As so many people I'm looking for a Products /Product Properties database schema. I'm using Ruby on Rails and (Thinking) Sphinx for faceted searches. Requirements: Adding new product types and their options should not require a change to the database schema Support faceted searches using Sphinx. Solutions I've come across: (See Bill Karwin's answer) Option 1: Single Table Inheritance Not an option really. The table would contain way to many columns. Option 2: Class Table Inheritance Ruby on Rails caches the database schema on start-up which means a restart whenever a new type of product is introduced. If you have a size able product catalog this could mean hundreds of tables. Option 3: Serialized LOB Kills being able to do faceted searches without heavy application logic. Option 4: Entity-Attribute-Value For testing purposes, EAV worked fine. However it could quickly become a mess and a maintenance hell as you add more and more options (e.g. when an option increase the prices or delivery time). What option should I go with? What other solutions are out there? Is there a silver bullet (ha) I overlooked?