Kitchen dresser design ideas from the House & Garden archive
Like nearly all of the most coveted antiques these days, a dresser was designed originally as a purely practical piece. In the days before fitted kitchens with corner cupboards on fancy pull-out rails and ceiling height cabinets for storing an extensive collection of plates, there were simply dressers, butcher's blocks and open hearths for all your culinary needs. A dresser was where you stored plates, glasses, cutlery and linens, and that use remains today. The difference is, however, that mostly, dressers are now extras on top of all our kitchen cabinets and so they are more decorative than practical.
In the UK, dressers are known as Welsh dressers, unless they're from Ireland in which case they're Irish. Essentially though, they are quite similar and a Welsh dresser doesn't actually have to come from Wales. Confused? Ignore the minutiae and focus instead on how to use a kitchen dresser. Now that we have ample space elsewhere in the kitchen for storage, the best use of a dresser is to display a collection of pretty ceramics or antique glassware on the top, open half, while shoving kitchen appliances, tablecloths, children's crockery and all those other unsightly items in the cupboards on the lower half.
As for the sideboard, dress it up with a frilly lamp, an endless supply of fresh flowers or perhaps an enviable collection of lustreware jugs featuring pastural scenes and your kitchen will be the most coveted room around.
Dean Hearne1/18A dresser can be just as lovely in a sitting room as it is in a kitchen. Alexandra Tolstoy has a characterful antique example in the sitting room of her Oxfordshire cottage, which is home to a display of cabbage ware and Staffordshire figurines.
Dean Hearne2/18This large dresser in designer India Holmes' Highbury house is home to a collection of glassware which is a decorative element in its own right.
Dean Hearne3/18Decorator Joshua Hale's tiny Oxfordshire cottage is full of charming country house design ideas, including this rustic white painted dresser filled with ceramics by Emma Bridgewater and Royal Crown Derby (unfinished 'Old Imari' plates).
Martin Morrell4/18A display in a unified colour scheme in a dresser can make a stylish decorative statement. The 1770 oak and pine dairy dresser, with a space below for milk churns, was the first antique that the owners of this 17th-century Cotswold cottage bought together.
Andrew Montgomery5/18Berdoulat’s ‘Bath Dresser’ is in the sitting room of Patrick Williams' house, with Burleigh meat plates and Berdoulat plates created in collaboration with the ceramicist Lydia Hardwick.
Paul Massey6/18The dresser in this open plan living-dining room is by Kent & London and adds a neutral note amongst the vibrant colour of the room. It is filled with a characterful mix of mugs, jugs, candlesticks and knick knacks.
Dean Hearne7/18Having lighted on his ideal house in the wild Devon countryside, Tom Cox of HÁM Interiors set about making it into a warm and welcoming place to get away, filled with the distinctive art and antiques he has grown up with. An antique Irish dresser stands in the corner behind, filled with Tom’s whiskey collection.
Paul Massey8/18The 1720s Irish dresser in Robin Muir and Paul Lyon Maris' house is from John Cornall Antiques in Warwick. Most of the slipware on the dresser came from Trésors Trouvés in Amsterdam. It is an exemplary piece.
Owen Gale9/18A built-in dresser that's partly glazed, partly open, takes up one wall of the kitchen in Ros Byam Shaw's Devon house. The whole thing is painted in in Farrow & Ball ‘Mouse’s Back’, a warm backdrop for Ros' collection of antique and vintage china.
Mark Anthony Fox10/18In Charlotte Boundy's Shepherd's Bush house, a Victorian dresser sits in her kitchen. Sourced from ‘Vintage Boathouse’ on Instagram, she has decorated it with a brilliant red lamp from Matilda Goad, as well as china and ceramics.
Paul Massey11/18When Ben Pentreath designed the kitchen in this Arts & Crafts house, he added a freestanding dresser down one side. It is very traditional in style, with glass doors on the upper half and wood on the lower so that linens and the like can be kept down there. The dresser adds a nice antique character to the kitchen, which treads a delicate line between modern and traditional.
Paul Massey12/18Rita Konig has a very impressive dresser from Plain English in her country kitchen. Painted in the brand's 'Army Camp' colour, it houses crockery and ceramics but Rita also had it customised to fit a sink from Howe.
Alexander James13/18The white kitchen of this Georgian townhouse in Ludlow has been decorated with a soft colour palette and elegant furnishings, creating a fresh country scheme. A dresser across one wall accentuates the country feel and contrasts well with the fitted cabinets.
Owen Gale14/18In the colourful house of designer Molly Mahon, a vintage dresser stores a collection of Molly's own mugs. The dresser is a decorative style, with impressive wood carvings that are highlighted by the cream paint.
Paul Massey15/18The dresser cabinet pair in Octavia Dickinson's kitchen were sourced from Hudson Antiques at the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea. The insides are painted a deep red, to pick up on the colours in the rug and sofa, as well as the central light fitting in the room.
Paul Massey16/18Not all dressers are freestanding and you can design one to be built-in. In this Ben Pentreath house, the designer added a dresser to bespoke joinery in the dining room, painting it in Emente’s ‘Cassel’.
Lucas Allen17/18If you're looking to design an unfitted kitchen, a dresser is your best friend. This Christopher Howe-designed house in Bray is the perfect example, with a large dresser providing both key storage and decoration.
Tom Griffiths18/18Food writer Juana Pepa has decorated her dresser, sourced from Lorfords Antiques, with white ceramics and glassware. The cupboards and shelves house much of her collection.
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