The right bedside table is the one that fits your bed height, holds the boring nightly stuff, and does not make the room feel narrower than it already is. For the best bedside table UK buyers in 2026, I would start with the John Lewis Wilton 2 Drawer Bedside Cabinet at about £119 if you want a safe all-rounder, or the IKEA MALM 2-drawer chest at £49 if budget matters more than character.
In This Article
- Best bedside table UK: quick picks for 2026
- How to choose the right bedside table size and storage
- Best modern bedside tables for UK bedrooms
- Best classic bedside tables and painted cabinets
- Small bedroom, low bed and awkward-layout picks
- Build quality, safety and assembly checks before you buy
- Bottom line: which bedside table should you buy
- Frequently Asked Questions
Best bedside table UK: quick picks for 2026
Best overall: John Lewis Wilton 2 Drawer Bedside Cabinet, about £119. It is not the cheapest and it will not make anyone gasp, but it is the kind of bedside table that works in a normal UK bedroom: two drawers, sensible proportions, painted finish, and enough style to sit with modern or classic bedding.
Best budget: IKEA MALM Chest of 2 Drawers, about £49. IKEA describes it as a chest that can also be used as a bedside table, which is fair. It is simple, compact and easy to match with existing furniture. The downside is that it looks like IKEA. Sometimes that is fine.
Best small-space buy: Dunelm Neo Open Bedside Table, about £39, or Dunelm Lynton 1 Drawer Compact Bedside Table, about £59. Both are useful where a full 45-50cm wide cabinet would block wardrobe doors or make the bed feel squeezed.
Best classic painted option: Dunelm Lynton 3 Drawer Bedside Table, usually £119 in white and sometimes £95.20 in grey during offers. It gives you proper storage and a familiar painted-bedroom look without jumping into £250+ furniture.
Best premium-looking option without designer pricing: John Lewis Bow 1 Drawer Bedside Table, about £199, or John Lewis Scandi 2 Drawer Wood Bedside Table, about £229. These are the ones I would consider if the bedside table is visible from the doorway and you care about the whole room feeling finished.
If you are doing the room from scratch, sort the bed and wardrobe first. A bedside table is easier to change than a bed frame, and the height has to work with the mattress you actually own. Our guide on how to choose a bed frame is worth reading before you buy a matching pair just because the website shows them beautifully lit.
How to choose the right bedside table size and storage
Most bedside-table mistakes are measurement mistakes. People choose something pretty, then discover the drawer hits the bed frame, the lamp shade blocks the wardrobe, or the table top sits 12cm below the mattress and every glass of water feels like a floor-level expedition.
Height first
Aim for the table top to sit roughly level with the top of your mattress, or up to about 5cm lower. That makes it easy to reach a phone, book, water glass or lamp switch without sitting up. A typical UK bedside table is around 50-65cm high, but beds vary wildly once you add a deep mattress, topper or divan base.
If you have a low platform bed, avoid tall three-drawer cabinets unless you like the student-halls look. If you have a high divan or ottoman bed, a tiny open table can look mean beside it.
Width and walkway space
For a normal double bedroom, 35-45cm wide works well. For a king bedroom with space either side, 45-55cm looks more balanced. In a small UK terrace bedroom, anything over 50cm can feel greedy.
Leave enough room to move around the bed. A bedside table that forces you to shuffle sideways every morning will annoy you far more than a slightly smaller drawer. If the gap between bed and wall is under 40cm, look at narrow open tables, wall shelves, or compact one-drawer designs.
Storage: drawer, shelf or open table
Choose storage based on what you actually keep beside the bed, not what a styled photo shows.
- Open table: best for small rooms, guest rooms and people who keep the surface tidy.
- One drawer: best for hiding cables, lip balm, sleep mask and medication while keeping the design light.
- Two drawers: the safest all-round choice for everyday bedrooms.
- Three drawers: useful for storage, but can look bulky beside lower beds.
