19 Unique Storage Ideas Using Credenzas

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My family hates that my dining room doubles as my home office especially since I host some holiday dinners in my home. I do try to minimize the home office “effect” when hosting family dinners. But it’s hard to hide a printer/scanner/fax machine. It’s a big piece of equipment and not much I can do about that. So that’s gonna stay.

I still have a lot of printing supplies, paper, folders, clips and promotional material that’s currently stacked on an open bookcase that I should hide. Right now, it’s pretty hideous. Don’t judge. After all, I’m working on becoming paperless.

I made the decision to find a solution to decrease and hide my remaining office and printing supplies by purchasing a credenza for the dining room area. The criteria is a piece that can store supplies, be an art or conversation piece, as well as a place to display and serve my family’s delicious homemade desserts.

By Wikipedia definition, a credenza is an English term for a sideboard cabinet or a small side serving table. They’re also used in offices for filing and storage.

The History of Credenzas

Originally in Italian the name meant belief or trust (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.^[1]

I really had no idea of the origin of the word Credenza. I share it with you because I thought it was interesting that it’s origin began with the tasting of food and drinks. So a credenza is a perfect design idea for my home office solution.

My Search For A Credenza/Dining Room Storage

When I began searching for the credenza, I checked with Houzz first. If you’re not familiar with Houzz, they have great design inspiration and a lot of unique and artsy products for the home. They’re kinda like the Amazon for home décor.

Houzz is great for sourcing different and out of the ordinary furniture and accessories. I’ve found a lot of unique and unusual design home items on this site as well as design inspiration. Yep, some are a little pricey but some fit right in my budget. Below are a few of my interesting finds on Houzz for a credenza. I’m still comparing the width and depth of each (and of course, the price is a factor) and haven’t made a decision yet. Let me know what you think or if you have other suggestions or great finds that would work for my design solution.