Knowing how to choose the right bedside table sounds straightforward — until you’re standing in a showroom, or scrolling through options online, and realise how many small decisions are actually involved. The wrong size feels awkward, the wrong design clutters your space, and the wrong material won’t last. Here’s how to get it right.
The ideal bedside table sits at the same height as your mattress top (typically 50–65 cm), leaves at least 50 cm of floor space on each side of the bed, and offers enough storage for the things you actually reach for at night — without cluttering the surface.
- Height: match your mattress top — aim for within 5 cm above or below
- Width: 40–60 cm for most bedrooms; go slimmer (30–35 cm) for small spaces
- Material: solid wood lasts longest; MDF works for tighter budgets; avoid flimsy metal if you want longevity
- Style: match the finish and visual weight to your bed frame — not necessarily identical, but complementary.
Of all the furniture decisions you make for a bedroom, the bedside table is probably the one that gets the least thought — and yet it’s one of the most used surfaces in the entire home. Your phone charger, a glass of water, whatever book you’re halfway through, the lamp you switch off every night — all of it lives on or in that one small piece of furniture.
Get it right and it becomes invisible in the best possible way — functional, proportionate, and fitting the room perfectly. Get it wrong and it becomes a daily source of minor frustration. So let’s walk through how to choose a bedside table properly — from height and storage to material and style.
How to Choose a Bedside Table: Getting Size and Height Right
When thinking about how to choose the right bedside table, size is almost always the most important factor — and the easiest to get wrong when shopping online.
Size is almost always the most important factor — and the one that’s easiest to get wrong when shopping online or in a showroom where everything looks the right scale.
What Height Should a Bedside Table Be?
The general rule is straightforward: the top of your bedside table should sit at roughly the same level as the top of your mattress. This means you can reach everything on it naturally from a lying or sitting-up position — without having to stretch awkwardly upward or reach down uncomfortably.
💡 Measure from the floor to the top of your mattress — this is your target bedside table height. Being within 5 cm above or below that measurement works well in practice.
Choosing the Right Width and Depth
- Width: 30–40 cm
- Depth: 25–35 cm
- Keep at least 50 cm clearance between the table and the wall or other furniture
- Consider floating or wall-mounted options to free up floor space
- Width: 45–60 cm
- Depth: 35–45 cm
- Match the visual weight to the bed — a large king-size bed with tiny side tables looks unbalanced
- A deeper table allows for a lamp plus decorative objects
- Measure the gap between your bed frame and the wall (or the nearest piece of furniture)
- Subtract 10 cm from each side for breathing room — what’s left is your maximum table width
- Measure from the floor to the top of your mattress — this is your target height
- Tape out the table footprint on the floor before ordering anything online — it takes 2 minutes and prevents costly mistakes
If your bed sits in the middle of the room rather than against a wall, choose a bedside table that looks finished from all angles — some designs have unfinished backs that only work against a wall.
Storage Options: Drawers, Shelves, or Minimal Design?
The storage question is more personal than most people realise when they’re buying — and it’s worth thinking through honestly before you decide.
Bedside Table with Drawers
Drawers are ideal if you tend to accumulate things on the bedside surface — a charger, hand cream, medication, earplugs — but would prefer not to see them. Everything goes in the drawer, and the top surface stays clean. This is the option that makes a bedroom look tidier with almost no effort.
Best for: people who use the bedroom as a proper rest space and want visual calm, or anyone who likes having overnight essentials within reach but out of sight.
Open Shelf Bedside Table
Open shelves feel lighter and more airy — they work well in Scandinavian or minimalist-style bedrooms where the design language values openness and simplicity. A shelf below the surface is a natural place for a book, a small plant, or a candle. However, they do require a bit more discipline to keep looking intentional rather than cluttered.
Best for: people with minimal night-time essentials, those who prefer the visual aesthetic of open furniture, and smaller rooms where anything too solid can feel heavy.
