Design notes
August 5, 2026
6 min read
Ask anyone who has wired up a TV wall lately: the screen is the easy part. It is everything underneath — the streaming box, the soundbar amp, the game console, a fistful of power bricks — that turns a clean room into a snake pit. A well-built BDI media console is designed to make that chaos disappear, and it is one of the first pieces we steer people toward on our Raleigh floor when a living room needs to look finished instead of under construction.
BDI has spent decades on this exact problem. They treat a media cabinet like a piece of equipment, not just a box with doors. The payoff is furniture that hides the mess, keeps the electronics cool, and still reads as a handsome console in the room.
Three engineering choices do most of the heavy lifting. The first is real cable management. Instead of a blank back panel, BDI builds routing channels and a cable spine so wires travel neatly from component to component and down to the outlet — no loop of HDMI cord hanging in the breeze. You still have to plug things in, but you are not fighting the furniture to do it.
The second is airflow. AV gear runs hot, and heat is what quietly kills a receiver. BDI vents the backs of its cabinets and leaves open-air chambers so a warm amp is not slowly cooking in a sealed box. A few models add hidden fans for the heavier setups. It is the kind of detail you never think about until a cheaper stand starts making your equipment run loud and warm.
The third is doors you can actually keep closed. BDI uses satin-etched tempered-glass doors that let a remote signal pass straight through — so you shut the cabinet, the clutter vanishes, and everything still responds to the clicker. Add adjustable, removable shelves and you can fit almost any combination of gear you own.
The construction backs up the engineering. Powder-coated steel frames, tempered glass, and wood veneers over engineered cores. Soft-close doors. Hidden wheels on some models, so you can roll the whole console out to rewire it and roll it back against the wall. It is heavier and more precise than the flat-pack particleboard stand it replaces, and it feels that way the first time you open a drawer.
Here is the rule we use on the floor: your console should be at least a few inches wider than the base of the TV on each side. A 65-inch television reads about 57 inches wide, so a console in the 60-inch-and-up range keeps the set from looking tippy and top-heavy. Height matters too — you want the screen at roughly eye level when you are seated on the sofa, not craned up or down. Measure your wall, your TV base, and your gear before you fall for a size. If you would rather see it to scale first, our free Trig Studio room planner lets you drop a console into your actual room dimensions and check the fit against the sofa.
BDI applies the same thinking to desks, shelving, and storage, which is why the brand shows up in more than one room of a lot of our projects. A home office with the cords tamed feels calmer the same way a living room does. If you are working out a bigger open space, the way you place a low console can help zone an open-concept room without adding walls.
Honest answer: if you own one streaming stick and nothing else, a simple stand will do. But if you have a real stack of components, or you just cannot stand looking at cords, a BDI media console earns its keep — it protects your electronics, cleans up the room, and lasts long enough that you buy it once. You can browse BDI consoles and storage in our shop, and if you are in the Triangle it is worth seeing one in person to open the doors and feel the difference. Come visit the showroom and we will walk you through sizing it to your setup.
No. BDI uses satin-etched tempered glass that passes infrared signals, so your remote works with the doors closed and the gear hidden.
A few inches wider than the TV base on each side. For a 65-inch TV (about 57 inches wide), look at consoles 60 inches and up so the set does not look oversized on the stand.
Yes. We carry BDI at our showroom at 1053 E. Whitaker Mill Rd, Raleigh, open Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 7pm. Call (919) 516-8744 or just stop in.