Distressed Sideboards

There is a range of distressed sideboards for sale on 1stDibs. Each of these unique distressed sideboards was constructed with extraordinary care, often using wood, pine and softwood. We have 100 antique and vintage distressed sideboards in-stock, while there are 6 modern editions to choose from as well. Distressed sideboards have been made for many years, and versions that date back to the 18th Century alongside those produced as recently as the 21st Century. Distressed sideboards are generally popular furniture pieces, but Neoclassical, Louis XV and Louis XVI styles are often sought at 1stDibs. Some distressed sideboards are too large for some spaces — a variety of smaller distressed sideboards, measuring 18 inches across, are available at 1stDibs. Brendan Bass, Carrocel and Drexel each produced beautiful distressed sideboards that are worth considering.

Prices for distressed sideboards can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, distressed sideboards begin at $991 and can go as high as $24,000, while the average can fetch as much as $3,275.

An antique or vintage sideboard today is a sophisticated and stylish component in sumptuous dining rooms of every shape, size and decor scheme, as well as a statement of its own, showcased in art galleries and museums.

Once simply boards made of wood that were used to support ceremonial dining, sideboards have taken on much greater importance as case pieces since their modest first appearance. In Italy, the sideboard was basically a credenza, a solid furnishing with cabinet doors. It was initially intended as an integral piece of any dining room where the wealthy gathered for meals in the southern European country.

Later, in England and France, sideboards retained their utilitarian purpose — a place to keep hot water for rinsing silverware and from which to serve cold drinking water — but would evolve into double-bodied structures that allowed for the display of serveware and utensils on open shelves. We would likely call these buffets, as they’re taller than a sideboard. (Trust us — there is an order to all of this!)

The sideboard is often deemed a buffet in the United States, from the French buffet à deux corps, which referred to a storage and display case. However, a buffet technically possesses a tiered or shelved superstructure for displaying attractive kitchenware and certainly makes more sense in the context of buffet dining — abundant meals served for crowds of people.

Every imaginable iteration of the sideboard has taken shape over the years. Furniture maker and artist Paul Evans, whose work has been the subject of various celebrated museum exhibitions, created ornamented, welded and patinated sideboards for Directional Furniture, collections such as the Cityscape series that speak to his place in revolutionary brutalist furniture design as much as they echo the origins of these sturdy, functional structures centuries ago.

If mid-century modern sideboards or vintage Danish sideboards are more to your liking than an 18th-century mahogany sideboard with decorative inlays in the Hepplewhite style, the particularly elegant pieces crafted by designers Hans Wegner, Edward Wormley or Florence Knoll are often sought by today’s collectors.

Whether you have a specific era or style in mind or you’re open to browsing a vast collection to find the right fit, 1stDibs has a variety of antique and vintage sideboards to choose from.