Sideboard

Beginning in the 1780s, sideboards, such as this example with richly figured mahogany and birch veneers, became an important piece of furniture in American dining rooms. English furniture designer George Hepplewhite wrote in his 1794 The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide: "The great utility of this piece of furniture has procured it a very general reception; and the conveniences it affords render a dining room incomplete without a sideboard."  They provided both expansive surface for serving and ample storage for linens, silver and liquor-the two vertical, oval front drawers are partitioned to hold bottles.  Often imported from England, knife boxes developed as a specialized piece of furniture, designed to be displayed on top of sideboards, as seen here.