Crendenza!

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  • #1379702
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    How did I live so long without learning the meaning of the word, “credenza”?

    Also, “sideboard” … because before last week, everything to me was a “cabinet” (and I still haven’t inserted the word “credenza” into my vocab).

    Furniture shopping… chinuch!

    Thank you 🙂

    #1379733
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    Credenza
    Sideboard a/k/a Buffet
    Breakfront a/k/a China Cabinet a/k/a Hutch
    Sofa a/k/a Couch a/a Chesterfield
    Etagere a/k/a Room Divider a/k/a wall unit

    The fancier the name the higher the price

    Originally, these words meant different things: e/g/ A Breakfront has drawers and/or cabinets below and glass fronted doors to shelves above. The lines of the front are broken…the center section may protrude several inches further from the wall from the side sections. A china cabinet will be all the same depth and usually only one (or one set) of doors. A hutch will be open shelving on top. But today they are used interchangeably.

    Mrs. CTL is a designer. I have education by osmosis

    #1379735
    iacisrmma
    Participant

    I grew up with a credenza. If your parents didn’t own one why would use the word?

    #1379743
    golfer
    Participant

    Mr CTL,

    A silver filled credenza
    Is a sign of affluenza
    But a chesterfield is for one whose birth
    Occurred when dinosaurs roamed the earth

    #1379762
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Thanks everyone… and yes, oops sorry, I spelled credenza incorrectly in the title (and this time it was on my laptop… so it really was my mistake) ☺

    #1379763
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Whoa CTLAWYER!!! I just got furniture overload there, with your post.

    Still processing your additional vocabulary. Lol. Thank you ☺

    #1379769
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    This is a little known fact: When I was a kid, my parents owned a furniture store. It was a short-lived business endeavor.

    Afterward, our home absorbed the unsold furniture. We definitely had a credenza, or few, located around the house. It was just that no one talked about them.

    You know, we stuffed the shelves, making good use of the furniture. Meanwhile, we didn’t discuss it.

    From what I recall, we referred to our furniture by the color of the piece, or its location in our home.

    For example, Pesach dishes went on that shelf in the yellow cabinet (likely a credenza, and definitely with an attached hutch).

    Tupperware belonged inside the middle upper shelf of the blue baker’s rack).

    And now you know a bit more of what my colorful childhood looked like… ☺

    #1379851
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    @Golfer
    The Chesterfield Sofa was originally designed in the mid 18th century. It has rolled back the same height as its rolled arms and is usually button tufted.
    The main section of the CTL home was built in 1803 and has many period appropriate pieces. Our 2nd floor has only 7 foot ceilings. There is a Chesterfield in the sitting room. A high back sofa would be out of scale.

    BTW>>>>I also own a Chesterfield Coat for winter dress wear.

    We don’t keep Silver in the credenza…it’s in the foyer and holds gloves in the top drawers, and attaches, brief and mah jongg cases in the lower cabinets. Silver is in the breakfront and butler’s pantry.

    #1379889
    yehudayona
    Participant

    I’ve only heard of credenzas in the realm of office furniture. I looked it up on staples.com and found 934 items.

    #1379999
    DovidBT
    Participant

    A somewhat interesting explanation of the name’s origin, from Wikipedia:

    “Originally in Italian the name meant belief (etymologically connected to the English word “credence”). In the 16th century the act of credenza was the tasting of food and drinks by a servant for a lord or other important person (such as the pope or a cardinal) in order to test for poison. The name may have passed then to the room where the act took place, then to the furniture.”

    [posted from my Attilla the Hun desk chair]

    #1380142
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Thanks DovidBT for your research! 🙂

    Questions: So…

    When did attempts at poisoning people become less popular? How did people decide that, “Okay now it’s safe for us to simply eat the food that we’ve been served”?

    Maybe it was a generational divide? Like, “Oh, having servants sample our food? No way. We’re independent, so we’ll eat on our own”?

    #1380584
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    “Credenza”!

    AMAZING: The other day, my neighbor told me that she’s looking for a desk, but not just any desk, one “that has a credenza”!!!

    It was like Hashem and I were having an inside joke, knowing that just a couple days prior, this thread was created… and here I was now, knowing about credenzas.

    Yays 🙂

    #1380621
    DovidBT
    Participant

    Maybe the neighbor is afraid that someone is trying to poison her?

    “When did attempts at poisoning people become less popular?”

    How do you know that poisoning has become less popular? The White House, for example, does not permit arbitrary food to be brought in from the outside; security checks are required.

    #1381239
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Poisoning did become less popular as the number of leadership positions that passed down to the next in line decreased.

    #1381260
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    DovidBT: You mean the president never got the homemade chocolate chip cookies I sent him?

    Omgosh… and it was from my Bubbe’s secret recipe book! They’re to die for, but not literally.

    Alas, I really ought to write the president, and ask for my $38 back to cover the ingredients and shipping costs, let alone make up for my broken heart.

    #1381280
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Bonnetiere!

    #1381290
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Who buys expensive used indoor wood furniture from someone who took photographed the furniture out in their lawn? Or driveway? And/or it’s chilling somewhere in some murky climate-chaotic garage?

    Is it just me, but putting indoor wood furniture outdoors, in rampant humidity, is a dealbreaker?

    #1381335
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Who answers wordy questions with horrible grammar?

    #1381336
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Who spends more than $500 on indoor wood furniture that was placed outdoors, and exposed to a posse of critters and humidity?

    Even if the piece is worth more on paper, it was outside in a funky yard.

    Maybe if you’re sealing the entire thing in wax, for your home wax museum —and even then, like seriously?

    Thank you ☺

    #1381343
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant

    Is the price negotiable?

    #1381359
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    It was negotiable. The piece was priced higher, and the seller went down to $500.

    #1381382
    👑RebYidd23
    Participant
    #1384795
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Here’s one listed for $895, and it’s out in someone’s driveway! Solid wood antique. That’s a lot of money, and no assurances that the humidity or insects didn’t get to it. Where is it being stored in the meantime?

    Yes, I know that people buy furniture in garage sales and such. Just a lot of money, and I don’t feel comfortable knowing that the furniture, which I cannot wipe down like glass or formica, was chilling (or not chilling) outdoors.

    Am I the only one here?

    #1386538
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    Adding to CTLAWYER’s list because I found a new one today (“server”) listed online that is being used interchangeably with “credenza” as well as a few other terms.

    Home Furniture Vocab Chinuch…. thanks to CTLAWYER for contributing so greatly to this list!!

    Credenza
    Sideboard
    Buffet
    Breakfront
    China Cabinet
    Hutch
    Server
    Bar/Bar Cabinet
    TV Stand
    Entertainment Center
    Media console
    Console
    Cabinet
    Storage unit
    Etagere
    Wall unit

    Sofa
    Couch
    Chesterfield

    Room Divider

    Armoire
    Bonnetiere

    #1386619
    CTLAWYER
    Participant

    @Lightbrite
    Sideboards, Buffets, Servers, Consoles are made to stand against a wall and unfinished on the rear. They do not have storage above the counter level (usually not taller than 41″
    A wall unit is not finished on the rear and is placed back to the wall,
    An Etagere is finished on all sides and is often used freestanding as a room divider

    In addition to sofa, couch and Chesterfield, is Divan and Chaise Longue (long, not lounge).
    Shorter couches (2 places) may be called Settees or Love Seats

    #1387371
    Lightbrite
    Participant

    And then there are futons 😄

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