Chests

Choosing a chest of drawers or tallboy

A chest of drawers is where the clothes that do not hang go: folded knitwear, tees, linen, the drawer of things that belongs to nobody. It is also the piece that gives a bedroom a second surface for a lamp, a tray or a mirror, so it is worth choosing one that suits the room as well as the wardrobe. The decision comes down to tall or wide, how many drawers, and whether it arrives ready to use.

Chest of drawers, tallboy or dresser?

A chest of drawers is the general term for a cabinet of stacked drawers. A tallboy or tall chest of drawers is the narrow, high version, usually five or six drawers in a footprint about 50 to 60 cm wide, and it is the answer for a bedroom with more wall height than wall length. A wide chest, often called a dresser in a bedroom, is lower and longer, three or four drawers across 100 to 130 cm, and gives you a surface at waist height for a mirror and a lamp. A three-drawer chest is the compact option for a child's room, a guest room or beside a wardrobe. If you want the dining room sort of dresser, with a hutch on top, those are under display cabinets and dressers.

Fully assembled, not flat pack

Every chest of drawers here is delivered fully assembled by our white-glove team. That matters more for drawers than for any other furniture: a flat-pack chest relies on the joints you make with a hex key, and the drawers go out of square the first time they are overfilled. A solid timber chest with dovetailed or glued drawer boxes, metal runners and a solid back stays rigid for decades, and you can move it from room to room without it loosening. Check that drawers run smoothly when pulled with one hand from the corner, that the top drawer has a stop so it cannot be pulled out, and that the chest can be fixed to the wall if it is tall.

Size and where it goes

Measure the wall and allow about 90 cm in front of the chest for the drawers to open and for you to stand at them, more if it faces the bed. A tallboy wants a wall of its own or the space beside a wardrobe; a wide chest sits well opposite the end of the bed or under a window, with a mirror above it so it doubles as a dressing table. Match the height of bedside tables, around 50 to 65 cm, to the mattress, but a chest can be taller; 80 to 90 cm is comfortable for a wide chest and 120 to 140 cm for a tallboy.

Timber, white, black or rattan

Solid timber chests in Marri, oak, walnut, teak and reclaimed timbers bring grain and warmth and pair with a timber bed frame and bedsides from the same range, or a bedroom suite that matches everything in one go. A white chest of drawers suits a Hamptons or coastal bedroom and a child's room. A black or ebony chest anchors a pale room and suits black-framed mirrors and lamps. Rattan and cane-fronted chests add texture to a coastal or boho bedroom and hide fingerprints better than a flat painted front.

See them in a Perth showroom

The Furniture Gallery is WA owned and family run, with showrooms across Perth and regional WA. Pull the drawers, feel the weight of the timber and compare the finishes in natural light, then measure the chest against your wall. When you have chosen, add it to your cart and enter your postcode for a delivery price; our white-glove delivery team will carry it into the bedroom, set it in place and take the packaging away.