Viewer’s Choice

Hooker Furniture

If you finally scored a flat-panel TV from Santa or if you just bought one thanks to deep holiday discounts, you’re probably pretty pumped. But getting a new TV these days also means thinking about new entertainment furniture. Today’s 40- and 50-inch screens can be too large for, or simply don’t look good with, some TV cabinets or stands.

Indeed, furniture makers started changing the design of consoles, entertainment centers and wall units years ago to reflect the changing shape of TVs. But about 30 percent of U.S. homes have a flat-panel TV, and that figure is going to only keep growing, according to Consumer Electronics Association. So, furniture manufacturers continue to come up with new options for flat-panel owners. Two innovations are worth particular note: You can adjust the width of consoles and wall units to work with wider TVs; and a new way to mount TVs in some consoles means that you don’t have to put a bracket on a wall.

CRAVING CONSOLES. The biggest trend appears to be how manufacturers are zeroed in on consoles. Why? According to the manufacturers, retailers and independent experts we interviewed, consumers like consoles because unless it’s a unit that’s less than 40 inches wide, most of them accommodate a TV that’s up to 65 inches wide. So, if you have, say, a 45-inch TV, a console purchased to go with that will be a good fit if you decide to upgrade to a larger TV later. That’s practical.

There are no industry sales figures that compare the sales of consoles with those of other categories or even with sales of consoles in previous years. But the industry folks we interviewed insist that consoles are more heavily marketed than they were 5 years ago. For instance, Sligh Furniture featured just two console models in its entertainment-furniture line in 2004, but now it has 32 console models, says Bob Kreter of Sligh.

But the console trend is about more than just offering consumers less guesswork on TV size, says Greg Sleter, senior managing editor at HomeWorld Business magazine. It’s also about the improved look of pieces designed to hold flat-panels, he says. In short, most people no longer need or want to hide TVs as they were apt to do with bulky analog models. Now, they buy consoles that show off their sleek TVs as if they were a framed work of art.

Unfortunately, the apparently healthy consumer demand for consoles hasn’t triggered volume discounts, and it’s uncertain if or when it ever will. The truth is that although the price of flat-panel TVs continues to drop (it’s pretty easy to find a 40-inch model for under $1,000), the cost of all entertainment furniture—not just consoles—hasn’t shifted, even with an economy-related slump in overall furniture sales. Expect to pay at least $230 for even ready-to-assemble consoles that even will hold flat-panel TVs and beyond $2,000 for consoles from high-end furniture makers.

At those prices, it’s understandable why you might consider mounting your new TV on a wall instead. But you can pay as much as $1,100 for materials and installation if you hire someone to mount your TV on a wall bracket. For that amount, you can buy a pretty decent entertainment console. (We’ll have more on flat-panel mounts in our September/October issue.)

What’s new within the past 2 years is how you can buy a special bracket that attaches to the console and allows you to mount the TV to the top of the bracket. It gives you a wall-mounted look without the wall-mounting hassles. Some manufacturers call it a faux mount. We call it interesting, but costly! For now, expect to pay in the range of $400 to $700 for these brackets, which are sold separately from the console units.