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This is where traditional cabinetmaking meets modern kit, and the two get along better than people expect.
A television is the one object in a sitting room nobody chose for its looks, and it is usually surrounded by four or five more: a box, a sound bar, a console, a router. The furniture it sits on is normally an afterthought in veneered board, in a room otherwise furnished in solid timber.
There is no reason for that. The problems a television sets — ventilation, cable routing, a low top at the right height, doors that get out of the way — are cabinetmaking problems, and the joinery that solved them for linen presses solves them now.
We make TV cabinets to order, in solid oak, cherry, mahogany and walnut, in the same Suffolk workshop as everything else here.
The forms we make
Three-drawer TV stand. A long, low cabinet with three drawers below the top. The simplest answer, and the one for a room with a screen on a wall bracket above it.
Contemporary TV stand. Cleaner lines, plainer mouldings and cupboard doors rather than drawers, made with the same joints, timber and finishing as the period pieces. A modern room does not mean giving up the construction. See contemporary furniture.
Corner TV stand with inlay to the door. Built into the corner of a room, which is where a television usually ends up in an older house. The inlay is a decorative banding let into the door front, lifting what would otherwise be a plain triangular cabinet.
Mahogany TV stand. The most formal of the range, for a drawing room where oak would be too plain.
TV cabinet with an up-and-over door, #146. The door lifts and slides back into the top of the carcase, so the screen is concealed when not in use and no door stands open when it is. A hinged door either blocks the screen or takes floor space; an up-and-over does neither.
TV stand with DVD drawer and drop-down fronts. A drawer sized for discs below, with two drop-down fronts above. The fronts fall forward to give the equipment a clear line of sight to a remote, and lift back to hide it.
Where you want the television to disappear entirely, see TV lift cabinets, where a rise-and-fall mechanism carries the screen out of the carcase and back into it.
The practical detail
Ventilation. Equipment shut behind a solid door needs air. Backs are ventilated where required and shelves are set out so heat is not trapped, and we fit proprietary ventilation grilles where a compartment needs a defined open area rather than a hole in a back panel.
Cables. Designed in, not drilled in afterwards. We fit proprietary cable grommets where a lead passes through a back or a shelf, so the opening is finished properly and a cable can be pulled through and changed years later. Tell us where the socket is and what plugs into what.
Height. The top should put the centre of the screen at roughly eye level for someone sitting down, which is lower than most people guess. Tell us the seat height of your sofa and the screen size.
Remote controls. If the equipment is behind solid doors, the remote will not reach it. Drop-down fronts, a glazed panel or a mesh grille solve it, and so does leaving one compartment open.
Timbers
Oak, cherry, mahogany and walnut are the standard four, and every pattern here is made in all of them. Oak for a country room; mahogany where the room is formal; cherry and walnut where the cabinet should read warmer than the floor.
Specials, quoted on application: character oak; pippy oak in light, medium and heavy grades, for the top; oak selected for medullary ray, within or without the timber; and clean timber with no knots.
Finishes: polished, painted, limed, sand-blasted, rub-through paint, natural, or colour matched to a sample. Colour matching earns its keep here, because a TV cabinet joins a room that is already furnished. We can match furniture that is 100 years old to new reproduction purchases made the year before.
Order free timber and finish samples and hold them against the furniture the cabinet must live with.
Made to your size
Every dimension is open, and here they are set by equipment rather than tradition. Send us the screen size and whether it stands on a foot or a bracket, the dimensions of every box going inside, your sofa seat height, the socket position and the width of the wall.
Common changes: the cabinet lengthened so a sound bar sits on the top; a compartment sized to a particular console; drawers swapped for doors; the whole thing made lower for a low sofa. See bespoke and commissioning.
Prices
Guide price on request, quoted by size, timber, finish, the number of drawers and doors and the door mechanism. Special timbers, colour matching and natural finishes are priced on application. Standard lead time is typically ten to twelve weeks.
Frequently asked questions
How high should a TV cabinet be?
Low enough that the middle of the screen sits near eye level when you are sitting down, which is lower than most stock furniture allows.
Will my equipment overheat behind solid doors?
Not if the cabinet is designed for it. We ventilate the compartments that need it through the back, and set the shelving out so heat is not trapped.
Will my remote control work with the doors shut?
Not through solid timber. The usual answers are drop-down fronts, a glazed or mesh panel, or one compartment left open. Worth settling at the design stage.
Can you make a TV cabinet to match furniture I already have?
Yes, and that is why most people commission one. Send photographs, dimensions and a sample of the finish. See matching antique furniture.
