I had a terrible time finding a sideboard that would suit our home and our needs. I scoured antique/consignment shops, auctions, and looked at all major brands of furniture for something. All told, I spent close to two years on the exercise and I struck out completely. In desperation, I contacted a custom furniture maker, unsure I would be able to afford such a "luxury". Lo and behold! not only did the "custom" route turn out to be "in line" with the prices I had seen, but I was able to have features built into it to accomdate our needs. And in the wood I wanted! And it was made by talented tradesmen in our country. It arrived just over 3 1/2 mos. later (as promised!), in perfect condition, and was placed in its present site by the delivery team. Gone are the stacked silver chests, the piles of linen formerly stuffed into the pantry, and the open flatware organizer that lived on the kitchen counter for years. It ranks as one of the smartest purchases I've ever made, should have done it a year sooner.

Rockybird, yes it is in a visible area, the dining room. To me it is similar to having a china hutch in a dining room (which is common) but is more useful because it has additional counter space. Is there a specific reason you don't like it or you just don't like the idea? I would be open to hearing constructive criticism and ideas, since I am still trying to make the design better. weedyacres, The entire wall is 134", to the left of the window is 47" and to the right is 48" I have thought about a buffet, but we really need storage for 8 place settings of china, nice silverware, quite a bit of glassware (beer, red & white wine, champagne, martini, margarita, rocks...we like to use the proper glassware for what we are drinking), plus our booze which is currently being stored in 10 cases. I just don't think that only a buffet is going to cut it for all that storage. Plus my husband has a nice bourbon collection and we would like to display some of it rather than have it behind a cabinet door. Also the window is only 30" off the floor and I really don't want to put a piece of furniture that is taller than 25" in front of it.

Hi Patricia, thank you for taking the time to comment! If you saw the space, it would be easier for you to understand why we need the unit to be white and go all the way from the living room to the dining room. I'll post a picture, but right now our huge book collection is in boxes in the space where the bookcases will be, and we aren't bringing in the new table (and installing our chandelier-west elm zigzag capiz)until the bookcases are installed. So the picture won't be 100% representative, but you'll see that the floors are a very dark wood, our table is dark wood, and our couch is dark brown leather...I really don't want the huge bookcase unit to be dark as well. Although the unit will be white, we have many large books that are shades of brown, navy and maroon, so the bright white will be warmed by the books inside the bookcase. In terms of the tablecloth, my home is blessed with many children who do homework, eat snacks, and color at the dining room table. Leaving it uncovered, would mean certain death to the table. The major question is about the buffet,server piece. The person making our bookcases said he could make a buffet to match the bookcases, but I'm not sure whether it will look good to have a white buffet with a dark wood table even though the bookcases will be a part of ther dining room? The buffet would go under the mirror in the dining area.

Wow! Very good job! And now you have everything at your fingertips! And know where things are! Huge improvement! If you enjoy seeing the instruments on the shelfs, that’s your reward for all this great work. And it keeps some fairly open space too. You could hang on walls as art as Calidesign mentioned above. But somehow I think on the shelfs will help you keep shelves in order. But certainly a personal choice! My only wish, is we could hear some music from you!!!