Two tables with same columns or one table with additional column?

Question

Say I have two tables (Apples and Oranges) with the same columns and just a different table name. Would there be any advantages/disadvantages to turning this into one table

Answer 1

If there really is not any further business rules (and resultant underlying data requirements) that separate the two sub-types then I would use one table with an fk to a FruitType lookup table.

You dont mention what you will be using to access the schema which may affect which approach you take (e.g. if you are using a platform which provides an ORM to your database then this may be worth noting).