Fold Down Dining Table and Sideboard 800mm Wide in Birch Plywood

a table for four that folds down out of a sideboard, so a hallway or a living room becomes a dining room for two hours.

A folding piece earns its place only if folding it is quick enough that you actually do it. Every mechanism here has been chosen on that basis rather than on how clever it is. Gas struts where a hinge would be heavy, friction stays where a lock would need two hands, and a positive stop at both ends of the travel so nothing drops the last centimetre and marks the wall. If it takes more than five seconds, people leave it open, and then they have bought a piece of furniture that is permanently the size they were trying to avoid.

Specification

• Dimensions: 800mm wide, 320mm deep closed, table, 800 by 1200mm open when open
• Floor footprint: 0.32 square metres closed
• Material: 18 layer birch plywood with the edge left exposed and lacquered, so the layers read as a stripe
• Finish: sprayed or oiled, with a soft close on every moving part
• Capacity: mechanism rated to 120kg including the mattress and bedding
• Assembly: flat packed, two people, about three hours
• Getting it in: Flat packed in 3 cartons, largest 820mm by 1350mm by 300mm. Through a standard 762mm door: on its side, yes. Into a small lift: only in a lift with a 1400mm car, otherwise it goes up the stairs
• Weight: approximately 70.5 kilograms
• Mechanism: gas strut counterbalanced, rated for 20,000 cycles
• Operating force: under 60 newtons, which is one hand
• Mattress: takes a standard single up to 180mm thick, not supplied
• Wall fixing: required, four M8 anchors, and there is no way around it on a piece that pivots
• Making good: a repair kit with filler and touch up paint is in the box for when you leave
• Ceiling height needed: 2100mm minimum

What you get

• The cabinet, flat packed in three cartons
• The counterbalanced mechanism, pre assembled and pre tensioned
• The fold down top
• Wall fixing kit for masonry and for timber stud
• A making good kit for the day you move out
• Printed instructions and a link to a fitting video that is actually useful

Assembly

Flat packed and best done by two people, mostly for the moment you stand it up. About an hour with a hex key and a spanner, both in the box. Fittings are cam locks and threaded steel inserts, so it comes apart and goes back together properly rather than chewing out the panel.

If you are renting

This one does need a wall fixing, and we would rather say so on the product page than in the instructions. It is two screws. If drilling is out of the question, the freestanding version of this piece is listed alongside it and does the same job with a slightly larger footprint.