually be white, the plates can also be used to add a little more color, depending on the taste. First and foremost, the place plates are positioned. These remain in their place throughout the meal and are not used for food but serve only as placeholders. Setting a new plate on the platter with each course creates a certain amount of background noise, but the flapper doilies, which used to serve as noise protection, have been considered old-fashioned for some time now.

The cutlery finds place next to the plates. Often it causes a great deal of unrest, as guests sometimes do not know which cutlery is used for what. The order follows a very simple system. Those devices that should be used with the right hand are right and vice versa. The first needed cutlery is outside. If you want to serve many courses, the cutlery should be brought but each with the courses, otherwise the table seems too cluttered. Dessert cutlery is positioned above the plate with the spoon handle to the right and the fork handle to the left.

The glasses are placed above the knife. It starts right, again in the order of use. First a glass of water, then a white wine glass, followed by a red wine glass and finally a glass for the dessert.

The napkins can be discreetly folded and placed on the plate or to the left of the cutlery row. Salt and pepper should be available for the guests on the table. Toothpicks can be dispensed with, as they must not be used at the table. When decorating the table is important that it is arranged so that the view of the other person is not covered. But "less is more" is also a motto here.