sideboard

Sideboard is English: side (the edge of a room) and board (a plank, a table). In medieval English dining, there was no permanent dining table — boards were placed on trestles and set up for each meal. A separate table or board, placed against the side wall of the hall, held serving dishes, pitchers, and plate (silverware). This side board was lower than the dining board and served as a buffet station. The word names the position: the board at the side.

By the seventeenth century, the sideboard had evolved from a simple table into a designed piece of furniture — with drawers, cupboards, and sometimes a raised back for displaying plate. The Robert Adam style of the 1770s established the sideboard as a major piece of furniture: serpentine-fronted, with drawers for silverware and cupboards for linens. It was the command center of the dining room, where food was arranged, wine was poured, and carving was done.

In the nineteenth century, the sideboard grew massive. Victorian sideboards included mirrors, shelves, and elaborate carvings. They were often the most expensive piece of furniture in a household. The simple medieval side board had become a monument. The bigger the sideboard, the wealthier the family. The furniture became a wealth display.

Modern sideboards are sleeker — mid-century modern designs from the 1950s and 1960s reduced them to clean lines and minimal hardware. The word now applies to any low cabinet used for storage in a dining room or living room. IKEA sells sideboards. The medieval board on the side of the room became a catalog item. The position stayed. The prestige left.