Why are many extendable tables equipped with fixed belts on their extensions?

The table apron is the wooden strip located just below the tabletop, slightly set back from the outer edge. Its shape generally follows the contour and profile of the tabletop edge.

It serves two essential functions:

1. Enhancing strength – The apron helps maintain the sturdiness and integrity of the table, even when it is extended. It reinforces the upper part and stabilizes the whole, which is particularly important for large lengths, as seen in models like Jade or Aude with their five extensions.

2. Improving aesthetics and concealing the mechanism – The apron hides the sliding rails and other mechanisms located underneath the tabletop, which are necessary for extension and stability maintenance. To visualize the difference, compare, for example, the Arlington table (without an apron) to the Florence or Ambre (with an apron).

An extension apron is simply a continuation of the main table apron. With this system, when you add the extensions, a uniform wooden strip surrounds the entire tabletop. Without an apron, a gap forms between the ends, while with it, the appearance is perfectly seamless.

If this gap doesn't bother you, the absence of an apron on the extensions is not a major drawback for a reasonably sized table with one or two extensions. Long extendable tables are designed with internal reinforcements to compensate. However, for butterfly-type integrated extension tables – like the Baltimore or Athena models – it is often impossible to keep an apron on the extensions to allow for internal storage and maintain a comfortable height above the legs.