Placemats for your table have been around for many years, although no one really knows exactly when their use become common. Its almost universal that people in countries all around the world use placemats for their tables. Recent surveys found that up to 90% of USA households surveyed used placemats on a regular basis.
Below are some excerpts from recent online surveys of the reason that households use placemats:
- “They help protect a wood table from moisture, heat, dings and scratches. I also like every day to be a little bit special. Why wait for company or a special occasion? Being home and also being with those you love should be something to celebrate even if it is over a simple meal. Every day is precious.”
- “For two reasons: my husband is a very messy eater (you would think he had been raised by wolves) and we bought a new table and chairs last year (handmade in Minnesota) and we’re trying to keep the dishes from scratching up the finish.”
- “I use the placemats to protect the table.”
- “Sitting at the table with just a plate of food on a bare table makes me feel like something’s missing.”
- “I have a glass table so I always use placemats …. both to protect the table and to avoid loud clinking and clattering of ceramic dishes and metal cutlery on glass.”
- “We use them on the kitchen table. Mostly, it dampens the noise of plates moving about and sort of signals eating time, since we clear them off after eating.”
- “My table is glass – the table has a design that you don’t want to cover with a table cloth – and setting dishes directly on the glass is usually too harsh feeling for me. I like some padding there.”
- “We use them every day too. It was how I was brought up.”
- “Did not use placements while growing up, but I like them now. It’s fun choosing colors that complement the room. When DD was young, she had a rotating set of plastic ones that could easily be wiped off, some that we pulled out holidays, like an Easter bunny one.”
- “Use [placemats] unless I’m feeling lazy. Not to protect the table…it just “feels” right to use them.”
We’ve assembled the top 5 reasons how placemats improve your life:
1) They Protect Your Table’s Surface
2) They Decorate and Add Esthetics
3) They are Convenient and Green Conscious
4) Provide Entertainment
5) Increase Sanitation and Noise Reduction
Placemats Protect Your Table and Counter Surfaces
The primary function of placemats is to protect your dining table and counters from water marks, food stains or heat damage.
Placemats Add Decoration and Esthetics To Your Table
Placemats also serve as decorations to coordinate with color or motif themes and for special holidays and events. Esthetically, many people feel that it adds to the beauty of a table to add color and vibrancy whereas they also reduces noise pollution by softening the clanging of dinnerware and cutlery.
Placemats Are Convenient, Green Conscious, And Reduce Noise
Placemats are also a very convenient to keep your table clean and to avoid endless wash cycles of table cloths. Our PP plastic placemats wipe clean with a damp cloth and can be used over and over. They;ll last for ever but when you get tired of them, just pitch them in the recycle bin to give them a new life as another product. Placemats also reduce the noise and clatter associated with glass, ceramics and metal cutlery coming in direct contact with table and counter surfaces.
Placemats for Entertainment
Placemats for kids can be an endless source of fun and entertainment and subconsciously allow learning to continue during meal time. And, in some restaurants, placemats are used to advertise menu items, specials, local businesses, fun facts, trivia, or provide games for children. A marker and a plastic placemat make a great art project for kids and adults alike.
Placemats Aid in Sanitation
And, one of the most important ways that placemats can help to improve your life is to provide a sanitary sound barrier between your table (or desk) and your food both at home or when eating out. More and more people work from home so the dining table is commonly the center for eating and working making it even more important to consider sanitation. Likewise, if you eat from your desk at work, you need protection there too, so whip out a plastic placemat and protect yourself!
Below is some research we found on kitchen and table sanitation:
- The Web MD website reports that….”it’s the kitchen that actually harbors more bacteria than any other room in the home. And these germs — the same ones that can cause a cold or flu to spread through a household like wildfire – lurk everywhere…Consider this: One single bacteria cell can become more than 8 million cells in less than 24 hours! The number of bacteria it takes to make people sick can range from as few as 10 up to millions. And infections spread when germs are transferred from a contaminated item (say, your cutting board) to your hands to your body.”
- ABC News Consumer Correspondent Elisabeth Leamy went undercover at 10 restaurants in three states. She took swab samples from 10 surfaces you come typically in contact with at a restaurant. Then Dr. Philip Tierno and his team at the New York University Microbiology Department lab tested the samples. The #5 dirtiest place was Tables!
- And, in another separate investigation at the University of Arizona, a 2007 study found that the average desktop has 100 times more bacteria than a kitchen table and 400 times more than the average toilet seat. “Desks are really bacteria cafeterias,” said Charles Gerba, a microbiologist who’s studied dirty desks, in a UA press release several years ago. “They’re breakfast buffets, lunch tables and snack bars, as we spend more and more hours at the office. Treat your desktop like you would your kitchen table and counters at home,” says Smithson. “Clean all surfaces, whether at home or work, before you prepare or eat food on them.”
So, it’s clear that placemats improve your life.
Bright of America® durable placemats give years of service in homes, canteens, and restaurants. We cater to organizational and business customers to create designs that stand out from the crowd.
Contact us today for more info on our lines of custom placemats and other products
