Venice Lamp Table: a 50cm ceramic circle on black legs

The Venice Lamp Table is one of the side and lamp tables here that comes with more than a size line behind it. The listing names the two things that decide how it looks in a room: a ceramic tabletop and slim black legs. Its size is given as ∅50 x 55cm, and the ∅ symbol is a diameter, so the top is a 50cm circle standing 55cm off the floor.

What the listing actually records

The description credits the ceramic top with resisting stains and wear and calls it a surface for lamps, books or ornaments. That is the supplier's wording rather than a tested figure, so if you need to know how it handles a hot mug or a spilled glass of red, ask us rather than reading a number into it. No thickness, no weight and no note on assembly is recorded.

A 50cm circle, 55cm high

A round top is the better shape where the table sits at the open end of a sofa or beside an armchair in the middle of a room, because there is no corner to catch a hip or a shin as you pass. The trade-off is usable area: a 50cm circle gives noticeably less flat space than a 50cm square, and what you lose is exactly the corners where people park a phone and a set of keys. A lamp base and a mug is a realistic load. A lamp, a mug and a book is crowded.

55cm is at the taller end for a side table, which is a point in its favour next to a deep-armed sofa or a high-seated chair, where a 50cm table makes you reach down. Measure from your floor to the top of the sofa arm before ordering: if that figure is near 55cm, this one will sit flush and feel right.

The two options, and one oddity on the page

Two options are offered, Grey Ceramic and Chanel Ceramic, and they appear on the page under a heading that reads Size rather than Finish. That is how the supplier supplied the data. Only one size is listed and it is not repeated against either option, so do not read the heading as two sets of dimensions, and ask us to confirm both options are that size before you order. The listing does not describe the difference between the two beyond their names, so judge them from the five photographs on the product page, and ask us if you want the colours described before you commit.

Round here, square there

If you are weighing a circle against a square, the Torino Lamp Table is listed at 55 x 55 x 50cm, which gives more flat area and tucks tighter into a corner, while this one is kinder in a walkway. Both are in the same range of side and lamp tables, so you can compare the photographs side by side.

What else to look at alongside it

If you would rather have a surface that can be pulled out and put back than one that stays where it is, the Torino Nest of 2 Tables and the Torino Nest of 3 Tables are both listed at 54 x 37 x 50cm, which is shallower and lower than this one. For another fixed table to set at the other end of the room, the Chelsea Lamp Table and the Lucca Lamp Table sit on the same side and lamp tables page, with their sizes on their own listings. Their listings are the only place to check what their tops are made of, so ask us if matching this one's ceramic matters to you.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. The size, both options and the photographs are on the Venice Lamp Table page, and anything the listing does not cover is a question we would rather answer before you buy.