Milan Large Sideboard: 160cm long, 70cm high, measured up

Two figures separate the Milan Large Sideboard from everything else on these pages. It is listed at 160x40x70cm, which makes it the longest of them and 11cm lower than the 81cm Lucca and Torino sideboards. Long and low is a different proposition from tall and short, and it suits different walls.

The numbers, as listed

The listing publishes the dimension string and nothing else, and does not label the three figures. Read in the usual order they are width, depth and height, which is consistent with the rest of the range, but confirm it with us if your space is tight in one direction.

160cm needs a clear run

Before anything else, measure the wall between fixed obstructions rather than corner to corner. Door architraves, radiators, a curtain pole bracket and a floor socket all steal from the usable length. Add 10cm to 15cm of breathing space at each end and you are looking for something like 185cm of wall for a 160cm piece. On the way in, the 40cm depth is what gets it through doorways, and the 160cm length is what has to turn: measure the diagonal of any corner, and the half landing if there are stairs.

A 70cm top is the easier height

Seventy centimetres is low enough to pass under most window sills, which is exactly where a long piece often has to go. It is also the more comfortable height for a television, because a seated eye line is usually somewhere around 100 to 110cm and a screen on a 70cm top lands close to that rather than above it. The trade-off is that a lower top is further to stoop to, so it is less pleasant to serve from than the 81cm pieces.

What to hang above it

A 160cm piece leaves a lot of bare wall, and the usual answer is a mirror or a picture. Two rules of thumb worth having: keep whatever goes above it noticeably narrower than the furniture, so somewhere around 100cm to 110cm for a 160cm top, and leave a gap of roughly 25cm to 30cm between the top and the bottom edge so the two read as one arrangement. Most of our Wall Mirrors publish their own dimensions, so you can usually check both numbers before you drill, and we will measure one for you where the listing does not.

The listing's silences

Nothing is published about material, colour, finish, the number of doors or drawers, internal sizes, weight or assembly. At 160cm the internal layout is the one most worth asking about, since the difference between one long bay and four narrow ones decides whether the thing will take a serving platter.

Shorter, taller or matching

The Milan Small Sideboard is the same 40cm depth and 70cm height at 110cm long. For the same sort of length at a higher top, compare the Torino Large Sideboard at 137 x 40 x 81cm. All of them are in Sideboards & Cabinets.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Measure the wall between obstructions, then see the Milan Large Sideboard page for the photographs and to order.