Choosing to support brands who put the work into making sustainable coffee tables from better, lower impact materials like sustainably sourced solid wood isn’t just a planet focused decision that supports better business—it also offers tangible benefits for your health if you opt for brands that use only safe, non-toxic inputs.
3 good reasons to choose responsibly made, eco-friendly coffee tables:
- Conventional furniture contributes to deforestation: Mass-market furniture is a major driver of global deforestation, especially through the use of non-certified tropical hardwoods, which destroy critical ecosystems and biodiversity. Unsustainable and illegal logging practices have devastating environmental impacts. Using FSC-certified solid wood or reclaimed wood—helps reduce demand for destructive logging and supports forest preservation.
- Traditional furniture can off-gas harmful chemicals: Many conventional coffee tables are finished with synthetic glues, varnishes, PFOAs, formaldehyde, and other flame retardants that emit VOCs, contributing to indoor air pollution and potential health risks. Coffee tables made with natural materials and low-VOC finishes create a safer, healthier home environment.
- Fast furniture is filling up landfills: Cheap, low-quality furniture often ends up in landfill within a few years, contributing to over 12 million tons of furniture waste each year in the U.S. alone. Choosing high quality, well-made, heirloom style furniture that is build to last reduces waste and better supports furniture businesses who are focused on durability and sustainability.
This list of more responsibly made coffee tables aims to address the above concerns by looking for brands who use sustainably sourced materials, more equitable production practices and non-toxic inputs.
Our Brand Rating System takes our assessment further (for brands who have opted in to be rated) by looking at a variety of factors, including things like climate action, product performance, and customer safety. Look out for the rated brands on the list below and find other rated brands here.
For more furniture ideas, see our guide to sustainable furniture brands.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
The Best Sustainable Coffee Table Ideas To Kick Your Feet Up
MasayaCo handcrafts a range of accent tables including large coffee tables and side tables, predominantly made from solid FSC Certified teak wood which they source from their own reforested areas. They use a low-VOC, GREENGUARD Gold-certified, water-based acrylic on their indoor furniture and ensure fair working conditions throughout their supply chain. MasayaCo has been comprehensively rated by us on their sustainability credentials – find the full rating here.
What WE Make specializes in handmade American furniture and offer a range of rustic natural solid wood coffee tables, made with either repurposed wood or sustainable hardwood. Their finish is made with flaxseed oil that’s non-toxic and VOC-free.
Medley’s coffee tables are made from solid FSC-certified wood, protected by a beeswax, carnauba wax, and olive oil wood finish. Made in the USA, they have a wide range of styles to suit a modern home.
Index: Wooden Coffee Table Ideas
- MasayaCo Jump to brand
- What WE Make Jump to brand
- Burrow Jump to brand
- Medley Jump to brand
- Etsy (Reclaimed & Vintage) Jump to brand
MasayaCo
Ethical Sourcing
Raw materials have been sourced ethically with people and planet in mind.
Handcrafted
Products have been made by hand, typically by an artisan or group of artisans.
Locally Made
Products are made local to the brand's headquarters.
Made To Order
Products can be made to order, thus limiting unnecessary production
Non-toxic
All products are made with ingredients or materials that are currently considered non-toxic
Sustainable Materials
Either all or most products are made with sustainable materials
Traceable Supply Chain
Brand is able to fully trace their entire supply chain from end to end.
Woman Owned
This brand is owned by a woman or a group of women.
FSC®-certified
MasayaCo handcrafts striking, heirloom-quality accent tables including side tables, solid wood coffee tables (both large and regular size), nesting tables, and end tables. We love the elegant design and curves of their Batea range.
These pieces are made primarily from solid teak wood harvested through MasayaCo’s own regenerative reforestation program in Nicaragua, as well as other locally sourced FSC®-certified teak. Their vertically integrated “Seed to Seat” model ensures supply chain transparency and allows MasayaCo to reforest land previously degraded by cattle grazing—planting over a million trees to date.
All coffee tables are crafted in-house in Nicaragua, using Sher-Wood® EA Hydroplus™—a GREENGUARD Gold-certified, low-VOC, water-based acrylic—to ensure a safe, non-toxic finish.
Most accent tables are made to order to reduce waste, with select models available in stock. MasayaCo further reduces its environmental footprint by operating solar-powered wood kilns and limiting its shipping region to the U.S. and Central America.
