The first thing to ask when shopping for a nightstand is, “Am I really shopping for a nightstand?”We realized we were entering a murky landscape after noticing that many furniture companies automatically include side tables in their nightstand search results.A side table will indeed work just fine as a nightstand. As will a low dresser, if you’ve got the space. And as many college kids who have slept in a dorm room will attest, a milk crate topped with a square board does the trick next to a twin bed, and conveniently stores vinyl.But this all begs the question, what even is a nightstand? Like, technically?We began to dig for a defining characteristic beyond just being a repository for convenient items to have next to a bed, but once we stumbled upon the relationship between nightstands and the word “commode” (chamber pots used to be stored inside the lower cabinet), we decided to file that info away for a future trivia night and simply focus this guide on addressing modern user needs and unearthing an eclectic roundup—regardless of what they are called.