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The 15 Best Placemats for Hosting the Best Dinner Parties

Putting you in your place.

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By Tyler Chin

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Anyone with a half-decent dining table should be setting their table with placemats. As much as they seem like an unnecessary addition to your expenses, placemats are super functional. Placemats not only protect your dining table from scratches, but they also create a spruced-up place to have your meals. Not everyone has the same dining table, so it’s a huge plus that placemats come in a variety of materials, shapes and sizes to complement your aesthetic. So if you’ve been holding out on adding some placemats to your cart, here are some of the best to buy right now.

Most placemats are rectangular, but Five Two’s placemats buck the trend with its oval versions. They come in five beautiful muted colors that give them a vintage look, and Five Two even gave the placemats “vintage-inspired” hemstitched details. Bonus for messy eaters: The placemats are fully machine washable, and they’re resistant to wrinkling in the dryer. 

Art or placemat? How about a little bit of both. Designed by Italian architect Gaetano Pesce, these semi-flexible placemats adorned with the shapes of a fork, knife and spoon. Pricey as these may be, they’re definitely a statement piece for your dining table.

Made from luxe linen, these hand-printed placemats are made by Willow Ship, a women-founded and family-run homeware brand based out of Portland, Oregon. They’re machine washable and maintain a low-key look while also being a beautiful place to set the table.

Atelier Saucier specializes in upcycling fabrics into tabletop linens, whether it’s cloth napkins or dish towels. Its placemats are absolute winners, too. This candy cane-like placemat make the perfect accent for Christmastime meals, but it’s just as well suited as an everyday placemat. 

If you’re not decking out your tabletop with felt, you’re missing out. Graf Lantz’ felt placemats (like its ever-popular felt coasters) are made of merino wool, which is sustainable, biodegradable and renewable, while being resistant to odor, stain, heat and dirt. The stone-like shape of the mats are an out-of-the-box alternative to ovals, rectangles or circles, and the shape, as the brand explains, “provide[s] the perfect opportunity to carve out organic display areas while keeping surfaces scratch free.” 

These 100-percent rattan placemats are handmade in the Philippines, which is the origin of their design, called hapao, which you’d traditionally find as a pattern for bags and baskets. You can easily wipe up spills with a damp cloth, and the mats will age beautifully over time.

If it’s sold at Goldune, you can be sure you’re buying a product that’s sustainable and good for the earth. These Slash Objects placemats are no exception. They’re stain- and heat-resistant, made of LEED-certified rubber. All that matters is that they have a super slick look that will dress up even the cheapest and ugliest dining table. 

Woven with Jipijapa leaves, which sort of looks like a palm plant, these placemats are made by Colombian artisans, and they really do look like art. Turn these placemats into button-down shirts, and I’d buy one in each print. 

Ikea’s Toga placemats are super cheap, and they’re made of bamboo — so not only are they environmentally friendly, but they also add a bit of natural appeal to the dining table.

Chilewich makes an unwieldy number of placemats, but it’s its Basketweave Signature placemats that we think are the best. They use a four-over-four basketweave, which helps to emphasize the colors of the mats, and with the option to buy them in over a dozen hues, you might want one of each to have in constant rotation. 

Show off your love of denim with these denim-inspired placemats from Target’s in-house brand Project 62. The textilene material is durable and it also makes these placemats easy to clean with the wipe of a damp towel.

Buying placemats from a brand called Bed Threads? Just do it. These linen-constructed placemats are made from the same fabric the brand uses to construct its popular linen bed sheets. The placemats are available in 11 muted colors, and if you get them you might react like one over-enthusiastic reviewer who writes, “OBSESSED!”

Yes, leather placemats are a great idea. These, made in Denmark, are crafted from recycled leather (and also a bit of rubber), which makes them durable and also resistant to water damage. And like any other piece of leather, it’ll patina like a well-worn pair of leather boots.

Set the table for cheap with these affordable placemats from Wayfair. They’ll keep your dining table safe from all harm — like water, heat and scratches — while being easy on the eyes.

These CB2 placemats look like they were cut out of your favorite quilted jacket. They’re actually designed by Jennifer Fisher, known for her jewelry, and they’re made of a nice black chambray that’s layered with polyfill and stitched by hand for the quilted look. 

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