MasayaCo holds the FSC Chain of Custody certification and meets their core ethical labor requirements. Employees receive fair wages and ongoing training.
MasayaCo has been rated by Sustainable Jungle. Find the full rating here.
What WE Make
What WE Make has not been rated.
Price Range: $835–$3,425
What WE Make is a Chicago-born Etsy shop that specializes in handmade American furniture.
You’ll also find their signature “natural-industrial” aesthetic in their rustic natural solid wood coffee tables, of which they have an awe-inspiring selection—some round, some rectangular, some with shelves, all stunning and functional in any home.
Each coffee table is made with either repurposed wood or sustainable hardwood (specifically walnut and white oak sourced in the Midwest). Their plant-based finish is made with flaxseed oil that’s non-toxic and VOC-free, meaning no chemical off-gassing.
The reclaimed wood comes from barns in Kentucky and Tennessee and features all of the uniqueness of these storied woods, such as nail holes, splits, and weathering.
Brothers Dan and George Quinn handmake many of the pieces themselves.
WWM does what it can to not send anything to landfills. Their cut-off materials are donated to local hobbyists, and their sawdust is sent to local farms.
Burrow
Burrow has not been rated.
Price Range: $165–$859
Burrow’s mid-century modern styles are designed to complement their award-winning seating. Between sofas, chairs, benches, rugs, home storage, tables, and more, they’re decent more sustainable alternative to Ikea.
Their coffee tables includes the Carta range – a Japanese bento box inspired design which features a convenient hidden storage compartment – and mid century style pieces like the Serif collection.
While primarily offering wooden coffee tables made of solid hardwood ash wood, some–like the Kettle eco-friendly side tables—feature Italian marble and powder-coated or a spun steel, electroplated base.
All wood is sourced from FSC-certified forests near the brand’s family-owned factory in Poland. Other factories utilized by the brand are located in North Carolina, Vietnam, India, and Mexico.
Burrow transparently shares how they keep each sustainable coffee table more affordable yet high-quality—namely, by creating modular pieces that are easier to ship and using vertically integrated operations to cut out middlemen.
Burrow is also a sustainable sofa brand and designs their furniture to be used for a long time. With toolless assembly and disassembly, moving your Burrow creation from home to home will be a breeze.
Medley
Medley has not been rated.
Price Range: $727–$2,995
Medley’s team of craftspeople have over 170 years of combined experience, and it shows in their gorgeous collection of home furnishings and décor. In addition to furniture for the bedroom, dining room, and more, complete your living room with minimalist and coffee tables and end tables from this non-toxic furniture brand.
Medley’s solid wood coffee tables are made from solid FSC-certified wood (Walnut and Maple). For those that feature drawers, the drawer bottoms are made with low-VOC CARB 2-compliant plywood.
They protect their furniture with beeswax, carnauba wax, and olive oil wood finish that is odorless, VOC-free, water/heat-resistant, and USDA organic certified.
Medley manufacture in only two locations—Portland, OR, and Los Angeles, CA—meaning their solid wood coffee tables are made in the USA.
They intentionally do not have a brick-and-mortar store and keep a small, localized production chain to keep their prices fair and footprint small.
Etsy (Reclaimed & Vintage)
Want something that likely won’t be found in many other homes AND prevents the making of something completely new? Etsy Reclaimed is an excellent place for unique handmade rustic coffee table ideas. It’s a win-win, for you, for our planet, for a small Etsy seller, and for your living room. If you’re interested in something a bit more 21st-century, recycled wooden coffee tables make old materials feel new again.
Or alternatively, vintage coffee tables offer timeless pieces from a bygone era and support small store owners.
PS: Looking for sustainable coffee table décor? Sure, you can find something from a sustainable home decor brand, use a coffee table book (about sustainability perhaps), OR you can find all sorts of neat things from Etsy’s endless array of small makers and artists.
Fair warning though, Etsy is not what it used to be and to get genuine reclaimed wood, handmade products or vintage products from individual owned, local stores, you need to do some hunting and research on where the store is located AND where it ships from. To learn more about this, see our video on how Etsy has changed and how to find what you’re looking for without inadvertently supporting mass production.
Pieces pictured: Handmade reclaimed wood Isabel Coffee Table by StudioGeppettoDesign and the vintage Philippe Starck “Pepper Young” Coffee Table sold by SpearsFurnishing.
