Show me a patio table that can work outside as a patio table mainly but double inside as kitchen table that only comes in when we have a (smallish) dinner party?

How about a fold-up gateleg table? I'm thinking http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/80039174. I had one in an occaisional room a few years back, they can be very sturdy.

I have http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20104718 gateleg table (along with http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10087644 stackable chairs). It works well, and you can store stuff in it!

I have thishttp://www.taylorgifts.com/item/fold_down_gate_leg_tablechairs/D28337. Most of the time it sits against the wall in the entry way and takes up almost no space. It looks nice and can seat four (I keep wooden folding chairs in the hall closet).

You could use 2 of http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50101638. They're only 50 bucks, and are weatherproof, and fold up. We have one on our deck, it seats 4 people, adding another one would seat 8 (or 6 comfortably). A family I know uses them this way - as flexible "visitor" tables. They are quite stable, but can be carried around and set up by one person.

Back in an old apartment of mine, we had a (cheap, small) dining table that spent most of its time jammed juuuuust so between the counter and the fridge. (I may have...ahem...taken a hacksaw to it to make this work.) We used it as an extension of the counter top (microwave and toaster oven lived there), but it got pulled out and covered with a table cloth for dinner parties. If there's anywhere in your house where you could use 10 square feet of horizontal surface, you have room for a table. You just might have to do some hunting (or creative hacksawing) to find one that works for you.

Before we moved, we had my in-laws old yacht table as our living room table. It folded out to ridiculously huge dimensions and raised itself to dining table heights, but was much smaller in front of the futon most of the time. It was damned heavy, though.

I have a dropleaf table into which I can insert one more leaf. When I don't have people over or a project on it, both leaves are folded. When two people are over, I extend one leaf. When I host dinner or family meals, I open both leaves and insert the middle leaf. It's similar to a gateleg table, except the permanent leaf is bigger. At that point, chair storage/stashing is a bigger problem than the room the table occupies. Whatever you choose, if it's less than ideally attractive, having tablecloths on hand can take you far. My "outside" table is an old card table with various inexpensive vinyl drop cloths in rotation.

I have an blond wood oval table that folds down on each side, leaving a foot wide table/shelf section when it's closed. It has four nice looking wooden chairs that fold up and fit into the table when not in use. Something like that might be perfect for you. Unfortunately I got it at a thrift store so I can't link to anything, but you could prolly find something similar. It looks like a pretty nice "real" table when open.

I read way too quickly. That folding table isn't on the market (yet?), but it is a good illustration of the concept. Looks like there are plenty of options out there if you like the concept, though.