Chest of Drawers, Dresser or Bureau?
Yesterday while I was waiting for the HH to get back from an errand, I popped online to see if I could find a dresser.
Specifically, one that would fit in one of our closets as we are flush on closet space in our bedroom but low on good spots to actually place a dresser.
We both wear jeans and tee shirts 99% of the time, so organizational wise a dresser would be more appropriate than a closet full of hangers with tee shirts hanging off of them.
Plus, because of the side of our closet, we could also fit a lot more clothing in the right size dresser than we could on hangers.
YADA YADA YADA…
While I was looking around for a dresser online I noticed something.
People around here don’t call a dresser a dresser… it’s either a “chest of drawers” or a “bureau”. Which I thought was kind of funny at first. But then I was like, it’s probably a regional thing. Like people calling soda, pop, or a Coke {even when it’s really not a Coke a Cola}.
Which made me wonder… What DO YOU call it? A chest of drawers, a dresser, or a bureau? And what part of the country are you from? Are the New Yorkers putting socks in a chest of drawers? Are the Texans using a bureau?
Curious minds want to know. 🙂
Have a great day everyone, it looks like we’re going to get rain today {Yee-Haw!}.
~ Mavis
Connie says
Low and wide with drawers = dresser
Tall with drawers is a chest of drawers
Not sure about bureau. Old fashioned term not used in my area.
Barbara says
I’m from Wisconsin and I agree with your definitions.
Kim says
I am from TX and I agree with Connie
Jody says
I am from Montana and agree with Connie 100%. I have never used the word bureau for a piece of furniture.
Tracie H says
I agree with Connie too. I’m from Virginia.
Deborah says
I agree with Connie. I’m fro the Eastern part of Texas.
Dan Baxtrom says
A dresser is mostly found in a bedroom or dressing room, often
with associated mirror. Chest of drawers is often but not always the same as a bureau. Both are as Connie described. In a bureau you expect to find maybe a flip top or writing desk and is found in a study or library. Here in North America, dressers & chest of drawers are frequently sold together as a bedroom set. Hope that helps. Cheers from Alberta Canada
Beth B says
I’m from the Midwest (South Central IL near St. Louis, MO). We call the tall on that you have pictured a chest of drawers. We call the lower one that usually has a mirror with it a dresser. I think my grandmother called her lower one with drawers a bureau though.
Sandy says
I grew up in the Chicago area. Exact same for us!
Sara says
I’m from Kansas City, Mo……chest of drawers and dresser was what we called them.
Debbie says
I’m from West Virginia. We call the tall piece a chest of drawers and the lower piece with drawers and a mirror a dresser. I have heard great grandparents call one a bureau but I believe that term is archaic.
Kelli says
Chester Drawers, of course. LOL! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve actually seen it listed this way. Michigan.
Monica says
Ha! I was thinking the same thing when I read this. Cincinnati, Ohio here
Tammy says
I call them all “dresser”. My mom grew up in the Midwest and she always called them dressers, but I remember her dad calling them “bureau”. He also called a purse a “pocket book”, the couch was the “davenport”. That last one was always the most funny to me. “Don’t jump on the davenport!” 😀
Debbie says
I grew up in Illinois. I only heard “dresser” for every shape and size.. I had a grandmother that called her sofa/couch a davenport. She was the only person I knew who used that word. I thought it was funny too! I think when I was young i called davenports “couches.” Why do i call them “sofa’s” now? So weird. Lol!
Viola says
My mom had a couch that could turn Into a bed they called it a Davenport we call them sleep sofas. They all them couches we call them sofas. The tall one is chest of drawers and the shorter longer one with mirror was a dresser. The cabinet with two doors was a bureau
Patty P says
Same! Always a dresser in our house….differentiated by “tall” dresser or “short” dresser. My grandma called one or the other a bureau, can’t remember which one (I seem to remember her calling something a chest of drawers–well, she said “chest of draws” because a drawer was pronounced draw). Same with her calling the purse a pocket book and couch a davenport. Scissors were always shears. Upstate NY.
Katelyn says
My mom, who is in her 70s and grew up in Vermont, calls them bureaus. I’m also a native Vermonter but I call them dressers.
I suspect that bureau may be more common in the northeast thanks to French Canadian influence but that’s just a guess based on some of our other language quirks from our northern Francophone friends.
