Wooden Console Tables and Pine Sideboards: A Buying Guide

Long, narrow and quietly useful. A wooden console table earns its place in a hallway, behind a sofa or along a dining room wall, but only if you get the depth and the height right.

Console tables are the most misjudged piece of furniture in most homes. People buy on looks alone, then discover the table blocks the hallway, or sits too low behind the sofa, or has drawers too shallow to be any use. The looks are the easy part. Start with the measurements.

The three measurements that matter

Depth first. In a hallway, anything over 45cm starts to feel like an obstacle unless the hall is unusually wide. As a rule, leave at least 90cm of clear walking space in front of the table. Behind a sofa or against a dining wall you have more freedom, and 45 to 50cm gives you a genuinely usable surface.

Height second. Standard console height sits between 80 and 90cm. Behind a sofa, match the height to the top of the sofa back or come in a fraction below it. Under a mirror or artwork, leave 20 to 25cm between the tabletop and the bottom of the frame.

Length third. Under a mirror, the console should be wider than the mirror. Behind a sofa, aim for around three quarters of the sofa length. Consoles run anywhere from 100cm to well over 200cm, and the long ones are far more forgiving in a big room than people expect.

A console that is too small looks like an accident. A console that is slightly too long looks deliberate.

Reclaimed, rustic or solid new timber

These three terms get used interchangeably and they should not be.

Type	What it means	Best suited to
Reclaimed	Timber salvaged from previous use, usually pine or elm, then rebuilt into new furniture	Character, tonal depth, sustainability
Rustic	A finish, not a material. New or reclaimed timber that has been distressed, waxed or weathered by hand	Farmhouse and country schemes
Solid new timber	Newly milled oak, acacia or elm, often with a cleaner finish	Uniform tone, transitional and modern rooms

A reclaimed console table will show nail holes, filled knots and colour shifts across the top. That is the material telling you where it has been. If you want every board to match, choose new solid timber instead and accept a flatter, more even look.

Elm is the timber to look at if you want character without heavy distressing. The grain is wilder and more swirling than oak, and it takes a warm weathered finish particularly well, which is why elm consoles tend to read as older and softer than their pine equivalents.

Drawers, shelves or open

An open console with a lower shelf is the lightest visually and the best choice in a narrow hallway, where baskets underneath do the storage work. Drawers are the practical option for keys, post, chargers and the small clutter that otherwise lives on the surface. A lower shelf plus drawers gives you both, which is why so many of the reclaimed designs combine them.

Check drawer depth before buying. A 21cm drawer height is genuinely useful. Anything much shallower is a token gesture.

Pine sideboards

A sideboard is a console table that grew up. Same footprint logic, but with enclosed cupboards and adjustable shelving behind panelled doors, which makes it the better answer for dining rooms where you need to store crockery, linen and glassware rather than keys.

Recycled and reclaimed pine suits sideboards particularly well. The scale of the piece means you see a lot of timber at once, and the tonal variation across a two metre front stops it reading as a slab. Look for hand applied wax rather than a heavy lacquer, and for adjustable rather than fixed interior shelves.

Sideboard or console?

• Hallway: console, almost always. Depth is the deciding factor.
• Dining room: sideboard, for closed storage and a serving surface.
• Living room, behind a sofa: console. A sideboard is usually too deep.
• Living room, against a wall: either. A sideboard gives you somewhere to hide the things you do not want on show.

Both sit together in our console tables and sideboards collection.

Styling the top

Keep it to three groups and let the timber breathe. A lamp at one end, something tall and sculptural such as a vase or a stem arrangement, and one low horizontal element, usually a tray or a stack of books. Our vases and pots and table lamps are the two categories that do most of the work here.

If you want the full method, including the mirror and lighting decisions, see our guide to styling a console table.

Common questions

How much weight can a console table hold?

Solid timber consoles are structurally very strong. The limit is usually the wall behind, not the table, so anything you hang above it needs proper fixings.

Do reclaimed pieces need special care?

No. Dust with a dry cloth, avoid harsh chemicals, and refresh a waxed finish once or twice a year.

How long does delivery take?

Allow 10 to 14 days for all furniture. See our delivery information for details.