Coffee Tables

How to choose a coffee table

The coffee table sits in front of the sofa and gets used every evening. It holds the remote, the mug, the magazine, sometimes feet. The wrong one crowds the room and you walk into it; the right one disappears into the layout.

Sizing rule that works: the coffee table should be roughly two-thirds the length of the sofa it sits in front of. Leave 30 to 45cm of clear space between the sofa edge and the table edge for circulation and leg room. Height: 5cm lower than the sofa seat is the comfortable spec. Most British sofas sit at 45cm, so a 40cm coffee table is the safe answer.

Shape follows the room. Rectangular tables suit rectangular rooms with sofa-along-the-wall layouts. Round and oval tables suit busier circulation patterns and small children, with no corners to walk into. Square coffee tables suit symmetrical layouts (two sofas facing each other, sofa-and-armchair pairs).

Storage is the upgrade decision. Lift-top coffee tables turn the surface into a desk for laptop work. Drawer-front tables hide the remote-control collection. Open-shelf tables read more contemporary and display books and magazines.

Material: solid oak and walnut hold value and age well. Glass tops keep small rooms feeling open. Marble and stone tops are heavy statement pieces that need a sturdy base. Painted MDF in the £80 to £200 bracket works for five years.

The brands and retailers we list

We pull around 6,700 coffee tables from across the UK retailer network.

The Range and Robert Dyas dominate the £80 to £400 value-to-mid bracket.

Oak & More covers solid-oak coffee tables in matched ranges at £200 to £600.

Furniture in Fashion stocks contemporary high-gloss, marble-top and metal-frame designs at £150 to £900.

Filter the grid above by colour, material, shape or price to narrow things down. Prices update daily.