Generally, you want 36-48" of space all around the table without bumping into walls or furniture on the walls. And don't forget the space taken by the door swing. Chair scoot and sit space requires 24" of that 36'48" area on all sides of the table. Hope that helps you decide.

one way to "cheat" is to use a booth or window seat against a wall and eliminate the need for circulation around that side of the seating area chairs - additionally you could use an "L" shaped booth and gain even more - validate that you need the extra cabinets you spoke of - could it be storage under the booth type seating or under the window seat sorry not enough info to guide you further.

Thank you both. The cabinets are needed as the kitchen is extremely small. We are changing the shape of the island from what the architect drew, but don't have a lot of space to work with there. Two small walls broken up baby three doors. Therefore we definitely need the lower cabinets in the dining for china etc.

The guidelines help, yes. If the room is 12' wide, after cabinets, and six feet are taken by the table, that leaves only 3' on each side of the table to move around. It just isn't big enough. Sigh. Smaller table it is! Husband wants round table (one of the very few things he's had a decided opinion about, so I want to make sure he gets it), so don't think a bench seat will work out.