An old fashioned word for it would be "credenza".
It looks European...maybe northern? Perhaps it was originally painted?
What do the construction details look like?
It's lovely!
Linda c

It doesn't appear to be originally painted. It has a nice patina in all the little nooks with no paint anywhere.

The drawers are dovetailed.

The drawer bottoms appear to be newer replacements, they sound hollow. Does that mean they're newer? As does one section of the back - the part behind the drawers is solid but there is a section above that that's hollow sounding like the drawer bottoms - and there is a hole cut out of that replaced backing where someone must've used it as an entertainment center w/a tv on top, or something. It looks like the hinges might have been replaced too, but a long time ago. They are very old brass but don't fit exactly into the space carved out for them.

I have no doubt that the piece is old but has been repaired. But I have no idea how old, where from, or what it's made of. Or the style. it's light in color so I assumed pine but it has no knots and is waaaaay too heavy.

I think I can see paint in the grain of the turnings and in the end grain of the drawer....perhaps a very dark blue or black?
There was a huge "schtick" a few years back of dealers going to Europe and buying huge containers of European "country pine" and removing the paint. I think it's pine....old pine...old clear pine. All pine isn't knotty pine.
How about a picture of the drawer bottoms and the back of the piece?...And the inside of the doors.
Linda c

Here is a link that might be useful: Old doors, new uses.

Thanks for helping me get to the bottom of this, Linda C! I guess didn't think it was pine b/c it's so heavy - I have other pine pieces here that are so much lighter. But I guess I should never assume... ;-)

There is a paint drip on the inside of one of the drawers?

Inside drawer:

underside:

Inside of door:

Inside of cabinet - I couldn't take a pic of the back. Need help moving it off the wall without damaging the floors.

For some reason it has grooves like for standing plates on the shelf? Is that normal for a solid door cabinet?

It has this hardware installed at top and bottom to help latch the door. Like spring loaded little balls.

Nice, and refinished from a very dark stain. Very likely to be from one of the containers full of Belgian and other European furniture that was shipped over here. That nice solid, simple ornamentation with the angled sides to minimize bulk was popular in Germany and the Low Countries.

I'd call it a "sideboard" or "Buffet".

The plate grooves are usual.

I don't think this is pine. The fact the piece is so heavy makes me think another wood as well.

I think the darkness of the ends of the drawers is due to the fact that this wood is cut across the grain. All edges cut across the grain take up stain and oils more heavily than with the grain. I just checked the drawer edges on a few of my old pieces, and all of them have the same dark appearance. Also all the crevices of the detail work are darker where years of furniture oil has gathered and oxidized.

It's very hard to look at photographs and feel, smell, stroke. In person, very old wood speaks to you. It is not uncommon in old pieces, as well as new ones, that drawer bottoms, and backs are of a lighter weight and inferior wood. So, that is not unexpected nor does it date a piece.

I have no idea how long those ball mechanisms have been around, but do know that they are found in one piece I have from the 1940s.

Some parts of it look older than other parts of it, actually. The thing about dating pieces by the style is that you won't find a modern style in an older piece, but you may find an older style in a newer piece. You can get circumstantial evidence by knowing what woods or hardware were popular in what eras. Unless it smacks you across the face, you have to look at every part of it and see if it all jives.

I've done some antiquing in Europe, and frankly stuff is just as expensive there as here. In fact, more so. I'm sure there is some validity to people buying up old painted pine pieces and refinishing them, but it's not something you are likely to run into as often as it has been brought up.

Well now I'm really confused. ;-) I can say that the weight is pretty substantial. I have a pine dresser in my guest room that I can lift and move across the room all by myself - this one is so heavy DH and I had trouble moving it without those furniture gliders. But I know nothing about wood. Is it two kinds of wood? Or is the darker wood just a dark stain on the same type of wood? The doors appear to have a different graining than the main part.

I'm also no antique expert - but I do have mostly antiques in my house and I'm pretty confident that it is old, like, at least 100 years. Just guessing I'd say late 1800s/early 1900s. This is based on the patina of the dings and in the crevices. The spring ball/bolt thing could have been added? It seems there used to be a latch or some other type of hardware on the body where the door closes, since there is a hole there for a nail/screw but no hardware.

groove where something used to rub the door when shut. The dark spot above the screw for the knob is old putty, probably where the knob or a different knob used to be:

hardware for where the door meets the spring pin/ball:

It's made of birch (frames) maple (turnings) and mahogany (panels) It used to all be stained dark to match the mahogany panels.
It's American "Jacobethan" style, a revival style from the 1920s trying to hearken back to merry old England in the 1500-1600 century.
Casey

Thanks Casey! I googled Jacobean and Jacobethan and found tons of pics of pieces similar in style - that's definitely it! And thank you so much for your explanation of the woods used. It makes sense that it would have once been stained dark (based on the pics I saw online) and that explains the darkness in the grooves and the drip, maybe, on the inside drawer.

so do you think it's from the 20s, then? any idea of the value?

Man that makes me feel better. I knew I saw maple in there, because my father had a maple bedroom set with the same pattern turnings on it and it was like deja vu. And I knew the drawer sides weren't, and birch was one of my guesses, but I wasn't sure. But I was sure it wasn't pine.

Casy, where would this have been used?

I have one that is a bit larger but basically the same shape. If you will google "Court Cupboard" you will see the same shape. I was told that is what mine is.
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