Which Option Suits Your Lifestyle?
| Your lifestyle | Best storage type | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| You like surfaces tidy but accumulate things | Drawers | Hidden storage keeps clutter invisible |
| You own minimal items, prefer visual lightness | Open shelf | Airy feel, less visual weight |
| Small room, want to save floor space | Floating / wall-mounted | Floor visible, room feels bigger |
| You use the bedside heavily, need real organisation | Two-drawer unit | Maximum storage, separated categories |
Cable management: The detail most people overlook
Most bedside tables are bought with storage in mind — and cables are an afterthought. But the average person charges a phone, runs a lamp, and sometimes manages a second device from the same surface every night.
A few things worth checking before you buy:
– Does the back panel have a cable hole or routing gap?
– Is there enough space between the table and the wall to run cables cleanly without bending them at sharp angles?
– If you’re wall-mounting a floating unit, is there a nearby socket at the right height?
It sounds minor. But a bedside table with clean cable routing looks tidier every single day — and one without it creates low-level visual noise that’s hard to fix after the fact.
Materials Matter: Wood, MDF, or Metal?
The material your bedside table is made from affects everything — how long it lasts, how it looks over time, how heavy it is, and how easy it is to care for. Here’s a plain-spoken comparison.
Solid Wood Bedside Table
Solid wood — oak, walnut, beech, pine — is genuinely durable in a way that MDF simply isn’t. The joints hold, the surface resists scratches better, and the material can be sanded or refinished if it gets damaged over the years. Perhaps most importantly, solid wood ages gracefully rather than deteriorating. A well-made oak bedside table bought today will still look good in 20 years; an MDF one almost certainly won’t.
⇒ Read more: Top 10+ Most Popular Wood Types For Furniture Today
MDF or Engineered Wood
MDF (medium-density fibreboard) is affordable, lightweight, and available in a huge range of finishes and colours. It’s a perfectly reasonable choice for a first home, a rental, or a room where aesthetics are secondary to budget. The honest limitation is that MDF doesn’t hold up as well to moisture, impact, or heavy use over time. Edges chip, surfaces swell in humid conditions, and unlike solid wood it can’t be repaired — once it deteriorates, it needs replacing.
Metal or Mixed Materials
Metal bedside tables — powder-coated steel or brass frames, often with a shelf or glass top — suit industrial, modern, or art deco interiors. They’re generally durable but can feel cold and utilitarian in a bedroom that’s meant to feel restful. Mixed material options (a wood top on a metal base, for instance) offer a good compromise: the warmth of natural material with the structural lightness of metal.
Style & Aesthetic: Matching Your Bedroom Design
The bedside table doesn’t need to make a bold statement — but it does need to fit the visual language of the room. Here’s how different styles tend to work in practice.
Modern and Minimalist Styles
For a modern or minimalist bedroom, look for clean horizontal lines, no ornamental detailing, and neutral finishes — matte white, light oak, or dark walnut. A single-drawer design or floating shelf tends to fit this aesthetic better than a table with multiple shelves or ornate legs. The goal is for the bedside table to feel quietly purposeful rather than decorative.
Scandinavian and Natural Styles
The Scandinavian approach — which remains one of the most popular interior styles across Northern and Central Europe — prioritises functional simplicity with natural warmth. Light wood tones (ash, birch, pale oak), gentle grain texture, and tapered wooden legs are all characteristic. A bedside table in this style should feel purposeful but not austere — it’s warm without being overly decorative.
Statement vs Subtle Design
Some people want the bedside table to be an accent piece — a rich walnut with visible grain, a coloured lacquer finish, or an unusual shape that draws the eye. Others want it to blend entirely into the room, barely noticed. Neither approach is wrong, but it’s worth being intentional: a statement bedside table works best when the rest of the room is deliberately simple, and a subtle one needs the overall room design to carry the visual interest.
Small Bedroom? Smart Solutions for Apartments
In a compact bedroom, the bedside table choice has an outsized impact on how spacious the room feels.
