10 Types of Table Every Home Should Know About
From refectory to handkerchief tables — ten types of table every home should know, and what each one was invented to do. Bespoke furniture Cambodia
GENERAL INFORMATION
Some tables hold your coffee. Some tables hold your family. And a few tables — the ones that survive centuries — were invented to solve a problem so specific that their names have almost been forgotten. Here are ten types of table, from the everyday to the obscure, and what each one was actually designed to do.
The dining table is the centrepiece of the home and the piece that gets used hardest. It is where families eat thousands of meals, where children grow up, and where the most important conversations of a household happen. A manufactured dining table comes in whatever sizes the factory decided to make; a bespoke one is built to your room, your family and the number of people you actually need to seat.
Dining Table
10 Types of Table Every Home Should Know About
Coffee Table
The coffee table is the most-used surface in the living room and the one most people overlook. It holds your drinks, your books, your feet after a long day, and it is the piece guests actually touch while they sit and talk. Because it is low and close to the eye, the grain and finish are far more visible than on any other piece of furniture — which makes it the worst place to economise
The Tables You Have Probably Never Heard Of
The Refectory Table
A refectory table is a long, narrow table supported by heavy trestle legs and a stretcher running along the floor between them. It takes its name from the refectory — the dining hall of a monastery — where monks ate together in silence at long communal tables. The form later became the banqueting table of castles and noble houses across Europe, and it is the direct ancestor of the long dining tables we build today.
The Gateleg Table
A gateleg table has drop leaves supported by legs that swing out like a gate — hence the name. It was designed to be pushed against a wall when not in use, taking up almost no space, and then brought into the centre of the room and opened up when it was needed. It is a genuine piece of 18th-century space-saving engineering, invented for people who had one room and needed it to serve several purposes.
Console Table
A console table is a narrow table placed against a wall, usually in an entryway, hallway, or behind a sofa. It is designed to hold a lamp, a tray, a bowl of keys, or a vase of flowers — nothing heavy, nothing permanent. Its purpose is to give a room a sense of arrival, and a well-chosen console table sets the tone for everything beyond it.
Side Table / End Table
The side table is the small companion beside a sofa or armchair. It holds a drink, a book, a lamp, or a phone, and it exists to be within arm's reach without taking up floor space. In a small apartment, a carefully placed side table can do more for a room than a larger piece of furniture ever could.
Bedside Table
The bedside table is the first thing you touch in the morning and the last thing at night. It holds water, a book, a lamp, your phone, and whatever else you need within reach before sleep. It is a small piece, but it is used more consistently than almost anything else in the home — which is why it is worth making properly
Conference Table
The conference table is where business actually happens. Deals are closed across it, investors make decisions at it, and new hires form their first real impression of a company within minutes of sitting down. Walk into most boardrooms in Phnom Penh and you will see the same anonymous dark slab — a table that says nothing about the business it belongs to.
The Tuckaway Table
A tuckaway table is one where the entire top folds down, or where the leaves tuck away beneath the surface. Only a handful of surviving examples are known, which suggests it was never a common form — but the idea behind it is timeless. It was furniture designed for people who had very little room, and who needed every piece to disappear when it was not in use.
The Handkerchief Table
A handkerchief table is a triangular corner table with a triangular drop leaf of the same size. When the leaf is folded down, it is a small corner piece. When it is raised, the table becomes a square. It dates to the 18th century and was designed to sit in a corner and take up almost no floor space when closed — a piece of furniture for a room where every centimetre counted.
Every one of these tables was invented to solve a problem.
The refectory table solved the problem of feeding many people at once. The gateleg table solved the problem of a room that had to serve more than one purpose. The handkerchief table solved the problem of a corner too small for anything else. The tuckaway table solved the problem of having nowhere to put anything down.
The problem has not changed. What has changed is that most furniture today is built for a warehouse, not for a room. It comes in standard sizes, standard finishes, and standard designs, and the buyer is expected to adapt. At Khmer Wood Design, we work the other way round. Every piece we make is designed for one room, one owner, and one purpose — whether that is a dining table for twelve, a coffee table that stops the conversation, or a conference table that says something about the business it sits in. Bespoke means the table fits you. Not the other way around.