Our shopping editor picks the best glass-top coffee tables

(Image credit: Molteni & Co)

published 2 April 2023

I recently visited a Molteni & Co showroom and discovered this geometric, glass-top coffee table with a marble base - designer Ron Gilad’s 45°/Tavolino coffee table. The piece is a testament to Ron's interest in basic geometric shapes and glass, and I love it for its sleek, monochrome finish, and 'open-box' style, making it a space to show off your favorite pieces and encouraging your coffee table to become a place for curation and display.

With a sleek monochrome finish, available in walnut or black oak, it is easily integrated into all styles of home. I've started spotting the interior design trend recreated with other 'open-box', glass top designs. Here are 12 I've found from the best home decor stores that replicate the look for less.

12 glass-top coffee tables to buy now

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$109.93

Rectangular brass table

Curved edges soften everything, and coffee table trends tend to favor rounded forms right now. With a mirror shelf, the piece can really take center stage, and the brass legs and frame add a touch of glamor.

$75

Swanton glass top coffee table

This Swanton glass top coffee table is a simple designed outdoor piece that can work inside just as well. It's boxy, but I like how simple its form is and would find it easy to style with books and candles. It's also just the right coffee table size to store magazines underneath, if you wish.

$263

Ramona glass coffee table

More curved edges - my eye glides over this and I'm already planing what I could keep - neatly - on the shelf. Being completely transparent it doesn't intrude, so I think it would work well in a minimalist living room.

$279.99

Rigan coffee table

As you can tell, I am into the two-tier glass coffee table. It's so useful for extra storage. With a frame available in blackened bronze and brass, this simple structure has a mesh shelf for my stack of interior design books that are neatly hidden away yet on display.

$369

Nesting tables

This coffee table straddles the glass top trend with the nesting style and the results are super cute. The small table sits under the larger one, creating a handy shelf.

$250

Dixon coffee table

I like the Art Deco-style glimmer of gold holding up the glass top of this coffee table. This has a bit of a traditional feel to the frame so I'd pair with modern boucle armchairs and a jute rug to help calm it down.

$94

Holaki glass coffee table

A budget-friendly oval table with a fashionable feel - though I'd happily lose that figurine. A three-tiered design, this invites you to display a series of architectural objets - from vases or candlesticks to indoor plants. The ideal base for playing arounf with coffee table decor.

$708

Elke rectangular glass coffee table

With a brass base, this glass-top coffee table is inspired by mid-century modern design. I like the sleek, wishbone-shaped antique-style frame that holds top - I can picture this next to rounder forms like a curved accent chair.

$959.20

La Jolie coffee table

This oval-shaped coffee table has a distinct Art Deco look to it, almost like a bar cart. With antique brass finishing and a lower shelf to display your favorite decorative pieces, it makes a lovely stand-out piece for your home.

$252

Arvi coffee table

This frame is so slim and I'm impressed at how ubotrusive this is. I like monochrome designs generally, and this one creates a feeling of airiness around the slender legs. The Arvi 44-inch coffee table in clear glass has a black base made from powder-coated steel. It's available in black or gold.

$229

Reese coffee table

I'm delighted to see the modern organic style trend for contemporary, fluid shapes has reached glass coffee tables, too. A contemporary glass-topped coffee table in an oversized circular silhouette complete with a versatile fixed lower shelf.

$349

Round vitri table

Remember when Mad Men was big and all we wanted to do was drink cocktails sat in Eames loungers? The aesthetic left a lasting impression on me, and this new take on the look is crying out for one of Don Draper's whisky sours to be left atop it. Especially smart with it's smoky glass.

Why are glass coffee tables a timeless piece?

Glass coffee tables are a style that has long been at the forefront of living room design. Where some coffee table trends are about creating a plinth look with a monoblock coffee table, where a great block of hard material - typically made of concrete, marble, or stone brings a structural feel to a room, glass instead brings a dainty and delicate feel, and has a transparent quality that creates an open and airy feel.

Because of its transparency, you can see through the glass and peer at what is on display - reinforcing the idea that a coffee table is a tool for showcasing your favorite decorative pieces. Glass is also a timeless material that can merge seamlessly into any style of home you have, from more Art Deco design to a more contemporary look.

It's a style that is still going strong and Glas Italia will be showcasing the glass look at the upcoming Salone del Mobile in Milan. 'For us, glass tables have always been trendy,' says Annina Preda of Glas Italia. 'This year at the Salone del Mobile in Milan, we will be presenting the DOBLE coffee table (above).

'Designed by Patricia Urquiola, they are made of innovative laminated and glued glass, giving life to extraordinary optical illusions and wonderful surreal effects.' It's the iridescent nature of the glass that make this style of coffee tables extra special. 'The objects observed through this material, in fact, seem to change their material consistency, vary their position, size, and quantity,' says Annina.

Oonagh is a content editor at Livingetc.com and an expert at spotting the interior trends that are making waves in the design world. Writing a mix of everything and everything from home tours to news, long-form features to design idea pieces on the website, as well as frequently featured in the monthly print magazine, she's the go-to for design advice in the home. Previously, she worked on a London property title, producing long-read interiors features, style pages and conducting interviews with a range of famous faces from the UK interiors scene, from Kit Kemp to Robert Kime. In doing so, she has developed a keen interest in London's historical architecture and the city's distinct tastemakers paving the way in the world of interiors.