Cabinets & Sideboards
Cocktails were the craze of the day and no smart home could be complete without a cocktail cabinet in the lounge—or a cocktail table at the very least. Superb examples were produced by avant-garde makers like Epstein and Hille. The Epstein U-base Cocktail Cabinet is particularly rare and highly desirable. Most cocktail cabinets have mechanically operated drop down and/or flip up doors that open to reveal a fully fitted and mirrored interior with lighting. Also popular are cocktail sideboards incorporating comparable features and likewise sought after today. The Art Nouveau Display Cabinet, so desirable before WW1, was given a Modernist makeover by many furniture makers and remains sought after today. Stylish Art Deco low or side cabinets from the period can be repurposed as TV stands adding star quality in the contemporary home.
This was an era that saw the traditional tall dresser type storage and display piece gradually transformed into the long low horizontal lines of the Scandinavian post-War sideboard of the 1960s-70s. It was a gradual process, and between the wars the emphasis was on furnishing dining rooms with a complete ‘suite’ of matching furniture, table, chairs, sideboards and – if space allowed – a ‘buffet’ or smaller side piece. These surfaces also provided display space for stand out decorative pieces—bronzes, glass or ceramics—that were too eye-catching to be consigned to a display cabinet. High quality veneered sideboards by firms such as Waring & Gillow might include a cocktail section and at least one or more baize lined drawers for cutlery. Drawers may be hidden behind an outer door to preserve the aesthetic of the exterior design and finish. Some preferred less showy furniture and many pared down modernist designs were produced equally in solid wood, with oak remaining the favourite – often in a weathered or limed finished as retailed by Bowman Bros. of Camden.