There’s been a death. The humble old extension table has died a natural death but don’t be sad because it was quick and painless. Let’s do a professional autopsy to discover the causes of death before we talk funeral arrangements. Upon first glance it would appear the extension table was killed by one to three distinct causes. First off the obvious sign is the advent of open plan living where large fixed top tables have taken over and the formal dining room has all but disappeared. Large dining areas call for large dining tables, the bigger the better, specially around festive season. The other apparent cause of death is the styles. The need to conceal moving components and accomodate extension mechanisms will dictate the design. Usually a chunky profile is needed to hide the parts in a decent size extension piece. Drop in, butterfly, slide top or retro fit, there’s multiple ways to design an extension table but they all have the same chunky profile which is less desired than say 15 to 20 years ago where thicker was better. The third nail in the coffin of the extension table is cost. The additional costs involved with crafting an extension table over a fixed top can be double. All for a table you might extend once or twice a year which equates to poor value, specially as most extensions only add 2 more diners to the table. So it seems between swings in modern house and furniture design to the large cost blow outs contributing to the poor value adding, the death of the extension table was inevitable. We’ve jumped on the value aspect and designed an extension piece that spends its days as a coffee table but the top can lift to act as a table extension when needed. Rather than ploughing your money into a rarely used mechanism, you can put it into a functional piece of everyday furniture that has 2 uses. That’s what we call value! Pop in and see how it works! -Matt