Torino Nest of 3 Tables: three tops, or two, and how to choose

Two Torino nests are listed and both carry the same size line, 54 x 37 x 50cm. The Torino Nest of 3 Tables is the one with a third top under the second. Because the published figures are identical, deciding between the two sets is a question about use, not about floor space.

Three tops against two

So the stack asks for the same patch of floor either way. What the listing does not record for either set is how far the second and third tables step down from the biggest one, and that step is the thing that decides whether the smallest top is useful to you. We can measure them and tell you.

What a third top actually does

Three reasons people take the three rather than the two, in the order they come up in the shop:

1. Both ends of the sofa. Split the nest, one table at each arm, and the third stays stacked for visitors.
2. A surface that never moves. A lamp or a plant can sit permanently on one top while the others stay mobile, which a set of two cannot really manage.
3. A chair across the room. An armchair on its own wall needs something to set a drink on, and the smallest table of a nest is the easiest thing to carry to it.

Worth knowing in general about nests: the smallest table is usually the lowest as well as the narrowest, so it suits a mug, a book or a remote more than a tall lamp whose shade wants height to be useful.

Reading the listed size

Read the figures as width, depth and height and the biggest table is 54cm wide, 37cm deep and 50cm tall. 37cm deep is shallow, which is what makes a nest workable in a tight room, but it also means the top will not take a wide tray. Check the 50cm against the top of your sofa arm, measured from the floor, because that is the number that decides whether putting a glass down is comfortable.

The product page carries two photographs for this set, fewer than most, so if the finish matters to you, ask us for more before ordering rather than judging it from those. No material, colour or weight is recorded on the listing, and nothing about assembly; this is stock we buy in, so the description is the supplier's.

Across the Torino pieces

If the third top would only ever stay stacked, the Torino Nest of 2 Tables is the simpler buy at the same listed dimensions. For a single square surface that stays put, the Torino Lamp Table is listed at 55 x 55 x 50cm. For a nest from another range to compare it with, the Lucca Nest of 2 Tables and the Milan Nest of 2 Tables carry their own sizes on their own listings. Everything in this part of the range sits in Side & Lamp Tables.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. The listed size, the photographs and the price are on the Torino Nest of 3 Tables page, and the step between the three tops is a question worth asking us first.