Sideboards & Buffets

Modern Sideboards & Buffet's for Your Dining Room

Dymystifying the differences between sideboards, buffets, servers and credenzas

When decorating your interior, you may become confused with some of the names for furniture that furniture makers have come up with. Life would be so much easier without all the technical terms but this can’t be helped. Let’s look at these terms and find out what they mean. What are buffet, sideboard, server and credenza? The main thing that these have in common is that they are all low storage furniture pieces that are relatively long and usually found in a dining room setting. There are differences to each of these pieces but don’t feel bad if you don’t know them all. We will explain the differences to you below:

What is a sideboard?

The word “sideboard” was first originated in England. The main thing that distinguishes a sideboard from other storage units, is the short legs and enclosed storage cabinets that reach all the way to the floor. To get a better idea of what these pieces would look like, think about today’s modern kitchen cabinets. They are usually long and waist height with a surface for placing food on top, cabinets storage below accompanied by no legs or very short legs.

Some antique style sideboards make come with a hutch attached to the top. The hutch has two know variations. They can be either low with open shelving or higher with glass front cabinets for displaying items.

What is a buffet?

In technical terms, there is no difference between a sideboard and a buffet. The main difference is where the name came from. The word "buffets" originated in Sweden, which was used to describe a low laying storage unit for spreading out food and drinks. This was also known as smorgasbords. The concept for these buffet tables spread throughout the rest of Europe.

What most professionals in the furniture world will tell you is that higher legs storage categorised in the long low storage are known as buffets. Whereas shorter legs or units that have no legs can be referred to as sideboards.

Another difference is the area in which you may place a unit like this. Say if you were to place it in the living room or entry way, this will most likely make people refer to it as a sideboard or simply a cabinet. The buffet storage unit is usually referred to a piece that is used in the dining room.

What is a server?

Servers are pretty much the same as the buffet. Mainly used only in a dining room and known to be smaller in size to a buffet. These pieces have an outlook that is more formal and lighter in scale than buffets.

The term “server” is used to describe a storage piece that is used by people serving food in a formal dining room or restaurant. Serving dishes with food would normally be place on top of this piece.

What is a credenza?

The origin of the word “credenza” comes from two words, one from the english word “credence" and the other from an Italian word known as “belief” in english.

When credenzas were first introduced, they had no legs with just cabinets reaching to the floor. These were actually used as a place for food to be taste tested for poison before being allow to be served to important figures.

These storage became increasingly popular by the mid-20th century in the design world. They are now used to describe cabinets that are long, low with slender legs, and sliding door cabinets.

So what should I look for when I want to buy something like these?

It’s a good practice when you are looking to buy items such as these to use the terms interchangeably since everyone has a different name for them. As you can tell there are very little differences in the different pieces and it all comes down to what people decide to refer to them.