Karen says
I tend to say bureau and dresser interchangeably. I remember growing up (Northwest Ohio) people said bureau, I think. I always loved reading books set in the South when they said words like “chifferobe”. What a fancy name for a bureau!
Mavis Butterfield says
I had to look up a chifferobe. Fancy indeed! 🙂
Christine says
Karen, I was going to say this! I’m from south Louisiana and my great grandmother called her tall cedar chest a chifferobe. My Mother still has it. It’s made of cedar. We call a tall set of drawers a chest of drawers and the lower one with a mirror a dresser.
Robin says
A chifferobe is a piece with a door on one side for hanging clothes, and drawers on the other. I’m a southerner, and the tall piece with drawers is a chest of drawers. Dresser and bureau are used interchangeably for a lower, wide piece, usually with a mirror. I do agree that bureau is more common among older people.
Tracie H says
Robin, my grandmother’s chifferrobe had a mirror on the outside. I loved that thing when I was little!
Deborah says
I have a chifforobe. My mother bought it for me as a house warming gift when we moved into our new home. Right now, it’s in our master bath used as a linen closet. I love it.
Stacie says
I call them dressers. I’m from Texas. I have heard them called chest of drawers here too.
Toni says
Born and raised in the south and we call the tall one a chest of drawers or Chester drawer. LOL The low one with drawers is a dresser. A chifforobe was a wardrobe, tall with doors used in place of a closet.
Emilie says
i say bureau and was surprised to see most people don’t! im from Massachusetts.
Barbara says
I’m from CA and my mom was from Massachusetts and I was raised calling it a bureau. When I say that now my daughter always says-mom it’s a dresser. I think I say a lot of words different because of my upbringing. It was pointed out to me a few years ago that I say Fridee instead of Friday-where’s that from???
Theresa says
I am from Missouri and we call them dressers.
Rosemary Calhoun says
I am originally from New Jersey and I remember calling it a bureau. I have been living in Florida for quite some time and I find myself calling them dressers. Guess I picked up the lingo from what I heard others call them.
Tracey O says
I’m from Florida and I remember calling everything a dresser. Tall dressers with doors were an armoire.
Michelle M. says
My family is from CT and PA and I grew up saying “bureau” for the chest of drawers I kept my clothes in. At 6, we moved to Seattle, WA where everyone says “dresser” for all types of chests of drawers. I call the tall chest of drawers I inherited from my g-grandma a high boy – it’s almost 5′-0″ tall, and granny kept linens in it.
Christy says
Dresser for all but on occasion “chest of drawers” only for tall antique, fine quality items. My grandmother used bureau but I don’t hear that any more.
Delaware/Pennsylvania
Lana says
We call them dressers but here is SC it is not uncommon to here them called Chester Draws which makes us snicker. My best friend growing up was from Maine and they called a bureau.
Wendy C. says
Originally from California and we call it a dresser. However my husband calls it “Chester Drawers” and he’s from Arkansas. To me a bureau is more of a buffet table type piece of furniture and it’s filled with random stuff. Like a giant junk drawer. LOL
Tracey O says
My in-laws in SC use their secretary for their giant junk drawer lol
Jess McCarthy says
I grew up in Maine. We always said bureau.
Katie C says
California girl, here—they’re all dressers to me, except what others are calling a “chifferobe” in the comments above we call an “armoire” (6-7’ piece that generally has doors on top that open to make a sort of closet with a hanging rod and a few drawers on the bottom).
Also, the low ones with mirrors are sometimes called “dressing tables,” but I don’t hear that very often anymore.
Fun to read the comments and good luck in your search for a dresser, Mavis!
Margo says
My grandmother was a prim and proper old world New Yorker, and she I think she referred to that as a bureau.
Erin says
My dad’s family from upstate NY calls it a “chest of drahhs” and my mom’s family from Illinois calls it bureau. I was raised in DC and they were always dressers or chest of drawers. The tall ones with a hanging rod & drawers on the bottom is an armoire, on all sides of the family, though.
Patty P says
Yes! I commented above…my grandma said “chest of draws” but I like your spelling!
suzanne says
Tall boys and dressers or drawers. Armoire for the wardrobe /chifforobe. Originally from Ca but living in Wa for the last 25 years. Grams was east coast and the couch was a davenport. My MIL called slippers house shoes.
