What’s in a Name: Is it called a Buffet or Sideboard or Both?

Buffets and sideboards make serving meals and entertaining seemingly effortless and more enjoyable. If you’ve arrived at More Dining Tables determined to purchase one for your dining room, you may be a little confused. Which is which or are they the same thing? Because they basically serve the same purpose, today, many furniture retailers use the terms interchangeably. But sideboards and buffets do have their own separate stories to tell.

Emerging in the form we know them today, sideboards first appeared in the eighteenth century, and were used in a dining room or a hall for holding food and wine before it was to be served. They really gained popularity all over Europe in the nineteenth century as more and more households became prosperous enough to have a room in their homes dedicated specifically to formal dining. They were invariably made of mahogany and were often richly detailed with expensive veneers and costly overlays. Sideboards produced in the European colonies of North America became simpler in appearance and were made of woods indigenous to the region, like oak, pine and walnut.

Typically, a sideboard resembles a table, stands roughly waist high and has a center drawer especially designed for either linens or silverware and an open or enclosed storage area Today, sideboards are available in numerous styles and designs, but essentially are still used for serving food, displaying collectibles and storing meal-related items like serving platters, placemats and cutlery. In today’s busy home, a sideboard, like the contemporary Hillsdale Bayberry Glenmary Cherry Sideboard, can conveniently store everything in one place needed to set a table, saving time while increasing the functionality of your dining room.

From the French, “buffet” refers to a small sideboard for storing dishes. They can be traced back to the Middle Ages, where they bore more of a resemblance to modern sideboards. Originally, a buffet was a stack of shelves, the number of which being an indication of the owner’s wealth and status in the community. Over the centuries, they evolved into elaborately detailed pieces of furniture. In the sixteenth century, it emerged as a serving or side table, often with two or three tiers. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the buffet became more elaborate, characterized by tiered shelves above a serving counter and cupboards with doors below the serving area.

Contemporary buffets come in a variety of styles and configurations, but generally have a serving counter with a row of drawers, with two doors on either side and a storage area in the middle. Like the Home Styles Furniture Three-Drawer Large Buffet, a buffet can also include utility drawers, wine storage and a display shelf. Buffets can also feature stemware racks or a hutch with shelves, dividers and plate grooves.

Due to their versatility and adaptability, buffets and sideboards remain a popular way to make dining and entertaining stylish and enjoyable. They essentially serve the same purpose; that of storing meal-related items such as china, utensils and table linens. And just to confuse the issue a little more, when shopping for one online at More Dining Tables, keep in mind that both sideboards and buffets are also known as servers.

Dining with Hillsdale

With spring on the way, many manufacturers introduce new product lines at this time of year. Hillsdale is no exception. Their winter product lineup includes six exciting new dining sets that offer a little something for everyone. At Hillsdale Furniture Source, you will find a dining furniture that will breathe fresh life into your kitchen or dining room.

The Casa Blanca collection combines classic farmhouse profiles with transitional design elements for a truly warm and inviting appearance. It features a traditional ladder back chair and an oval table. The collection also includes a sideboard. The beautiful two-tone cherry/black finish gives these pieces a modern look and feel.

The Hermosa Heights collection by Hillsdale is definitely contemporary in style. The counter height gathering table is undeniably a space-saving work of art. Its design incorporates some innovative features such as display shelving, special compartments for wine bottles and an oak finish tabletop with a built-in lazy susan. Displaying an elegant transitional look, the Patterson collection also offers a counter height dining furniture with an adaptable style that fits a range of décors.

Transitional in style, Verona dining sets are available with a number of different seating options that allows you to choose the look that best expresses your personal taste. Parsons chairs with a square table? Slat chairs and a bench with a rectangle table? You decide.

If you’re looking for something that mixes it up a little, consider either the Hillsdale Monaco Dining Set or the Pacifico Dining Set. By pairing different materials together, such as wood, leather and marble in the case of the Monaco series, both collections are visually stunning in their own unique ways.

You will find plenty of reasons, not just for the kitchen or dining room, to give all the rooms of your home a fresh look for spring with innovative designs from Hillsdale Furniture.

Entertaining Ideas

When getting ready for Christmas, you want your home to look warm and welcoming, but you don’t want to have to do a major renovation to get it to look that way. Entertaining for the holidays translates into the living room, dining room and kitchen seeing a lot of the action. The holiday season can be stressful, but with a little planning ahead and some decorating strategies, you will be able to entertain (almost) stress-free, and in style too, with a little help from Cymax Stores.

Nothing makes guests feel welcome faster than walking into a living room with candles, bowls of Christmas goodies dotted around and table lamps that shed warm, soft light. But where to put everything? How about a group of nesting tables? Nesting tables are different sized tables designed to fit one underneath the other, giving you the option to separate them and move them around a room as needed. The Kathy Ireland Bradley Living Room Table Set which includes end tables with usable cabinet space for added storage solutions would be an excellent choice.