If the bedroom already struggles with clutter, two drawers are worth it. If you are trying to create a calmer room, open storage can backfire unless you are naturally tidy. Most of us are not showroom people. No judgement; the drawer exists for a reason.
Matching pairs are not compulsory. A pair looks neat in a symmetrical bedroom, but two different tables can work if the heights match and the materials speak to each other. For more room-level planning, see our guide on bedroom colour schemes for better sleep, because bedside tables often look wrong when the colour temperature is wrong, not because the furniture itself is bad.
Best modern bedside tables for UK bedrooms
Modern bedside tables tend to be cleaner, slimmer and less detailed. They suit upholstered beds, simple divans, oak-effect wardrobes and bedrooms where you want the room to feel less busy.
IKEA MALM Chest of 2 Drawers – best budget modern pick
The IKEA MALM 2-drawer chest is about £49 and measures 40x55cm. It is technically a small chest, but IKEA notes that it can be used as a bedside table. That extra drawer space is handy in small bedrooms where there is no separate chest nearby.
What I like:
- Price: £49 is hard to argue with.
- Simple shape: it works with white, grey, oak-effect and black-brown furniture.
- Practical drawers: enough room for books, chargers and spare bedding bits.
What I do not love is the flat-pack sameness. MALM is clean rather than charming. If the rest of the room already feels plain, it will not rescue it. Still, for a guest room, rented flat or first proper bedroom setup, it is the budget benchmark.
Habitat Brooklyn 2 Drawer Bedside Table – best simple white option
The Habitat Brooklyn 2 Drawer Bedside Table at Argos is usually around £84 in white. It is made from MDF rather than solid wood, but the proportions are easy to live with and Argos lists a useful top load of 30kg with 7kg per drawer.
I would buy this over MALM if you want a softer bedroom look and do not mind self-assembly. It suits white wardrobes, pale bedding and neutral rooms. It is not a forever piece, but it is better than the really flimsy £30 flat-pack cabinets that wobble as soon as you pull the drawer.
John Lewis Bow 1 Drawer Bedside Table – best modern statement
The John Lewis Bow 1 Drawer Bedside Table is about £199. It costs more because you are paying for the shape, finish and the fact that it looks designed rather than merely functional.
This is the modern option I would choose for a main bedroom where the bedside table is visible and you do not need two deep drawers. The open lower shelf keeps it lighter, while the drawer hides the small ugly things: earplugs, spare charging plug, old receipts you promised to sort out in February.
The catch is storage. One drawer is not enough if your bedside table currently operates as a filing cabinet. Be honest before spending £199.
John Lewis Scandi 2 Drawer Wood Bedside Table – best warm modern pick
At about £229, the John Lewis Scandi 2 Drawer Wood Bedside Table is not cheap, but it gives a warmer look than white or grey MDF. It pairs well with linen bedding, wool throws and softer wall colours.
This is a good pick if you want modern furniture without making the bedroom feel cold. It also works with the ideas in our guide to creating a cosy bedroom on a budget: bring in texture, avoid clutter, and spend where the room most needs visual warmth.
Best classic bedside tables and painted cabinets
Classic bedside tables work better with painted wardrobes, metal bed frames, divan beds, floral bedding, cottage-style rooms and houses with older features. The risk is that they can become bulky, especially in a small bedroom.
John Lewis Wilton 2 Drawer Bedside Cabinet – best overall
The John Lewis Wilton 2 Drawer Bedside Cabinet at around £119 is my best overall pick because it is boring in the right way. Two drawers, simple painted finish, sensible price, and enough detail to avoid looking like office storage.
It suits modern-classic rooms, guest rooms and main bedrooms where you want a proper pair without paying £500. I would choose this over the cheapest flat-pack options if the bedroom is used every day and you want drawers that feel less disposable.
The main limitation is personality. If your bedroom already has white walls, white wardrobes and pale bedding, the Wilton may need a better lamp, textured shade or warmer hardware nearby.
