When you are buying a luxury cocktail table, most of your money is going into the top of it. Marble, walnut, oak or thick glass, this is the part you are paying for, and the base under it is mostly simple. There is no doubt that a good top makes the whole living room look better, but it has to be the right size for your sofa and it has to handle how your family is using the room, at least if you want it to still look good after the first year. I checked what designers and a few studies are saying about cocktail tables furniture, and both of these things can be checked at home before you order.
Getting The Size Right Against Your Sofa
Length, Half To 2/3 Of The Sofa
First measure your sofa from one arm to the other arm. If the sofa is not bought yet, first choose a sofa that suits the room, because the table size comes from the sofa size.
Emily Henderson’s studio says the table should be half to 2/3 of the sofa length. But in their own example they are taking a 90 inch sofa and giving 45 to 54 inches for the table, while 2/3 of 90 is 60. I think they are keeping some space from the sofa arms on purpose, and for a small living room I would also go with 54.
Height And The Gap To The Sofa
- Table height should be within 4 inches of the sofa seat, higher or lower. For a 20 inch seat, a 16 to 24 inch table is fine.
- Keep 16 to 18 inches space between the sofa and the table.
- For a sectional with a chaise, measure only the straight part of the sofa.
Too Big Costs More Than Too Small
A table that is too big is the bigger mistake. Marble and solid oak are heavy, returning them is costly, and every day you will be walking around it.
A table that is too small can be fixed. Jess Bunge, a designer from the same studio, bought a vintage table which she already knew was too small for her sofa. She had been seeing it on Craigslist for around a month and she was not able to forget it, so she bought it and then put another low piece next to it. If you are confused between 2 sizes, take the smaller one.
Round Or Oval Tops For Homes With Toddlers
A small kid’s head is almost at the same height as the edge of a cocktail table. An old study took Consumer Product Safety Commission data from 1982 and this is what it found:
- Around 250,000 kids got hurt from furniture in the US in that 1 year
- Around 1 in 4 of these injuries were from coffee tables
- Mostly these were cuts on the head and face, and in the doctors’ own emergency room cases, the tables were mostly square or rectangle with sharp edges
This data is old, I know. But I still would not keep a sharp corner table in a room where a 2 year old is learning to walk. If you have small kids at home, take a round or oval top. If your sofa is long and straight, a round table will not reach the side seats, so in that case take a rectangle with rounded corners.
Marble Tops And Spilled Drinks
Marble is mostly calcite, which is calcium carbonate, and weak acid dissolves it. Lemon, lime, wine, tonic, a drop of margarita, all of these can leave a dull and rough spot on polished marble, and this is called etching. It is a cocktail table, so drinks will come on it for sure.
Sealer Won’t Stop Etching
Many people think sealing the marble will solve this problem, but it will not. Sealer only slows down the liquid going inside the stone, which helps with stains, and etching is not about liquid going inside, the acid is eating the shiny surface itself. Stone restorers are also saying this. Travertine, limestone and onyx also have the same issue. If you still want marble, take a honed (matte) finish, because it hides these marks much better than polished.
Walnut Is Softer Than Oak And Maple
Walnut is used in a lot of expensive furniture, but I was surprised to see it is softer than oak and maple. Wood hardness is checked with the Janka test, in which a steel ball of 0.444 inch is pushed halfway inside the wood and the force is measured. These numbers are from a Missouri S&T materials page:
- Black walnut: 1,010 pounds
- White oak: 1,360 pounds
- Hard maple: 1,450 pounds
It means a walnut top will get dents sooner, from a glass falling on it or a toy car. If small dents are going to disturb you, oak is the safer choice.
Solid Wood Or Veneer
Veneer is a thin layer of good wood which is glued on a cheaper core. Good furniture has been made with veneer for a long time, so it is not a fraud. But veneer can only be sanded lightly, while a solid top can be sanded and refinished many times. If the listing does not mention the veneer thickness, ask them before ordering.
Glass Tops Should Be Tempered
Children’s Hospital Boston did a review with Consumers Union on 174 glass table injuries from their emergency room, and they said half of these injuries could have been avoided or been less serious with safety glass. And 80% of these kids needed surgery.
Tempered glass is 4 to 5 times stronger than normal glass and it breaks into small pieces, not big sharp pieces. Glass doors and car windshields had to use it, but tables did not have this rule, at least when this study came out. The doctor who led this study, Amir Kimia, also said you cannot tell tempered glass from normal glass just by looking at it. So what can you do in the store? You have to ask. Get it in writing from the seller that the glass is tempered, and if they will not give it, leave that table.
Keeping The Top Mostly Clear
Do not put too many things on it. Some books, 1 tall item, and on marble a small tray on the corner near the middle seat, because that is where people are putting their glass. After that, set the rest of the living room around the table.