Dining Room Size for a 8 Seater Dining Table

Do those dimensions have any walking space around them, or must all the traffic flow inside it?

To seat 8 people, you are looking at table sizes at least around 2.2m x 1m or maybe manage at 1.8m long in a wider table, say 1.3m wide. A seated person will take up about another 600mm on each side, and by the time you allow some walking clearance, you are after 1m on each of the 4 sides to be comfortable.

So, putting those figures together, you'd be after something like a minimum of 4.2m x 3m or maybe 3.8mx3.3m to fit comfortably, plus the dimensions of any extra furniture you want in that space.

It also depends on how much traffic you expect around that area, and how clear you need that access to be. With a 1.8x1.2 table, you could probably work it ok if you kept it 700 off one end, with little traffic that end, leaving 1m on the other, and 900 up each side. It's tight though. If you really had to fit 8 people in a 3.5m x 3.0m room, I'd look at a 2.5mx1m table, with no one at the ends, and 4 people up each side.

Our dining space is 4.8m x 3.6m, and it's comfortable for 10-12 people. I'd say you'd be after at least 4.2 x 3.2. Some more on top of that would be nice, but you need to balance that out of your space budget.