Why Choose a Coffee Table with Drawers?

Coffee Tables with Drawers

Coffee tables are often one of the focal points of a living or family room (the other main one commonly being a television, but modern televisions tend to be wall  mounted rather than freestanding), and a coffee table with drawers can be a useful place to store items.

These drawers can be used for items such as remote controls, newspapers and magazines, which might be needed but would just clutter the room up if left out but can instead be placed inside the drawers. By using the table for storage as well as a place to stand things such as drinks, a more efficient use of the space is made. This is especially important if space in the room is limited, and where there may not be adequate room to have other items of furniture purely for storing things in, such as sets of drawers.

Hardwood Coffee Table with Drawers

Hardwoods such as oak, teak and cherry are very popular in household furniture. Hardwoods often give extra strength to furniture. Hardwood furniture may be made from a solid hardwood, or alternatively a more expensive veneer, such as oak or cherry, on a cheaper hardwood base. Hardwood tables do, in general, tend to be more expensive than softwoods, such as the popular pine, due to the materials being used being themselves more expensive. Solid hardwood furniture is naturally better than veneer, but also naturally tends to be more expensive. Oak is one of the more common types of solid hardwood furniture, but other types are available, and are often more expensive. It is quite common for tables made from reclaimed materials to be made from reclaimed hardwood.

Coffee Table with Drawers and a Glass Top

Glass is a common component in coffee tables of all types. Whilst contemporary tables can be made from just glass and metal, such as stainless steel, more traditional designs can also feature a glass top, which range from insets into the top to those with the entire top made of glass. However, tables that are made mostly from glass are unlikely to have built-in drawers, so those with storage are most likely to simply have an inset glass top, or one that is separate from the drawers. If the glass top wasn’t inset, with such as wood below it, the contents of the drawers could be seen though the glass, which would look untidy.

Round Coffee Table with Drawers

Take a look at this round coffee table with a drawer

Round coffee tables are not necessarily the most effective use of space, as they take up almost the same amount of room as a similarly sized square table, but with less surface area. They therefore tend to be most suited to larger rooms, and generally those that are of a square shape rather than a rectangular one. Drawers in round coffee tables also tend to be somewhat limited in size, and will often only take a few items. Round coffee tables therefore tend to be purchased more for their appearance rather than their utility.

Ottoman Coffee Table with Drawers

Get this tufted top coffee table with a single drawer.

The original type of ottoman furniture is a couch that has a head, but no back, or sometimes neither a back nor a head. However, in this case, ottomans are a type of padded or upholstered seat or bench that usually lacks both a back and arms. These are sometimes known as footstools or hassocks. All ottomans originated in what is modern day Turkey (the former Ottoman Empire). Ottomans can also be used as coffee tables as well, and may often be hollow or, in this case, come with drawers, allowing things to be stored in them. Ottoman coffee tables are often unsuitable for placing such as drinks on, due to their padded top which tends not to be stable enough for anything that might spill. Some ottomans do have a stable top, but to avoid having to clean the carpets following a spill, only items that won’t spill should be placed on an ottoman with a padded top.

Pine Coffee Table with Drawers

Pine is a common material for household furniture. It is a fast growing softwood, and therefore tends to be cheaper to buy than hardwoods, but as a result it also tends to be less durable. Although pine has a naturally pale colour to it, it is also often stained, so darker variants are possible, all the way to black. This means that pine in no way limits the variety of colours available. In fact, pine often tends come in a larger range of colours than more expensive hardwoods; the low price of pine means that it isn’t being purchased for its natural colours, as would be the case with hardwoods such as mahogany, so there is no reason to keep its natural colouring if something different is wanted.

Coffee Table with Drawers and a Shelf

This pine coffee table has a drawer and a shelf.

Buying a coffee table with a shelf as well as drawers gives some more storage space in addition to what can be stored in the drawers. The shelf can be used as a place to store items that are frequently needed without having them cluttering the surface of the coffee table or other furniture; for example, magazines, newspapers or remote  controls might need to be used quite regularly, but still need to be put somewhere out of the way. The shelf shouldn’t be used to simply attract clutter, though; if anything on it has been stored there for some time but not used, it should be put away properly.