HollyG says
I’m from Oregon. My family always called them “dresser” or, less commonly “chest of drawers”. The tall ones, specifically were “high-boy” dressers. I just did a local search on FB market place – – not a single result for “bureau”.
Heather says
Grew up in a suburb right outside of Boston. My family always calls it a bureau.
Miles says
Thank you! My mom’s from Boston, and I grew up with bureau (for what everyone else is calling chest of drawers, which incidentally, wa? So strange).
After reading all the other comments I was staying to think that I was losing my mind.
Amber says
Northwest IN here (about an hour east of Chicago), and I call it a dresser. If it’s a tall one, I call it a tall dresser sometimes. Bureau sounds fancier, and chest of drawers sounds…odd to me.
debbie in alaska says
born and raised in new england — I call it a dresser (low end) or a bureau (high end) depending on how nice it is
Teresa says
Kansas woman here. The tall ones I call “chest” and the low wide ones – with or without a mirror — a dresser.
My mom, from southern Colorado, called them “drawers”.
We never used the word “bureau”.
Dee from Tennessee says
Exact same here in NE TN
Dee from NW Tennessee says
Oops! We call tall ones chest of drawers . Low, wide ones are called a dresser .
I read too quickly lol .
My husband refinished a “ dresser “ in the 70’s. Our family is getting a new baby boy in December , and that dresser has now been used by 4 new mommies for their new babies. (I hope that’s correct!)
We paid 5 dollars for it at an auction … countless layers of paint . Came from the household of a prominent family who owned the local country store. They had a beautiful Victorian home . We refer to is as “ Miss Phoebe’s dresser .” Husband says it is missing a mirror , but it’s still going strong. Sweet little dresser !. My niece texted last week , and she was wanting the “ history of Miss Phoebe’s dresser” bc they were delivering it to Knoxville for her new grandson . ❤️
Sandi H says
I’m from Michigan. We also called the tall ones “chest of drawers” and the low ones with a mirror a “dresser”. “Bureau” wasn’t used around here either.
Patti says
Here is South Carolina they are often referred to as Chester Drawers. Evidently over the years, the chest of drawers name got shortened. They are very hard to find right now!
Nancy says
Ohio here. I call both the tall and short ones dressers unless I need to be more specific then the tall one is the chest of drawers.
Barbara says
Dresser or bureau is low. Lots of time with a mirror. Chest of drawers or high chest is tall. And maybe could have a mirror. In Pennsylvania .
Myra says
dresser or chest of drawers , but to the point I have a large walk in closet and have had shelves built to accommodate plastic bins that hold t shirts, sweaters and underwear. it is very efficient. You can also use them for shoes and linens. I can go on , Cat crates, extra pillows you get the idea.
Barbara says
Also style can be identified by drawers. 2 or 3 over 2 is generally low. 2 over 3. 2 over 4. Etc is tall. The first # is smaller top drawers. Really tall ones can even be 2/3 over 5/6/7. And then there are ones that are all same size drawers. Which are commonly called a chest.
Heidi N says
Raised in Michigan. We call them dressers, especially if they have a mirror. My mom’s side of the family (all born & raised in MI) call the tall ones “high boys”. Had to laugh about the davenport comments. My maternal grandmother called a couch that too!
Heidi N says
Forgot to say that my grandmother also called lunch “dinner”, and dinner was “supper”.
Shari says
My East Coast friends call the things you pull out draws.
Lynda says
Drawers! I’m from the East coast.. that’s just mispronounced or spelled wrong!
Patty P says
That’s how my grandma pronounced it…”draws.” Upstate NY.
Sue D says
Grew up in NYC, and it was always a chest of drawers or bureau. But then a lower set of drawers with a mirror was also called a bureau and the matching tall set was called a dresser.
Mimi says
I’m in Oregon and no matter the size shape I call it a dresser.
But is it a couch or a sofa? I never know.
Cathy says
Born, raised and still live in Western NC and I would call that a chest of drawers, or more like a chesta drawers :).
LindaT says
I’m from Maine and bureau was the word, along with dinner for lunch and supper for dinner. And my best friend, who still lives there (wish I did) call that thing women carry to keep ID., tissues and everything but the kitchen sink in, calls it her pocketbook. I’m in SE Ohio and have adapted. But I’m a Maine-iac through and through.