If you were planning at some point to spruce up your dining room, now might be the perfect time to invest in a dining set. MoreDiningTables.com features seven-piece dining sets, both dining and counter heights, for under $1,300.00. Don’t need to seat that many people or you need a table for more than six; MoreDiningTables.com has a wide selection of casual and formal dining tables in a price range sure to suit your budget. If the table still has some mileage left and just the chairs need replacing, MoreDiningTables.com can help. No matter whether it’s the Christmas season or not, extra chairs will also come in handy. The Linon Firenze Folding Chair is the perfect choice, with its stylish appearance and convenient design.

Even if you are perfectly happy with your dining table and chairs, perhaps you’re tired of running back and forth to the linen closet or the kitchen every time you need to set the table. Make your dining room entertaining-friendly in a chic and stylish way with a buffet or sideboard. Many types of buffets will include wine storage, a stemware rack and a flatware drawer, features that make hosting holiday meals comfortable and easy.

To get your kitchen organized for the holiday rush, consider buying a kitchen cart that can do double duty as a serving cart. It will be handy for food prep and will increase your existing counter space, while providing convenience and mobility when you’re ready to serve your guests. Get the most out of your kitchen counter by adding two or three colourful barstools; you can keep friends and family nearby while you’re busy in the kitchen.

Christmas comes once a year. And it’s a good thing, too, because it can make us a little stressed out with decorating the tree, buying gifts and all those other little things we need to do before the 25th arrives. But with some planning ahead, you can at least have your home look good for the big day.

Putting the Spotlight on Dining Tables

I'll admit it; I take my dining room table for granted. Without giving it any thought, I'll plunk down a handful of junk mail, dishes that need a step-stool before they can be put away and even, I have to confess, the occasional pile of freshly folded laundry that didn't quite make it to wherever it should have been going in the first place. But when I went to buy new dining chairs to match the table, the salesperson began asking questions that I really had to think about.

It was an eye-opening encounter. Taking my dining table for granted had distinct disadvantages: since I didn't know the answers off the top of my head (like how high the table was and whether the finish high gloss or matte), I had to make the trip back home to find out. If you are in the market for dining table, there are some important things to keep in mind before making a purchase. After all, the focal point of every dining room is the dining table. You want to get it right the first time.

Size

Although the height of a standard dining table is 30 inches, they come in a range of sizes that can cozily seat two people or comfortably accommodate up to ten family members and guests. When shopping for a dining table, the first thing to consider is how large the space is and how many people will be sitting at the table on a regular basis. A person generally needs a minimum of 24 inches of personal space to feel comfortable. If you have guests over for a meal more often than not, you might want to factor them into your seating plan too.

Also, take into account that you will be using the table with chairs. To be able to easily walk around the table with the chairs pushed in or to slide a chair away from your dining table without hitting the wall or another piece of furniture, you will need to make room, allowing 48 to 56 inches between the table and the wall for minimum/maximum clearance.

Purpose and Place

Before buying a dining table, take into account your lifestyle. Give some thought to how and where you and family take your meals: on the go at a breakfast counter, informally at a kitchen table or gathered around a more formal dining table? If everyone's schedule is different and you are not in the habit of having sit-down meals together, a large formal table that seats ten might not be the best choice. A dinette set, a smaller, more utilitarian version of the dining table with chairs, may be the ideal alternative. On the other hand, if you enjoy entertaining and want a place to stage holiday gatherings, you will need a dining table with plenty of room.

Style

Style is the element that transforms four legs holding up a flat tabletop into a dining experience, one that will enhance the time you spend with family and friends. The style you select for your dining area will reflect your personal tastes and largely define the atmosphere of the room. There are a wide range of styles to choose from; however, they can be loosely grouped into four major categories: contemporary, modern, traditional and country.

Contemporary, although simple in design, utilizes a variety of finishes, palettes and materials to create texture and visual interest. Geometric forms are often softened by curved corners.

Modern, on the other hand, defines interior space by geometric form, neutral palettes and a strong emphasis on function rather than flourish. Furnishings are frequently asymmetrical, with sleek and polished surfaces; metal and glass are common construction materials.

Traditional furniture is typically characterized by carvings, leaf or scroll motifs, and stylized architectural details like ornate moldings. Usually in darker woods with rich, lustrous finishes, traditional styled furnishings have a very formal or stately feel.

Country style has a traditional air, but decorative flourishes tend to be more simplified while its lines are more relaxed. Having a comfortable feel, country furniture is usually constructed of wood, in milk-painted or natural wood finishes and can include whimsical details such as stenciling.

Having a functional dining room as an integral part of your home increases the versatility, practicality and value of your living space. To say nothing of the lifetime of memories we garner, sitting around the table and sharing our stories with one other.