Dunelm Lynton 3 Drawer Bedside Table – best classic storage
The Dunelm Lynton 3 Drawer Bedside Table is usually £119 in white, and the grey version has recently shown at £95.20 during a 20% offer. It gives you three drawers in a compact footprint, which is useful if the bedroom lacks other storage.
The Lynton is a good fit for classic UK bedrooms because it has enough detail without going ornate. It works beside upholstered headboards, painted divans and oak-effect wardrobes.
I would not use it beside a very low bed. Three drawers can look tall and blocky if the mattress is low. It is also full assembly, so factor in time and patience. Flat-pack drawers are where optimism goes to be tested.
Dunelm Olney Wide 2 Drawer Bedside Table – best chunky classic value
The Dunelm Olney Wide 2 Drawer Bedside Table is about £99 and suits rooms where a narrow table would look lost. It is better beside a king bed than squeezed beside a double.
Choose it if you want width and storage more than delicate styling. Avoid it if your room has less than 45cm either side of the bed. A wide table wedged into a narrow gap never looks premium, no matter how nice the drawer fronts are.
John Lewis Estate or Louis bedside tables – best premium classic look
The John Lewis Estate 2 Drawer Bedside Table and John Lewis Louis Bedside Table sit around £349. That is a proper spend, and I would only go there if the rest of the bedroom furniture is also at that level.
They make sense in a main bedroom with a quality bed, calmer colour scheme and space to let the furniture breathe. They do not make sense in a tight spare room where a guest just needs somewhere to put a glass of water.
If you are building a more restful room, pair classic furniture with the layout advice in our feng shui bedroom layout guide. You do not have to believe every feng shui rule to appreciate balanced height, clear walkways and less clutter beside the bed.
Small bedroom, low bed and awkward-layout picks
Small bedrooms need restraint. The best bedside table UK option for a tight room may not be a cabinet at all.
Best for tiny gaps: Dunelm Hayes or Neo open tables
Dunelm’s Hayes 1 Drawer Bedside Table is around £25, while the Neo Open Bedside Table is around £39. These are not heirloom pieces, but they solve a real problem: you need a lamp, phone and water glass, not a miniature chest of drawers.
Open tables work best in guest rooms or tidy bedrooms. If you need hidden storage, go for one drawer. If the table will be visible from the doorway, choose the better finish rather than the cheapest colour.
Best for low beds: open shelf or one-drawer designs
Low beds look odd beside tall cabinets. Look for something around 45-55cm high, ideally with legs or an open base so the room still feels airy. Habitat Otto is often around £96 for the white one-drawer version through Argos, though some colour offers can be much cheaper.
The Otto style works well with platform beds because the legs stop it looking like a storage block. It is also easier to clean underneath, which matters in bedrooms with hard floors.
Best for no floor space: wall shelf
If there is no floor space, use a wall-mounted shelf. IKEA, B&Q and Amazon UK sell small floating shelves from about £8-£25. Add a plug-in wall light or clip lamp if a table lamp would eat the whole surface.
This is especially useful in box rooms, loft rooms and children’s rooms. Just do not mount a heavy shelf above pillow height unless the fixings are right for the wall. Plasterboard needs proper anchors; old brick needs the right drill bit and plugs.
Best for dressing areas
If the bedside table is doing dressing-table duty, choose a wider two-drawer table or small chest instead of a narrow cabinet. The same piece can hold jewellery, hair ties, hand cream and a mirror tray without the bedroom sprouting another furniture item.
Our guide on how to create a dressing area in your bedroom covers this properly, but the short version is simple: if the bedside table has to do two jobs, give it enough width and drawer space.
Build quality, safety and assembly checks before you buy
Price matters, but build quality is what you notice six months later. A bedside table is opened half-asleep, leaned on, knocked by hoovers and dragged slightly every time someone tries to reach a lost charging cable. Cheap hardware shows up quickly.
Materials and drawers
Solid wood is not automatically better if the design is poor, but it usually repairs and ages better than thin MDF. Veneer and painted MDF can be fine at £80-£150 if the drawers run smoothly and the fixings feel secure.
