Chest of Drawers — Tall, Wide, Narrow & Small
A chest of drawers is bought to fit a space, so the shape usually settles the decision before the colour does. The question is whether you have room to go up or room to go across.
Tall chests of drawers and tallboys
A tallboy stacks the same storage into a smaller footprint. Where the floor is spoken for and the wall is not, going up is the only direction left, and a tall chest can hold as much as a wide one in half the floor area.
Two things to weigh. The top of a tall chest is above eye level for many people, so it stops being a surface for a lamp or a photograph and becomes storage only. And a tall chest with heavy drawers should be fixed to the wall, particularly in a room a child uses.
Narrow chests of drawers
Narrower again, and built for the gaps: beside a bed where a bedside table would be too small, in an alcove next to a chimney breast, or along the wall of a landing.
Measure the alcove at the narrowest point rather than the widest, since plaster is rarely square, and check the skirting board depth if the chest is going flush against a wall.
White chests of drawers
White is the most-asked-for finish on a chest, and the reason is that a chest is a large flat object in a room that mostly consists of soft things. A white one recedes; a dark one announces itself.
In a small bedroom that matters more than in a large one, because a chest occupies the wall you look at from the bed. White also sits with any bedding, and bedding changes far more often than furniture does.
Black, grey and dark wood chests of drawers
The darker finishes do the opposite job, giving the room something solid to sit against. They suit a larger bedroom, a room with strong natural light, or one where the walls are pale and need an anchor.
Worth knowing before ordering: dark surfaces show dust and fingerprints around the handles more than pale ones do, and a high-gloss black shows both more than a matt finish.
Wide and large chests of drawers
A wide chest gives you a usable surface as well as storage, which a tall one does not. It becomes the place the lamp, the mirror and everything else lives, and in a room without a dressing table it often does that job too.
The drawers are wider, so they take folded jumpers and jeans laid flat rather than stacked on edge. That is a real difference in how much actually fits, and it is the reason a wide chest of the same volume holds more usefully than a tall one.
Small chests of drawers
Small chests suit a box room, a nursery, a rented flat, or a spare room that only needs somewhere to put a few things. They also work as a second chest alongside a larger one, taking socks and underwear so the big drawers stay for bulk.
Chests of drawers by number of drawers
Drawer count is really a question about what you own. Fewer, deeper drawers suit jumpers, towels and bedding. More, shallower drawers suit shirts, underwear and anything that gets lost in a deep drawer.
The common pattern across the range is a row of shallower drawers at the top for small items, with deeper ones below. If you are replacing a chest, counting what currently goes in each drawer of the old one is a better guide than counting drawers.
Oak and wooden chests of drawers
Oak is the wood most people ask for by name, and on a chest the reason is wear as much as looks. The top and the drawer fronts take daily contact, and oak marks less readily than softer timbers.
The colour varies more than the species does. Light oak keeps a small room open; darker stained oak anchors a larger one. Two oak chests in different finishes can look like different woods entirely, so the finish is worth choosing before the timber.
Pine, rattan and mango wood chests of drawers
Pine is lighter in colour and in weight, and it takes paint well, which is why so many painted chests start as pine underneath.
Rattan fronts have become common on chests and change the character completely: the panel is textured and slightly open rather than solid, which lightens a large piece visually. Mango wood sits between the two, with a more varied grain than oak and usually a darker finish.
Ready assembled chests of drawers
Most of the chests here arrive ready assembled. Some need putting together, and where that is the case it is stated on the product itself.
It is worth checking before ordering rather than after, because a chest is one of the harder pieces to build well. Drawers only run smoothly if the carcass is square, and a carcass built slightly out of true will bind at exactly the wrong moment for the next ten years.
That smoothness is also the thing photographs cannot show. In our Enniskillen showroom you can pull the drawers out yourself, which takes a few seconds and tells you more about how a chest is made than any description will.
Chest of drawers FAQs
What is a tallboy?
A tall, narrow chest of drawers, taller than it is wide. It holds a similar amount to a wide chest in roughly half the floor space, at the cost of a usable surface on top.
Should a chest of drawers be fixed to the wall?
Tall chests should be, particularly in a room a child uses, because a loaded top drawer moves the weight forward. Wide, low chests are far more stable and generally do not need it.
How do I measure for a chest of drawers in an alcove?
Measure the width at several heights and use the smallest figure, since alcove walls are rarely parallel. Allow for the skirting board, and leave enough clearance in front for the drawers to open fully.
Do chests of drawers come assembled?
Most of these do. A few need assembly, and that is noted on the individual product.
How many drawers should a chest of drawers have?
It depends what goes in it. Deep drawers suit jumpers and bedding; shallow ones suit shirts and small items. Most chests combine both, with the shallower drawers at the top.