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The buffet has its origin in 16th century Sweden. At the time it was fashionable to invite guests to a meal where they served themselves from a large variety of food and drink set out attractively on a waist-high dresser in the dining room. This type of dining was called smorgasbord, another word we continue using to this day. The dresser was called a buffet because the cupboard underneath was used to store glasses and crockery, and usually contained ample drawer space for cutlery.
By the 18th century, the buffet was a well-established piece of furniture in every European dining room, and most kitchens had one too. In the kitchen a buffet not only provided storage space, but as well as the kitchen table it was a valuable work surface for food preparation. Kitchen buffets were the forerunners of the built-in cabinets in our kitchens today.
By the 1770s, the buffet sprouted a new appendage; the hutch. The industrial age led to the rise of an affluent middle class who were eager to show off their wealth in the form of fine crockery and silver so an open cupboard, or hutch, was added to the top of the buffet where the best pieces could be displayed. Everything from soup tureens to punch bowls and silver candlesticks filled the hutch, in plain sight for visitors to admire.
Our modern homes have built-in cupboards in the kitchen, so we don’t really need a buffet for storage or as a work surface, but its beauty has ensured that the tradition of the buffet has survived. If your kitchen has sufficient space, you can capture the romance of a bygone era with your own buffet and hutch in Sydney. A buffet with solid doors can be used for the storage of utensils you don’t want out in the open, and you could even use the hutch as a shelf for your cookery books.
Homes these days often feature open plan living and dining areas where a buffet can be used to good effect in a variety of ways. You don’t need to use your buffet only for the storage of crockery and clutter, it can also be a useful piece of furniture to accommodate your home entertainment system or even filing and documents.
When shopping for buffet and hutch furniture in Sydney, consider the size of the room where you will put it. If you have lots of space, a traditional deep buffet would look splendid, but for smaller spaces choose a slender buffet and make up for lost cupboard space in the bottom with a tall hutch.
Also give the function of your buffet hutch in Sydney some thought. If you will store items in it that you use frequently then open shelves are practical, but if you will use the hutch mainly for display purposes, choose a glass fronted hutch to avoid the need to dust your collection regularly.
At One Stop Pine we offer buffets in an attractive variety of styles from French, Victorian and Chinese origin, from shabby chic to clean-lined minimalistic. You can choose a finish to suit your decorating theme; we have everything from dark wood to formal white. Visit One Stop Pine Furniture Warehouse for buffet hutch furniture in Sydney.