Sideboards
Early 20th Century American Empire Sideboards
Metal
19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Ormolu
19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Metal
Early 19th Century Empire Antique Sideboards
Granite
Early 19th Century Swedish Empire Antique Sideboards
Pine
1890s French Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble, Bronze
21st Century and Contemporary Vietnamese Empire Sideboards
Brass
Late 20th Century American Empire Sideboards
Birch, Walnut, Giltwood
19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble
Early 2000s Empire Sideboards
Kingwood
Early 20th Century French Empire Sideboards
Marble, Bronze
20th Century French Empire Sideboards
Marble
19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Porcelain, Wood
Late 19th Century Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble
19th Century Northern Irish Empire Antique Sideboards
Mahogany
19th Century Italian Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble
1840s Irish Empire Antique Sideboards
Brass
Early 19th Century American Empire Antique Sideboards
Mahogany
19th Century French Louis XVI Antique Sideboards
Carrara Marble
19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble, Ormolu
19th Century English Antique Sideboards
Marble, Brass
19th Century French Louis XV Antique Sideboards
Bronze
1870s French Empire Antique Sideboards
Ormolu
1960s Spanish Mid-Century Modern Vintage Sideboards
Oak
Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Antique Sideboards
Satinwood, Mahogany
19th Century French Napoleon III Antique Sideboards
Marble, Bronze, Brass
Late 19th Century French Louis XVI Antique Sideboards
Walnut
1860s English Antique Sideboards
Mahogany
19th Century English Victorian Antique Sideboards
Mirror, Walnut
Mid-19th Century Swedish Gustavian Antique Sideboards
Wood
20th Century Empire Sideboards
Brass
1980s American Empire Vintage Sideboards
Brass
1960s American Empire Vintage Sideboards
Brass
Early 19th Century French Empire Antique Sideboards
Oak
1810s Italian Empire Antique Sideboards
Walnut
Early 19th Century Swedish Empire Antique Sideboards
Pine
1810s French Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble
Mid-20th Century French Empire Sideboards
Mahogany
Early 19th Century European Empire Antique Sideboards
Brass
Early 1900s French Empire Antique Sideboards
Marble, Bronze
Early 20th Century American Empire Sideboards
Brass
Mid-20th Century Empire Sideboards
Travertine
Antique, New and Vintage Sideboards
Once simply boards made of wood that were used to support ceremonial dining, sideboards have taken on much greater importance 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.
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. 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 are more to your liking than an 18th-century mahogany sideboard with decorative inlays by Hepplewhite, 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, new and vintage sideboards to choose from.