Outdoor Furniture Guide

The Best Sideboard Possible – Making Sure You Consider All Of The Right Factors When Buying

Sometimes called a buffet, a sideboard is a piece of furniture with drawers, cupboards or compartments in which you can store your tableware, and has a flat surface like a table. Sideboards and dressers are practical pieces of furniture, allowing you to store the crockery, glasses & cutlery you use for entertaining, freeing up your kitchen cupboards.
Now sideboards are being used in the sitting room, as flat screen televisions are much narrower than previous TVs, & can fit on top. In addition the height of sideboards is a good height for watching TV, & the extra storage is always useful for remote controls, DVDs & other media. And as hey typically have a lot of space on the top to display decorative objects, for example photos, momentos, candles etc it is not surprising they have become so ubiquitous.
So your main consideration needs to be choosing the best sideboard or buffet possible for your Dining Room or living room. There is a lot of choice (especially on the internet) & if you make the most of it you will end up with an absolute gem.
Firstly, think carefully about why are you buying a sideboard. Which room is it for, living room or dining? If it’s for the dining room it will need large drawers at the top (great for silverware, napkins etc) & roomy cupboards below for large serving plates, bottles, glasses etc.
If you are planning on dishes with food on top of it the top will need to be scratchproof to cope with the serving dishes, & easy to clean. A good way to preserve the top of a lacquered or wooden sideboard whilst maintaining the look of it is to have a piece of glass cut locally to exactly the size of the top, & position it on top. The wood or lacquer will show through beautifully, but it will be easy to clean & practical. Make sure the top of the sideboard is completely dust free & clean before you position the top however.
If you are using it for your television it might be good to get a sideboard with an open compartment, so you can put a DVD player, Sky box or whatever away but still operate it with your remote control.
Before you start searching for your new furniture, decide where you would like to put it and measure up to see how much space you have available vs how much storage you would like. Remember to make sure that you will have enough room to open the cupboards or drawers, & to allow for skirting boards. Make sure it is not too deep to get in the way either, a sideboard needs to fit perfectly in the space you have set aside for it.
Gest the best quality you can afford. Your sideboard or buffet is likely to be used fairly regularly, so it’s important to choose one which is well made so that it will last for years. The door hinges & drawer runners should be good quality, & whilst it’s impossible to tell the difference unless you know what you are looking for make sure you test the movement of doors & drawers before buying. Cheap fittings won’t improve, so if the doors or drawers don’t open smoothly don’t buy it. Soft close doors & drawers are definitely worth buying as they will ensure that both fittings & the sideboard will last longer, & the doors will hang true.
You are likely to use your sideboard often, & it is likely to be a focal point in a room, so it’s worth spending money on. Cheap lacquers & woods won’t handle the rigours of day to day use well, & an expensive sideboard can really lift a room.
Make sure that your new sideboard is practical as well as attractive. Think about what you want to put in it and make sure that choose one with enough space. Do you want to be able to show off your crockery or glassware, or would you rather hide it away inside the unit? Would storing your glasses & bottles be easier if the sideboard or dresser had adjustable or even removable shelves?
Choose the right style. It’s crucial to make sure that you choose one that suits your room, as it is a fairly large piece of furniture, & if it’s got a TV on it then you will be looking at it a lot! Whichever style you choose will need to suit the style of your room and fit in with the rest of your furniture. It’s common to buy one that matches your dining table or bookcase, & as long as you don’t swamp the room with furniture with the same finish it usually works well.
Sideboards and dressers can sometimes be fairly bulky, so it’s important to choose one which doesn’t make your room look smaller or darker. Although some people avoid buying wooden furniture for this reason, you can buy sideboards and dressers in many different types of wood, and you may find that furniture made from a light coloured wood looks perfect. Alternatively, if you want to make your room look warm and cosy, try choosing a sideboard or dresser made from a darker wood.

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Your perfect sideboard can be found online at Go Modern, who have a huge range of contemporary sideboards, as well as other contemporary furniture.

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