By ROSEMARY SADEZ FRIEDMANN, Scripps Howard News Service

Did you know that the perfectly equipped house should have 19 different types of flatware?

The common ones are tablespoon, teaspoon, small fork, large fork, large knife, small knife ... OK, the list is getting boring.

Here is a list that is not so boring because it includes flatware that is not so common. How many of these do you have? Iced-tea spoon, orange spoon, salt spoon, fish fork, oyster fork, fruit fork. I think I'd have to put a little note on each just to remind me what it's for.

Trying to sort out flatware's proper placement around the plate can be daunting. To make it simple, the most common and accepted way is: Forks on the left, knives and spoons on the right. Occasionally, there may be a dessert spoon and a dessert fork at the top.

Are there lots of spoons, forks, knives to be used at this dinner? The largest of each should be closest to the plate, tapering down to the smallest. Example: Large fork next to plate on left, salad fork to the left of that, oyster fork to the left of the salad fork. On the right the knives should be closest to the plate — largest first, followed by the spoons, again largest to smallest. And the sharp part of the knife should face the plate.

What about glassware? Oh my, there are 24 different ones. Luckily, you only need two for most dinner settings and four if you are serving a more formal, multi-course meal. A water glass and a wine glass take care of the standard dinner. Add a sherry glass and a dessert-wine glass to the latter setting if the occasion is more ceremonial. Seems to me you had better have plenty of space per person at the formal setting or you won't have room for all of this. Among the 24 glasses are such things as iced-tea glass, pilsner glass, punch glass, champagne glass — the list goes on.

If you want to sit four to six people, a 42- by 72-inch tabletop will suffice. If there are eight, stretch that top to 84 inches long. Dinner for 10 will require a 96-inch-long table. If a round table is more to your liking, 54 inches to 60 inches will seat six, 72 inches will accommodate eight to 10 and an 84-inch round table will seat 12 to 14.

The width of the chairs will make a difference in how many will fit at the table. Most chairs are 18 to 22 inches wide. These chairs will fit the table sizes mentioned here. If the chairs are more ample, you will run out of table if you use that many chairs. Common practice is to have chairs with arms set at each end and armless chairs along the sides if a rectangular table is used. The armless chairs take up less space so more chairs will fit.

Colorful place mats and napkins can add to the dining pleasure. No, I am not suggesting eatable ones, though that is not a bad idea. You might consider a place mat of one color and one or two napkins per person of another color. If you use two napkins per person, they should be two different colors. Example: Teal placemat with lavender and teal napkins. Or tan placemat and black and tan napkins.