Creating a table that uses all available space
Possible with \usepackage{tabularx}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ XXXX }
\hline
label 1 & label 2 & label 3 & label 4 \\
\hline
item 1 & item 2 & item 3 & item 4 \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
I modified the code to add space vertically
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tabularx}
\begin{document}
\newcommand\myvspace [2]{ \vrule width0pt height#1 depth#2}
\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{ XXXX }
\hline
\myvspace{1cm}{1cm} label 1 & label 2 & label 3 & label 4 \\
\hline
\myvspace{2cm}{2cm}\begin{minipage}{2cm}
this is a long text and I need some place
\end{minipage}
& item 2 & item 3 & item 4 \\
\hline
\end{tabularx}
\end{document}