Challah on the Table for Kiddush?

On Shabbos or Yom Tov, if you come to a dining room table and there is wine on the table but the challah is still in the kitchen, are you supposed to get the challah before making Kiddush so it’s on the table during Kiddush? Or is it fine to make Kiddush, go to wash and bring the challah with you back to the table?

The Gemara (Pesachim 100b) states that the table along with the food should be brought into the room only after Kiddush has been recited. The Gemara adds that if food is present at the time of Kiddush it should be covered. Tosfos (d.h. Lav) writes that at a time when people ate at small individual tables these tables would be brought in after Kiddush, but now that we sit at large tables it would be very difficult to move them, therefore we cover the food on the table at the time of Kiddush. Tosfos then cites the Sheiltos that the reason to have the table covered when reciting Kiddush is to make clear that the food served is l’kavod Shabbos, only arriving after Kiddush is made. Tosfos then suggests that this covering is to commemorate the mahn, which was covered on the top and bottom by a thin dew. Lastly, the Tur (271) points out that normally the bracha ofהמוציא precedes הגפן. Obviously, Kiddush is made before eating challah, and in order that the bread shouldn’t be “embarrassed” – שלא יראה הפת בושתו – the challah is covered.

Based on the above, there should be no reason to have the challah on the table at the time of Kiddush. In fact, the Vilna Gaon (Maaseh Rav 118) felt that the challah should not be on the table at the time of Kiddush. Additionally, Rav Schachter (M’Peninei Harav 69) records that Rav Soloveitchik felt that based on the reasoning of honoring Shabbos by bringing the food after Kiddush, it is best that nothing be on the table when reciting Kiddush. However, the Aruch Hashulchan (271:22) assumes that due toקידוש במקום סעודה it is preferable to have the challah (covered) on the table at the time of Kiddush. Additionally, some believe that it is preferable that the challah be on the table at the time of Kiddush to avoid unnecessary interruption between Kiddush and המוציא. Lastly, some poskim cite the Gemara (Shabbos 119b) that one’s table should be set before Shabbos; they assume that this means having the challah on the table at the onset of Shabbos (see Teshuvos Minchas Yitzchak 3:13). In summation, there is reason specifically to have the challah on the table when reciting Kiddush and reason not to, and either custom is acceptable.