Most of us have more things to charge at night than there are sockets near the bed. The usual fix is an extension lead snaking across the floor. Furniture with a charging station built in is tidier: the sockets and USB ports sit in the table, and a single cable goes to the wall.
What a charging station actually is
It's a small power strip set into the furniture, usually in the top or in the side of the top panel. The setups you'll see on our tables:
- two sockets and two USB ports, the most common layout
- one socket with a USB and a USB-C port, on some of the slimmer console tables
- three sockets and two USB ports on some larger bedside tables
The table then plugs into a wall socket through its own cord. It isn't wireless unless the listing says so, although a few tables do have a wireless charging pad in the top.
Check the cord length first
This is the detail people forget. Cords are usually 1.5m to 2m long. Measure from where the table will sit to your nearest wall socket, allowing for going around a bed leg or along the skirting, before you order. If you need an extension lead to reach the wall, you lose half the point.
Bedside tables
Width is the main thing in a bedroom. Most of our bedside tables with a charging station are 30cm to 40cm wide, which fits beside a double bed in most rooms. For a standard bedside table, a top close to the height of your mattress means you're not reaching up or down for your phone. Taller units with drawers, up to about a metre high, double as a small chest of drawers.
The bedside table with 2 sockets and 2 USB ports has a 2m cord and a braced X-frame, and you can buy one or a set of two. For a matching pair, the set of two bedside tables with drawers each have two sockets, two USB ports, a 1.5m cord and two fabric drawers.
If you read or work in bed, the solid wood bedside table with charging station has a top that swivels towards the bed, adjustable height and wheels.
Many bedside tables in the range also have LED strip lighting you control with a remote or an app. It makes a decent night light.
Console tables for halls and behind the sofa
A narrow console with sockets is handy in two places. In the hall, it's somewhere to drop keys and charge phones as you come in. Behind a sofa, it puts sockets within reach without a lead across the floor.
Depth is the number to watch. Our console tables with a charging station are 15cm to 18cm deep, slim enough for a narrow hall. For behind a sofa, pick a length a little shorter than the sofa. Most are about 80cm high, close to the back height of a typical sofa.
The slim console table with charging station is 15cm deep and comes in 160cm, 180cm and 200cm lengths, with a socket, a USB port and a USB-C port on a 1.5m cord. The white hallway console table has two sockets and two USB ports in a hidden compartment, a cable hole at the back, and an anti-tip kit for fixing it to the wall.
Safety basics
Treat the built-in strip like any extension lead. Don't run heaters or kettles from it, don't plug another extension lead into it, and keep drinks away from the sockets. Tall, narrow tables should be fixed to the wall, especially in a house with small children.
All of these arrive flat packed with instructions. Delivery is free to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and most orders arrive in 3 to 7 days.