How much should I pay for a solid walnut table?

December 22, 2005 7:59 PM

Bourgeois furniture value question(s).

Much to my chagrin, I find myself both wanting a certain coffee table, and choking on the cost of it. The specs:

Solid N. American light walnut, straight grain, 2" thick, 24"wide, 48" long. Stainless steel frame and legs. Price: CAD $1600+15% tax. (Totals about $1570 USD). Obviously, one will pay a hefty premium for having such a chunk of wood sourced, finished, and delivered. But this seems wildly disproportionate... am I right? If so, where would I find someone who can provide a similar piece for a reasonable price?

posted by iconoclastic flow to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

Find a local cabinetmaker. They should be able to construct something that will make you happy. Once you get into this kind of stuff, it is as cheap to have it made as it is to buy it, and the results are often much nicer. And you're supporting your local furniture industry! The tricky bit its the steel frame and legs.
posted by unSane at 8:38 PM on December 22, 2005

You're probably paying for the 2" thick slab of nice wood. For instance, this is much cheaper, but it's a wood veneer. And this, while solid wood, doesn't seem to be as thick.
posted by sad_otter at 8:52 PM on December 22, 2005

A local woodworker could make that for you. You might start by calculating the price of the raw wood.

Fancy wood is sold by 'board feet' (BF): Thickness (in inches) x Depth (in inches) x Length (in feet) / 12 . You're looking for 16 BF plus some working room. Wood thickness is expressed in quarters of an inch, so you want 8/4 nominal. For furniture grade wood, you want the fancy-grade figured stuff. Pricing randomly, 8/4 fancy is $12 - $22 per BF. So for wood alone, you're looking at maybe $300.

That's for rough lumber. It's got to be surfaced (planed and jointed ) and 24" width isn't going to come in one plank, so it'll need to be glued up to width. Then you can start making a table from it. All told, maybe 40 hours' work? $1600 seems pretty alright to me, all things considered. Especially for locally sourced craftsmanship, if you can find it.

On preview: Go with veneer.
posted by Triode at 8:54 PM on December 22, 2005

This may not apply to you, but used furniture stores usually have a surplus of coffee tables. The tables tend to be marked down considerably.
posted by malp at 4:33 AM on December 23, 2005

Also, you might, if you find a local cabinetmaker, try being flexible on your size requirements. One thing I can always remember my uncle (a very good professional woodworker) telling me is that a few inches can make a huge difference, if it's the difference between using single boards or multiple pieces cut together. He used an example of an architect who wanted a unit to hold his plans, but the plans were exactly the same size as a single sheet of plywood. With finishing loss and the sides of the cabinet connecting to the plywood bases, the drawers weren't big enough using a single sheet, thus vastly increasing the complexity (joins) and cost (more sheets of plywood) of the unit. Had the requirement been for drawers an inch smaller, it would have cost 2/3 of the price.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:31 AM on December 23, 2005

In my experience it's not cheaper to get someone to make it. I can't speak for specifics of your table but I've emailed a few different furniture makers for quotes and sent them photos of furniture I like. It's almost always so close in price to the "new" that it's simply not worth it (save about $100). I would only recommend going this route if you can't find a table you want "in the flesh" (for instance, one that's out of production).

Quality furniture costs a lot. As long as you don't impulse buy, I think you'll get what you pay for.

$1600 for a quality dining table is not a lot. I'm in the market for a coffee table and have seen many in that price range. Hell, I saw a contemporary dining table last week that was $13k!
posted by dobbs at 10:49 AM on December 23, 2005