The Best Outdoor Side Tables for Patios on Amazon (2026)
By Maya Chen · Updated July 2026
Independent editorial guide. We never accept payment for coverage, though we may earn a commission if you purchase through our links.
Quick Take
Patio side tables that survive a real summer of sun and rain live in the $80 to $200 range, and the material matters more than the brand. HDPE (high-density polyethylene) lumber from Polywood is the workhorse: it looks like painted wood, will not fade or rot, and carries a 20 year residential warranty. Acacia wood from Christopher Knight Home costs less and looks warmer, but it needs a covered patio or annual oiling to last. The picks below split into three cases. On an exposed patio taking full sun and weather, Polywood is the only material that shrugs it off with no maintenance. On a covered porch, or a patio where you use a furniture cover, Christopher Knight Cassia-style acacia looks better for half the money. For entertaining, the Keter Cool Bar is both a side table and a 7.5 gallon cooler, with nothing else like it at this price. Suncast resin wicker covers the budget tier honestly, for when the table is a flat surface for a drink rather than a piece of furniture you want to look at. See picks ↓
With outdoor side tables on Amazon, the brand name predicts the outcome. Polywood, Christopher Knight Home, Keter, and Suncast each own a distinct slice of the $50 to $300 range, and the material each one uses decides how the table looks after a single summer outside. Choose the wrong material for your patio and it will warp, fade, or grow mildew before fall. The picks below are sorted by where the table is going to live. Full sun and rain gives you one answer. A covered porch gives another. Entertaining, where the table holds drinks for six people instead of a coffee cup for one, gives a third. All five are tables we would put on our own patio for the use described.
Pick the material before the brand
HDPE lumber, where Polywood is the dominant brand though the material itself is generic, is recycled plastic milled to look and feel like painted wood. It does not fade, splinter, rot, or soak up water. Polywood backs it with a 20 year residential warranty, and it shrugs off salt air, pollen, and standing water. It is heavy, which helps on a windy patio. Expect $100 to $200 for a side table.
Acacia wood is real hardwood, denser and oilier than pine, with a warm grain HDPE cannot fake. Left untreated it turns silver-gray within a season of sun and will mildew if it stays wet. Give it a yearly coat of teak oil and a cover through winter and it runs 5 to 10 years. The Christopher Knight Cassia and similar $80 to $120 acacia tables are the honest middle tier.
Resin wicker over a steel or plastic frame, which is Suncast and Keter territory, is the pick when the table is furniture you use rather than furniture you look at. It will not warp or fade much, but the weave traps pollen and the steel underneath can rust wherever the powder coat chips. Best on shaded patios, and best if you want a storage compartment built into the base.
Top pick, the Polywood Classic Folding Side Table
This is the default answer for any patio that sees real weather. HDPE lumber is close to indestructible at the residential level, the folding frame lets the table go into a shed or garage over winter without eating floor space, and the 18 inch square top holds a drink, a book, and a phone. Polywood builds in the US and you can tell: no wobble, no cheap hardware.
You pay for that in weight and money. A folding HDPE table runs more than 15 pounds, which is welcome when the wind picks up and a nuisance the day you want to fold it and carry it. At $129 it is about double a comparable acacia table. The math still works, because the acacia table you buy after that one costs the same money again.
The premium option, a matching Polywood Adirondack-style HDPE side table
If the table is going to sit next to a Polywood Adirondack chair or any other HDPE outdoor furniture, buy the dedicated matching side table rather than the folding one. It is taller, does not fold, and is stiffer. Polywood-branded versions run $200 to $300. SERWALL and other HDPE knockoffs give you 80 to 90 percent of the build at $110 to $130 if the badge does not matter to you. The question is whether matching your existing Polywood pieces is worth the premium. If it is, buy Polywood. If the table is landing next to a metal or wood chair anyway, SERWALL or another HDPE brand at half the price will do the same job.
Christopher Knight acacia for a covered patio
The Christopher Knight Home Cassia, and acacia outdoor side tables in the $80 to $100 range generally, are the best looking tables in this guide by a wide margin. Acacia has real grain, takes stain beautifully, and reads like indoor furniture in a way HDPE never will. For a covered porch, a screened patio, or anywhere rain does not land on it directly, this is the pick. Plan on teak oil or an outdoor wood sealer once a year and a furniture cover in the off-season. Do that and the table goes 5+ years. Skip it and you will see graying within one summer and surface checking within two. That is what the price buys: $80 to $100 gets you 5 years of looks, not 20 years of indifference.
The Keter Cool Bar for entertaining
The Keter Cool Bar has no real competition. It is a side table that doubles as a 7.5 gallon insulated cooler, with a top that lifts off to reveal the ice chamber underneath. For backyard parties, a deck, or a spot beside the hot tub, it collapses cooler plus surface into one piece of furniture. The resin is genuinely weatherproof and it holds ice 12+ hours.
It is also not a pretty piece of furniture. The plastic resin reads as plastic resin, and the cooler shape stands taller than a normal side table, which looks odd next to a low patio chair. Buy it for what it does. The honest case for it is a deck or patio that hosts more than four people more than four times a year.
Budget, a Suncast resin wicker side table
Under $80 the honest pick is a Suncast resin wicker side table with a small storage compartment underneath. Nobody will compliment it. It holds a drink, hides garden gloves or sunscreen in the base, and weathers about as well as plastic furniture ever does. The weave hides scuffs and pollen better than a smooth resin surface. Avoid the no-name 50-pound capacity wicker tables that appear at the same price with stock photos and no brand behind them. Suncast at least has a working US warranty process and available parts. The unbranded versions ship the same molded resin and fail at the leg joints inside a season.
Covers, and why they are the cheapest upgrade here
Every table in this guide except the Polywood lasts visibly longer with a $20 waterproof cover over the off-season and through long stretches of rain. Acacia especially needs cover storage to get past 2 seasons in a wet climate. The ULTCOVER and NettyPro square ottoman and side table covers fit most 18 to 24 inch tables and cost less than dinner. The Keter Cool Bar is the exception, since it has its own fitted WICKTICK cover cut for that odd cooler shape. Generic square covers do not sit on it properly. Spend the extra $5 on the fitted one if you buy the Cool Bar and leave it out year-round.
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