Totally depends on the entry, the actual seating you choose...need pictures!!!

Id say chairs for the dining table, sharing a bench with someone is annoying. But i agree pictures will help give you a better answer.

I could go either way at the table but I would want to see the entry way.

I added a photo to my post. it’s not yet finished so i just have the floorplan. Hope that helps!

I would do chairs with a small table. You have space for either but chairs will be easier to move to the dining table when you need them, easier to move to clean etc.

The bench or extra chairs for 2 at dining table is only for the few times a year that we need 8 seats so I'm not worried about moving them. I like the idea of multi-tasking those 2 seats, hence my attempt to find something that doubles as entry seating for 99% of the time. This is a rendering from a furniture store showing an idea of furniture, and you can see the 2 chairs against a wall. That seems to work, but I my first choice would have been to find something that works in the entry instead so I can use that wall space for furniture. And while you're looking at it, do you have any thoughts about table shape, round or rectangular/oval?

A bench with a round table? No. Do you have a sideboard in the dining room? Place the two extra chairs on either side of it. If you need seating in the entrance, place one chair there. Place the spare chair in another room nearby.

Yes, they make curved benches for round tables. No space for sideboard. If you look at the rendering I attached, the only wall space is where those two chairs are placed against the wall. That would use all my available wall space. But I hear a resounding "no" to the bench idea, so I'll just get 8 chairs and figure out where to place them after I'm in the space. I would love comments on the round vs rectangular dining table, though. The one in the rendering is 60". I worry that it would be too wide to talk to people, but I like the look of it in the space.