Small sideboards

Choosing a small sideboard for the space you have

A small sideboard has one job before any other: it has to fit. Width decides whether it fits the wall, but depth decides whether the room still works around it. Our small sideboards run from 40cm deep, on the Sunbury, to 53cm on the Chichester 4ft Workstation Base, with the Colworth 4ft at 42cm and the Farlow at 45cm towards the shallow end. Every few centimetres saved there is a few centimetres more to walk past, or to open a door against.

Then look up. Where floor space is short, but wall space is not, height is the free dimension. The Sunbury is only 81cm wide but rises to 109cm, so it suits an alcove or a corner where nothing else would go. The Farlow works the same way over time: its matching cabinet sits on top to turn the low sideboard into a dresser, adding storage upwards rather than outwards.

How a piece stands also changes how much room it seems to take. A compact sideboard raised on legs shows the floor beneath it, and a room with more floor on view reads as larger than it is. In a tight space, that can matter as much as the measurements.

Small sideboards by width

Our small sideboards fall into two clear widths, with nothing in between, so measure the wall first and then find your group below.

• Under 85cm wide: the Chichester 3ft at 80cm, the smallest of its family, with one drawer above a single cupboard; the Sunbury at 81cm; and the Henley at 83cm. These are the pieces for a short wall between two doors, or the space at the end of a kitchen run.
• 90cm wide: the low, tall and open Chawton pieces. A step up in width from the first group, with the same easy footprint.
• 120 to 123cm wide: the Farlow, the Colworth 4ft, the Chichester 4ft, the Chichester 4ft Workstation Base and the Suffolk 4ft, for a full stretch of wall in a smaller dining room, a sitting room or a wide landing.
• Between 90 and 120cm: we make nothing in this gap, so for a space of around 100cm, choose from the 90cm group. The spare few centimetres at each end are what stop a small piece from looking wedged in.

To find your group, measure the wall and take away around 10cm at each end for skirting, sockets and breathing room. For anything over 150cm, see our large sideboards.