There are several reasons why people choose to buy glass table tops for their tables or cabinets. It may be that the original glass table top has cracked or been smashed. It may be that you prefer a different style of glass. Custom glass table tops can be made to measure and cut from a wide variety of different coloured glass. Some of the more popular styles are round glass table tops, which you will often see on dining room tables.
Glass table tops also create the illusion of more space within a room. The light is able to pass through the glass and illuminate the entire room as opposed to a wooden dining room table creating dark shadows and giving the impression of their being less space. Another reason these table tops are so popular is that the glass can make everything on the table appear to be ‘floating’ in the air.
Glass dining tables with glass table tops are popular amongst those who like their rooms to have a minimalist style. Most modern and contemporary furniture shops will have a wide selection of glass topped tables and cabinets. Coffee tables with glass tops are also very popular and come in huge variety of shapes and sizes. You can get multi layered tables that swivel on pivots and even just a regular rectangular or oval table. A lot of the time, glass topped furniture is combined with stainless steel or even high glass lacquered wood which has become very popular in recent years thanks to its contemporary throw back to the 1970’s.
In general, glass topped furniture is mainly used in rooms or apartments of small dimensions; in fact, such material is known to give the feeling of there being more space than there actually is. Mirrored furniture also has the same effect.
For health and safety reasons, manufacturers will only use tempered glass table tops. Tempered glass is, in fact, safety glass. The glass becomes tempered by putting it in to an oven and heating the glass to over 600 degrees Celsius. Once it comes out of the oven, it is quenched which is essentially blasting compressed air over the surface. This has the effect of cooling the surface faster than the centre, causing the centre to pull away from the outer surface which puts the centre under tension, and the surface under compression. This is what gives tempered glass table tops their strength. Regular glass under pressure at around 6000 PSI, tempered glass under pressure breaks at around 24000 PSI. When tempered glass breaks, it breaks into small square pieces rather than sharp jagged shards which shouldn’t injure anyone.
