Sideboards

Sideboards

early sideboards are little more than tables, usually located against the wall, they soon expanded to provide storage for plate in the form of open shelving. By the 18th century, the sideboard had retreated to the kitchen where it became a more utilitarian item sometimes known as a Welsh dresser, containing not only open-shelving but also  enclosed cupboards below – effectively becoming the ancestor of today’s kitchen cabinetry.

Credenzas may also fall under this category of furniture. The term is derived from the English term “credence,” although American common usage now prefers the original Italian: credenza.Items deemed worthy of display in living rooms and parlors found a home in display cabinets, essentially more

sophisticated versions of dressers, which had begun as low, table-height cupboards used for display in wealthy medieval halls. These dressers eventually acquired open shelving above to become the form now implied by the term.

A credenza is now more commonly understood as a form of flat-topped, longish, table-height cupboard or cabinet, used as a bookcase or display cabinet. Possibly this is because of the similarity to various Renaissance credenzas that were made to rest flat on the ground rather than being elevated on stands or legs (as were the early credenzas — which were pieces including court cupboards, sideboards, and hunt boards.