Display Cabinets & Dressers

Choosing a display cabinet or dresser

A display cabinet does the opposite job to a buffet: instead of hiding things behind doors, it puts the good glassware, the dinner service you inherited, the ceramics and the books where you can see them, and gives a dining or living room a tall piece to balance the long, low furniture. The choice comes down to how much of it should be glass, how tall the wall will take, and whether you want the traditional dresser form or a cleaner cabinet.

Dresser, display cabinet or display unit?

In Australian furniture a dresser is the classic dining room piece: a cupboard or buffet base with a hutch or glazed top sitting on it, often with a plate rail or open shelf between the two. It is the right word for a Hamptons or country kitchen and for a formal dining room, and it gives you closed storage below and display above in one footprint. A display cabinet is a single tall case, usually glass-fronted on two or four doors, that shows everything inside; a display unit or showcase is the same thing with open shelves or a mix of open and glazed bays. In a bedroom the word dresser means a chest of drawers, which you will find under chests. Every piece on this page is for the dining room, living room, hallway or home office.

Glass doors or open shelves

Glass doors keep dust off glassware and china and let you light the inside, which is why a glass display cabinet is the choice for crystal, a collection, or anything you rarely handle. Open display shelving suits books, baskets, ceramics and plants, the things you reach for and rearrange, and it feels lighter in a small room. Many cabinets mix the two: glazed doors across the top bays and solid doors or drawers below for the platters and table linen. Look for adjustable shelves, a back panel in a finish you like (a mirrored or timber back changes the whole look), and cut-outs for a cable if you plan to add lighting.

Height, width and where it goes

Measure the wall and the ceiling first. A full-height display cabinet runs 180 to 220 cm tall and 90 to 120 cm wide, and needs a wall of its own or the end of a run of buffets and sideboards. A wide dresser with a hutch suits the long wall of a dining room and should sit at least 90 cm from the table so chairs pull out cleanly. A small display cabinet, around 60 to 90 cm wide, fits a hallway, the corner of a living room or beside an entertainment unit as a wall unit. Depth is normally 40 to 45 cm; check it against the width of your widest platter, which has to fit on the shelf with the door closed.

Timber, white, walnut and black

Solid timber cabinets in Marri, oak and reclaimed timbers bring warmth and work with a timber dining table or a Hamptons kitchen in white. A white display cabinet or dresser is the Hamptons and coastal choice and lets the contents provide the colour. Walnut and black display cabinets suit a modern or mid-century room and show off pale ceramics and glass. Bar cabinets and wine cabinets are display cabinets built for bottles and glasses, with racks, a drop-down or pull-out serving shelf and a glazed front, and sit as well in a living room as a dining room.

Styling the shelves

Give each shelf one idea: glassware on one, a run of books and a bowl on another, the collection you actually want to show on the one at eye level. Leave a third of each shelf empty so the pieces read as a display rather than storage, repeat a colour across three shelves, and place a table lamp or a small picture nearby so the cabinet is lit in the evening. A mirror on the opposite wall doubles the effect.

See them in a Perth showroom

The Furniture Gallery is WA owned and family run, with showrooms across Perth and regional WA. Open the glass doors, test the shelves and compare the timbers and whites in natural light, then measure the cabinet 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 unpack it, set it in place and take the packaging away.