Glass Topped Tables / Tische mit Glas

Apologies to those of you who have glass topped tables and like them. I am not a fan. I have grown weary of our glass topped kitchen table, bought by someone else who must have thought it was a good idea.

Glass doesn't just wipe clean with a sponge. It looks streaky and dirty. When a certain someone comes along and drives his cars over the top of it, finger prints are left behind. Even a hot coffee cut leaves a murky spot. It really irks me to take out the window cleaner after every meal to wipe down the table so that it actually looks clean.

Some glass topped tables sit on top of a frame, but our glass topped table is surrounded by a metal rim. It is a trap for crumbs and gunk. You can wipe some of it out, but some of it gest so stuck that it needs a knife to scrape it out. And, sadly, some of it is simply there for good. I don't usually worry too much about the gunk in the rim, until it starts to gross me out. Why should a table have to gross me out?

Finally, there is the fact that it's glass. Glass breaks. Glass is loud. While it might be fun to bang silverware on the table because it makes such a nice loud sound (or stage car crashes or redirect tennis mis-bouncing balls or serve as a landing surface for lego rockets), there is a fear factor involved. How much banging does it take before the glass topped table breaks? I would love to see the table shatter in a million pieces, but not at the expense of our personal safety.

The only reason I can come up with that someone actually bought this table for this apartment is because of the price. It used to be one of those complete Ikea sets - the best deal going for a set of table and chairs where you don't have to decide on anything, it just comes together. Notice the used to be. Ikea must have grown weary of their glass topped table set too, because their best deal set is now made of wood.