Guide to All Things Buffets
Have you ever looked in your dining room and thought, something is missing? You, my friend, might need to invest in a buffet.
Pictured above is our Benton Sideboard
Why a Buffet?
Apart from bringing a space together, buffets can also be a great source of storage. If you have a lot of dishes that are not easily stored in your kitchen, a buffet is just the thing.
Ordering your sideboard from a custom furniture business is best because of the custom dimensions. Buffets and sideboards do not usually have a standard size like dining room tables, which is why it is helpful to customize them for your specific space. Most of our sideboards are 72 inches long and 18 inches deep, which seems to fit well in most homes. But, for families with an open dining plan or a small dining room, it’s nice to go smaller in length.
Not only is it helpful to customize dimensions for your sideboard, but the doors and drawers as well. At Unruh, you have plenty of options for both. I will go more in-depth about the different options you have below!
Pictured above is our Belmont Sideboard
Door Styles
At Unruh, we have a variety of door options available for our sideboards. Even if you choose to order with another company, this guide will help you better understand what you want out of your buffet.
Some of our door styles also have a glass option! This is great if you have dishes you want to show off in your buffet. Or, you can even choose a combination of glass and wood doors. We know cabinets can get messy!
The most traditional door style is going to be the raised panel. This gives the doors more depth and lends itself to a more traditional design. The raised panel also has a glass option!
Above you can see our Jonesborough Sideboard with the raised panel option for the doors
The most popular door style is our shaker door, and the shaker style glass as well. The shaker style is a good mix between the raised panel and the modern slab. The door sits flat, but still has pieces of wood arranged like a frame for a nice detail.
Our modern slab is great for all those minimalists out there. It is straightforward and speaks to those who love simplistic design.
We offer two more door styles: the farm slab and the half glass door. The half glass door is pretty self-explanatory, but the farm slab is great for people who love farmhouse design (hence the name.) The farm slab is similar to the modern slab in its flatness but differs in the plank layout.
Above you can see an example of our “Modern Slab” door on our Dufare Sideboard
Drawers/Hardware Options
Our drawers don’t have customizations like the doors of our buffets do. We keep our drawers pretty simple in terms of design, but we do let customers choose the hardware for drawers and doors.
The default hardware for drawers is our classic pull option. This is just a simple, traditional-looking curved pull that you have seen on cabinets before. The default hardware for a lot of our buffet doors is the classic knob.
The classic pulls and knobs can be seen in the picture above on our Pacifica Sideboard
If you are wanting to modernize your custom piece, we suggest branching out with the hardware options. One of the more recently common options is the modern pull. This is similar to the traditional pull, in where it is placed on the buffet, but the design is completely different. From the front, this pull just looks like a straight bar. This more simple design fits really well in more modern homes. The modern pull can be chosen for drawers or doors, or both!
At Unruh, we also offer a notch cut-out option for any of our drawers. This is also more suitable for modern designed homes. This option is more of a commitment because it cannot be changed further down the line. It is just a simple cut-out that is perfect for an easy open and close.
The only other hardware option Unruh offers is the cup pulls. This hardware is a little more traditional but still beautiful.
Pictured above is our Richardson Sideboard with the modern “Dufare Pulls”
Dimensions
I have briefly discussed dimensions for a buffet at the beginning of the article, but let’s get into it a bit more.
Though there are standard sizes for sideboards, choosing to order through a custom furniture business is best. This way, the piece will be made just for you and fit seamlessly in your dining space.
We recommend there be at least three feet from your dining table (or another piece of furniture) to your buffet. So, when choosing length and depth, make sure it passes this three-foot rule.
When it comes to height, we tell customers to go a little higher than standard table height. The standard table height is 30 inches, so anything above will do fine. This assures that your sideboard can be used to serve food or be decorated at a comfortable height. This also provides some variety in height if your dining table is in the same space.
Above is our Brighton Sideboard in our Classic Gray paint option
No matter where you choose to order your buffet from, you should have something that fits perfectly in your space and style. Refer back to this guide to make sure you will be getting the most out of your sideboard.