Kippy says
Pacific Northwest. Chest of drawers is the tall version, dresser with or without mirror was low and wider.
Now…is it sideboard, buffet or credenza in your neck of the woods?
Jill Hamilton says
I live near High Point, NC the “Furniture Capital of the World.” We usually say dresser, but also armoire is very common too.
My husband was in the furniture business for years before he got the dreaded “Furniture Disease”……his chest fell into his drawers! (Not really, lol)
Michelle S. says
I’m from California and l’ve only heard “dresser” used.
Debi says
We called them dressers. I’m in Michigan and am 67. My mom is still alive at 90 and calls them dressers.
Mary says
I live in Oregon and grew up in Minnesota. I think I grew up with chest of drawers, but say dresser for the most part. Not sure which I learned where but think that both were used in Minnesota.
My friend who grew up in Massachusetts calls her purse a pocketbook. My mom in Minnesota uses pocketbook and purse. I say purse and no one in Oregon says pocketbook (except my MA friend).
My mom said davenport for the couch or sofa growing up, but I also heard couch a lot. I say couch mostly (or sofa), never davenport.
Judy says
I’m from Massachusetts and always called them a bureau. I now live in South Carolina where I’ve heard them referred to as dressers.
Sharon Steere Omaha, Nebraska says
In Nebraska and I call your image a Chest and low and long a dresser. It sometimes has a mirror on it. I also inherited my grandma’s wishbone dresser, which resembles a chest with a mirror inside a wishbone shaped frame work. My grandma sold antiques.
Peggy says
NC here and we call them chest of drawers if they are tall. A dresser is lower and longer usually with a mirror on top.
Shirley Funk says
Dresser or tall one a chest of drawers and I’m from Virginia
Melinda says
I’m from Virginia, I say dresser. My grandma, who was from upstate NY, called it a bureau.
Cindy Brick says
It was ‘dresser,’ growing up in MIchigan (near Grand Rapids).
I hadn’t thought about it until now…but I think I hear ‘chest of drawers’ more often here in Colorado.
I was waiting for you to say someone died on it!
Anne says
From northeast PA: bureau was mostly used when I was growing up now it is more dresser. But I hear both still. Chest of drawers not so much.
Ann Meyer says
I call them both a bureau. Grew up in Maine. Definitely regional. I live in New York and no one calls them bureaus here. I love that you post things like this. Makes me homesick!
Mainah says
I’ve lived in central Maine my whole life and it has always been bureau and pocketbook around here. Ayah.
Teri says
PAC NW – Dresser 🙂
Linda Practical Parsimony says
Alabama
Aren’t those pictures of one piece of furniture? Dresser has to have a mirror. Chest of drawers is about 5′ tall and all drawers. A bureau is the same thing as a chest of drawers, but I have never heard it called that. I just know it. When I was young, I thought it was chesterdrars. When I was five, I finally realized what people were saying.
Mandy says
I’m in Mississippi, and I just call them dressers. I can remember my mom occasionally calling it a chest of drawers when I was growing up. I also hear people here pronounce it “chester drawers”. Lol!
Vicki in Birmingham says
The picture you posted, I call a chest of drawers. A dresser (at least in the South) is lower and wider but still has drawers. Normally they have a mirror the length of the dresser on top but that is not required.
Shirley says
I’ve lived in Maine all my life and have only heard of a bureau to house my t shirts and whatnots.
And the drawer is what you pull out of that bureau when you’re looking for an article of clothing. Very fun!
Tracy T. says
Dresser – Texas
Lanie says
I’m from Alabama, and this is what we call it, too!
Deborah says
When I was little, I called the chest of drawers, Chesters Drawers. My mother thought it was funny. I thought that was its name.
Anna says
I call it dresser from NYC
Sarah G says
I call it a chest of drawers and I live in Seattle but I grew up in Australia.
Dawn says
Born and raised in MA and always called them a bureau growing up but now I would call the tall one a chest of drawers and the long, low one a dresser. I never hear the word bureau any more. Sort of like tonic. I think my brother might be the only person I knw who still calls soda tonic.
Gayle Tompkins says
We used dressers in the kitchen. Anyone else remember this? Held dishes and linens. Food on top. Chest of drawers belonged in the bedroom. I think bureau is a French thing