Talk:Credenza

Why is credenza listed as a "placeholding word?". I have literally never encountered that nor is it documented anywhere that I can find. I propose to eliminate that portion of the entry...it is juvenile and unreferenced. Lesotho 12:43, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

Literate Furniture Makers

Are there no furniture makers or historians who have written a book? Pleeease? The photo is there! Geologist (talk) 21:54, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Modern Credenza pic

I can't make much out of the pic of the modern credenza (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Modern_Credenza.JPG). It almost looks like a lab bench for chemists, and it's hard to tell how high it is (waist height, I'm thinking, but there's not much to give scale). I don't have any suggestions for better pictures (I came here trying to figure out what my girlfriend meant by the word), but if someone comes across a better one, it would be nice. Mcswell (talk) 22:59, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

In the bedroom?

The article describes a credenza as a piece of kitchen or dining room furniture. My memory of the term is from Under a Killing Moon, in which it is seen in one or two characters' bedrooms. The line is something like "I don't think I should open this credenza ... it's probably full of Sal's underwear". I suppose they're not at all common in bedrooms here in England, but is this a normal use in some places? If so, it probably ought to be covered in the article. — Smjg (talk) 00:31, 16 October 2013 (UTC)

Credenzas today; derivation of the word

Far and away, when one refers to a "credenza" today, it's a piece of office furniture. When you go into someone's private office at a law firm or elsewhere, you'll see a large desk in a certain style. Behind the desk, against the wall is a matching rectilinear piece of furniture with a flat top of the same height as the desk, cupboards and drawers (and sometimes file drawers) that provides additional counter space and storage. That piece of furniture is called a credenza. A similar piece of furniture in a dining room, often taller than the dining table but frequently matching in style to the dining table is no longer called a credenza but a "sideboard" or a "buffet". Sideboards are typically taller than dining tables and may or may not have storage above the flat top of the unit. If it's the same height as the dining table, the term "buffet" is used -- it provides storage below for cutlery, tablecloths, napkins, place mats, and dishes, including serving pieces.

As to the original of the word, it referred to the credence table used in the mass which one still finds in various Catholic churches, whether Roman Catholic, Anglican, Old Catholic, etc., and even Luterhan churches have them. The unconsecrated wine is placed on the credence table in a cruet (or even with an additional flagon of wine in churches that dispense both consecrarted bread and wine to the faithful). Also placed on the credence table is a hand basin and a linen towel for the lavabo (the washing of the priest's hands before celebrating communion). It's called a credence table because it is used immediately after recitation of the Nicene Creed (a.k.a. the "Credo") as the Eucharistic service proceeds with the washing of the hands with water from the cruet, the offertory, which involves pouring the wine from the other cruet into the chalice and adding a small amount of water from what remains in the water cruet, and if there's a flagon for extra wine, moving the flagon from the credence table to the altar.

In Italian, "credence" is "credenza", related to the word "credo" meaning creed. So it came to mean a side table as opposed to the main table, and the ecclesiastical credenza lent its name to the domestic credenza found in a dining room and, more recently, to those in an office with a desk.

I don't buy the explanation that credenzas were used by food tasters before serving the food on the dining table to make sure the food wasn't poisoned, and therefore, the table was used to give "credence" to the food. Me, I'll go with the credence table explanation, meaning a table over to the side of the main altar or table, against the wall. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Toddabearsf (talk • contribs) 20:37, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

@Toddabearsf: I totally agree with your assessment. I have personally never heard the word credenza used outside of an office setting. If you're still active on Wikipedia, you have my support to totally overhaul this article. I'd do it but your knowledge clearly exceeds mine. Unschool 05:50, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Ambiguous opening statement

A credenza is what Americans call a dining room sideboard cupboard. Does this mean a credenza is a thing Americans know as a dining room sideboard cupboard, or that credenza is the name Americans give to a dining room sideboard cupboard? Koro Neil (talk) 07:00, 14 November 2019 (UTC)