As a rule the cutlery is laid so that the diner works from the outside in – his first-course knife will be the furthest from the plate, and on the right, because he is to pick it up with his right hand, His first-course fork will be on his left, an furthest from his plate. Similarly, if the first course is soup, the soup will be on the right (because most people are right-handed), at the extreme outside of the cutlery collection.

If a knife-and-fork first-course is followed by soup, the soup spoon will be second in place and so on, working inwards to dessert spoon and fork, or cheese knife. Dessert or pudding cutlery is sometimes put across the top of the diner’s place, the spoon above or beyond the fork and the handles pointing towards the hand that will pick them up – I.e.: spoon handle towards the right hand, fork handles towards the left hand.
Logic prevails in the same way with glasses, which are set out just beyond the knife tip, in a diagonal row, with the first one closest to the knife tip and the last one furthest away.

The bread plate is placed on the diner’s left, to the left of the cutlery. Napkins either go on this plate, or in the middles of the diner’s place if the first course is not yet on the table. Individual ashtrays, fingerbowls, salt cellars are placed within comfortable reach.

The commonest mistakes made in laying tables are

• to fail to leave enough space between the banks of cutlery for the diner plate to fit comfortably (leaving the guest foraging under his plate for a knife or fork);
• to line up the tips of the cutlery instead of the bases which gives an untidy unprofessional look; and
• to arrange the flowers or candles in such a way that the diners cannot see each other across the table

Low flowers are best, candles should be checked to make sure the do not confuse sight lines. Nothing is so irritating as having to peer around an obstruction to carry on a conversation.

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Excerpt from Leiths Cookery Bible

[Leith, P., and Waldegrave, C., (2003), Leiths Cookery Bible, 3rd edition, Bloomburys, UK]