- Floating wall-mounted units free up floor space entirely and make cleaning easier
- Raised-leg designs keep the floor visible — the room breathes more easily
- Built-in cable management or USB ports reduce surface clutter — fewer items need to live on top
Sustainability: Choosing an Eco-Friendly Bedside Table
For a growing number of European households, the environmental credentials of a furniture purchase are a genuine consideration — not just a marketing point. When it comes to bedside tables specifically, the choices are more nuanced than they first appear.
- FSC certification (Forest Stewardship Council) — confirms the wood comes from responsibly managed forests
- PEFC certification — a European alternative to FSC with equivalent standards, widely recognised across EU countries
- Avoid furniture with formaldehyde-heavy adhesives (common in low-quality MDF) — look for E1 or E0 emission class
Reducing Waste Through Durability
The most sustainable bedside table is the one you don’t have to replace in five years. An MDF table that costs €60 and lasts four years has a different environmental footprint than a €300 solid oak table that lasts thirty. When you factor in the carbon and material cost of production, transport, and disposal, buying once and buying well is almost always the more responsible choice over the long run.
Price vs Value: What Should You Expect to Pay?
Price ranges vary significantly depending on material, construction, and brand. Here’s a realistic breakdown of what different budget levels actually get you in the EU market.
| Budget range | What you typically get | Expected lifespan |
|---|---|---|
| Under €80 | MDF with laminate or painted finish, basic construction | 3–5 years |
| €80–200 | Better-quality engineered wood, wood veneer, or entry solid wood | 5–10 years |
| €200–500 | Solid hardwood (oak, beech), quality joinery, durable finish | 15–25 years |
| €500+ | Premium hardwood (walnut, ash), artisan finish, bespoke or designer | 25+ years |
Is a Wooden Bedside Table Worth It?
If you’re planning to stay in the same home for more than five years, a solid wood bedside table is almost always worth the higher upfront cost. The cost per year of ownership tends to be comparable to or lower than cheaper alternatives once you factor in replacement cycles. More importantly, solid wood simply looks better with age — it develops character rather than deteriorating — which is a quality that’s genuinely hard to put a price on in a room you spend eight hours in every night.
⇒ Readmore: Solid Wood vs Engineered Wood: Which Is Better?
Common Mistakes When Choosing a Bedside Table
These three mistakes come up consistently — and all three are entirely avoidable with a small amount of planning before you buy.
A bedside table that’s too tall or too short feels wrong every time you reach for something in the dark. It sounds minor — it isn’t. Always measure your mattress height before buying, and compare it directly to the product dimensions. Online listings sometimes give the total height including legs, which can differ from what the table actually looks like next to a bed.
Many people buy a beautiful open shelf table, then discover that their actual nightly habits include six things that need to go somewhere. Be honest about what you’ll actually keep beside the bed — and whether a surface-only or open design is realistic for your lifestyle rather than just aspirational.
It’s easy to fall in love with something that photographs beautifully but doesn’t actually work well in daily use. A surface that’s too small to hold a lamp and a glass of water simultaneously, a drawer that sticks, or a table so fragile that anything heavier than a paperback worries you — these are the things you only notice after a few weeks of living with the piece. Look at reviews that mention long-term use, and if possible, see the piece in person before buying.
FAQ — Bedside Table Buying Questions Answered
Click each one to expand the answer.
Final Thoughts: How to Choose the Best Bedside Table for Your Needs
The best bedside table isn’t the most expensive or the most stylish — it’s the one that fits your space, supports your daily routine, and lasts over time. By thinking through height, storage, material, and proportion before you buy, you’ll end up with something that genuinely works rather than something that just looked good in a product photo.
- ✓ Height first: match your mattress level — measure before you browse
- ✓ Storage honestly: choose drawers or shelves based on how you actually use the space
- ✓ Material for longevity: solid wood if you’re staying put; MDF if you need flexibility
- ✓ Small space? Go slim, go floating, or go raised-leg — keep the floor visible
If you’re still unsure how to choose the right bedside table for your specific bedroom layout or project requirements, get in touch — we help clients work through sizing, material, and finish decisions regularly