Check these before buying:
- Drawer runners: metal runners usually feel better than bare wooden grooves on cheaper furniture.
- Back panel: a flimsy back panel often means the whole cabinet can rack sideways.
- Handle fixings: loose handles make new furniture feel tired fast.
- Top surface: check whether it will mark from mugs, lamps or water glasses.
If you are buying online, read the one-star reviews first. Five-star reviews tell you the furniture looked nice on day one. One-star reviews tell you if the drawer holes were misaligned.
Safety and anchoring
Bedside tables are usually lower than chests of drawers, but stability still matters, especially in children’s rooms. Tall, narrow cabinets and anything with multiple drawers should be stable when a drawer is open. If a product includes anti-tip fixings, use them.
The UK government’s furniture fire-safety rules mainly apply to upholstered domestic furniture, so they are more relevant if you choose a fabric-covered bedside bench or upholstered bedroom piece than a plain wooden cabinet. For wooden bedside tables, the bigger everyday risk is wobble, sharp corners, loose handles and poor drawer stops.
In children’s bedrooms, avoid placing tempting toys or heavy lamps high on furniture. If you are using a small chest as a bedside table, anchor it where the manufacturer says to. IKEA’s own MALM product information highlights wall anchoring for chests, and that advice is there for a reason.
Assembly, delivery and returns
Flat-pack is not a problem if you expect it. It becomes a problem when the bedside table arrives at 8pm, has 19 cam locks, and you need it ready before guests arrive.
Budget for:
- Assembly time: 30-90 minutes per cabinet depending on drawer complexity.
- Delivery cost: large furniture delivery can wipe out a headline bargain.
- Returns hassle: assembled flat-pack is awkward to return if the finish disappoints.
- Pair matching: buy both at once if colour consistency matters.
Lighting also changes the decision. A small bedside table can work if you use wall lights. A bigger one is useful if you need a lamp, book, glasses, water and a charger. Our guide to bedroom lighting for sleep quality explains why the lamp choice is not just decorative.
Bottom line: which bedside table should you buy
If I were buying one pair for a normal UK bedroom, I would choose the John Lewis Wilton 2 Drawer Bedside Cabinet at about £119 each. It is the best mix of price, storage and adaptable style.
For a cheaper room, buy the IKEA MALM 2-drawer chest at £49 if you want maximum storage for the money, or the Habitat Brooklyn at about £84 if you want a softer white bedroom look.
For a classic bedroom, choose Dunelm Lynton at £95-£119 depending on colour and offer timing. For a modern main bedroom, the John Lewis Bow at £199 or Scandi 2 Drawer at £229 looks more considered.
For a tiny room, do not force in a bulky cabinet. Pick a narrow one-drawer table, open table or wall shelf and keep the walkway clear. The best bedside table is not the one with the most drawers. It is the one you can reach comfortably without bruising your shin every morning.
Frequently Asked Questions
What height should a bedside table be? Aim for the top of the bedside table to sit level with the top of your mattress, or up to about 5cm lower. Most UK options are around 50-65cm high.
Do bedside tables need to match? No. Matching pairs look calm and symmetrical, but mixed tables can work if the heights, colours and materials relate to each other.
What is the best bedside table for a small bedroom? Choose a narrow one-drawer table, open table or wall shelf. Dunelm Hayes, Dunelm Neo and Habitat Otto-style designs are useful budget options for tight spaces.
How much should I spend on bedside tables in the UK? Budget options start around £25-£50, good everyday cabinets sit around £80-£150, and premium solid or designer-style bedside tables often cost £199-£350 each.
Are IKEA MALM drawers good as bedside tables? Yes, the MALM 2-drawer chest works well as a budget bedside table if the height suits your bed. It gives more storage than many small tables, but the look is plain.
Should I anchor a bedside table to the wall? Low, stable tables may not need anchoring, but taller narrow cabinets and small chests should follow the manufacturer’s safety instructions, especially in children’s rooms.