Lucca Nest of 2 Tables: one size line, two tables, 37cm deep

A nest means two tables, and the catalogue entry for the Lucca Nest of 2 Tables gives one set of figures: 54x37x50cm. It does not say whether that describes the larger table, the pair stacked together, or something in between, and there is a single photograph on the page. So the first honest thing to say is that one of the two tables has no stated size at all.

Reading one size line for a pair

The sensible reading, and the one to confirm rather than assume, is that the figures belong to the larger table: 54cm along the front, 37cm from front to back, and 50cm from the floor to the top. The smaller table then sits under it and is necessarily shorter and shallower, but by how much the listing does not record. If the gap you are filling is governed by the smaller table rather than the larger one, ask the shop for its measurements before ordering.

The depth is the number that matters

Thirty-seven centimetres front to back is shallow for a table, and that is the point of a nest. It will stand against a wall in a hallway, behind a door swing, or in the strip between a sofa and a chimney breast where a square side table simply will not go. It is also the number that makes a nest useful for a room where tables have to be got out of the way: stacked, the pair takes one shallow footprint.

At 50cm high the top sits below the arm on most sofas, which is a comfortable height to put a mug down from a seated position and a low height for a reading lamp. The rectangular 54cm by 37cm top takes a tray lengthways, which a 40cm square nest table generally will not.

Two further points, both from experience rather than from the listing. If the second table is never going to be pulled out, you are paying for storage you will not use and a single side table is tidier. And if both tables are going to stand out permanently at either end of a sofa, check they look right at two different heights, because a nesting pair is designed to differ.

What is not on the page

No material, no finish, no colour, no leg or base type, no weight, no assembly note, no specification rows, and no size for the smaller table. Ask about the top material and the base shape in particular, since the base decides whether the tables will nest cleanly on a carpet.

The comparisons worth making

The Milan Nest of 2 Tables is the listing to look at if the missing second size bothers you, because it gives both: 50x50x45cm and 40x40x40cm. The Torino Nest of 3 Tables quotes the same 54 x 37 x 50cm line with a third table in the set, and the Lucca Lamp Table is the single square table at the same 50cm height. All of them are in Side & Lamp Tables.

Ordering

This is a piece the shop supplies, so ask for current timings with your questions. Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. There is one photograph on the Lucca Nest of 2 Tables page, and the measurements of the smaller table are the detail to settle with the shop before you decide.