What is a Credenza? And what purpose does it serve?
- Phoenician Office Furniture
- Jul 20
- 5 min read
A credenza is basically an office storage cabinet or a smaller office desk. Let me explain.
What other names does the "credenza" go by?
Buffet, credenza desk, credenza cabinet, office storage cabinet, conference room buffet, conference room credenza, coffee cabinet, office cabinet for electronics, electronics cabinet for office, etc.
What purpose does the credenza serve?
Well, as the names imply, it serves numerous purposes and provides countless benefits. Here are a few.
A credenza within a Conference Room
A credenza for a conference room will always have cabinet doors and/or drawers and/or a combination of drawers and doors. It will not be the type of credenza that looks like a desk.
Most often—probably 98% of the time—a conference room credenza will have all cabinet doors.
Very rarely do customers require drawers for their conference room credenza.
The cabinet doors and drawers are usually locking.
Serves as a storage cabinet for papers, books, writing materials—basically anything you want access to during meetings.
Serves as a monitor or TV stand if needed—works great if you don’t want to wall-mount your screens.
Serves as an electronics cabinet as well; it’s easy to cut holes in the back panel for wire access.
Serves as a buffet cabinet for coffee pots and holding delicious pastries (that should always be served with every meeting), including utensils, paper plates and napkins.
It is also a complimentary furniture piece to hold awards, company plaques, framed company mantras. And if you add plants, greenery and décor to it, it brings an element of elegance and comfort to the boardroom.
A credenza within a Private Office or as an accompaniment to a Desk
Now this is interesting, because a credenza to accompany a desk can be a couple different pieces of furniture.
First, a credenza to accompany a desk can look exactly like a standard desk, with the knee space in the center, and drawers on each side. But the difference is this type of credenza, called a credenza-desk, is always “narrower in depth.” Whereas a standard desk is normally 30”, 36”, or 42” in depth, a matching credenza-desk has a standard depth of only 24” deep or less. Additionally, a standard desk will be “finished” on all sides, including the approach side, but a credenza-desk will not be finished on the backside, because it is usually placed against a wall. A user may sit at the credenza-desk exactly as they do a standard desk. Many customers place their credenza-desk behind their standard desk, or to the side, and use the credenza-desk as a computer desk. They’ll have their main, standard desk in front, and customers or staff sit in front of their desks, and then they prefer to turn their chair around and work on their computer at the credenza-desk.
Secondly, a credenza to accompany a desk can also look like an office storage cabinet, but there will be no knee space, and it can be a combination of cabinets and drawers, or all cabinets, or all drawers. It will still be shallower in depth at only 24” or less, but again no knee space for a chair.
Thirdly, a credenza is also a component of a u-shaped desk. Yes! A u-shaped desk consists of three pieces, or three components, and they are:
The main/front desk.
The side desk, which is a called a bridge, or a return, or a return/bridge, and this is the piece that connects the front desk to the back desk (credenza).
The back desk, which is called a credenza.
The credenza component on a u-desk is also very versatile. It can serve as a computer desk with simple drawers and a knee space, or instead of simple drawers you can add large file drawers, which will of course occupy more of the knee space area, or it can be all cabinets for storage, or it can also be a combination of cabinets and drawers.
Other places a credenza adds value and storage
It is especially complimentary in office entrances, hallways, bathrooms, and lunchrooms to display décor, office signage, serve coffee, donuts, snacks, hold magazines, cleaning supplies, toilet paper, air fresheners, paper, books, clipboards, pens, cushions, anything you can think of.
Do credenza come in fixed sizes or can I create a size I need?
Glad you asked. Credenzas usually come in fixed sizes, but the nifty benefit about our credenzas is they are “customizable” to your heart’s content—almost. You can place our credenza cabinets side-by-side and create your size and your own version. For example, our credenza cabinets start at 35.5”W x 22”D x 29.5”H. And we also have the same cabinet in a taller size of 37.5”H.
Customers take those two cabinet sizes and combine them to create their own unit. See image below for example. This customer used two shorter 29.5” cabinets in the center, and placed a taller 37.5” cabinet on each end, which created a 4-piece cabinet that measured: 142”W x 22”D x 29.5 to 37.5”. It turned out to be a beautiful credenza, and not only a stunning accompaniment to their conference table, but provided storage for their electronic equipment, served as a TV stand in the center, and there was space left for coffee and snack service on the end cabinets.
How else can you modify a credenza to make it look more designer?
You can add glass doors! Let’s say you want to create a four-cabinet credenza, but you only want glass doors on the end cabinets…yes, you can do that. Or maybe, you only want glass doors on the center cabinets…yes, you can do that. Or perhaps, you only one cabinet, yes, you can add glass doors. Add them on any cabinet you want.
Do credenzas have locks?
Yes. All our cabinets and all our drawers comes with locks.
And, they can all be keyed the same, upon request.
Remember, sky is the limit in what you can create with our individual credenza cabinets. You may even mix and match different laminate finishes to create a designer credenza—white as the center cabinets and gray as the end cabinets, or even change the color the “tops.” So as you can see, the credenza is a wonderfully versatile piece of office furniture.
If you have questions, or would like assistance with ideas and designing a credenza for your conference room, to accompany your desk, or for your hallway, lunchroom, break room, bathroom, office entrance, or for any where, reach out anytime because we will be pleased to help you bring to life the credenza you envision. We look forward to hearing from you.
Take a quick look at our cabinets page, and don't let the simple, plain photos fool you. You can see by the above example from our customer's office, the cabinets look much better in person, than the catalog images impart. And remember, you may combine any cabinetry, side-by-side, creating anything your little hear desires—almost.
