The serving tray for drinks, breakfast and the bar.

Most bed trays are sized for a laptop. The Sedona is 24 inches wide and a little over 14 inches deep, which leaves room for a plate, a cup and saucer, a small jug and the newspaper. The legs stand it about 11 inches high, clear of most knees under a duvet.

Fold the legs flat and it becomes a large serving tray with carved handles, which is how it will spend most of the year. The antique walnut finish is dark enough to hide the odd ring from a cup.

It is a wooden tray with a finish, not a washable one. Wipe it with a damp cloth and dry it. Skip it if the tray has to go in the dishwasher, or if the bed is a low platform where 11 inches of leg will not clear your lap.

Nambe, the New Mexico serveware house, has worked with outside designers for more than 60 years. The Portables tray was drawn by the designer Robin Levien, and it shows in the details: an 18 inch acacia board with a subtle curve and two handles cut straight into the wood, so there is no hardware to loosen.

The length is the useful part. Eighteen inches carries four to six glasses in a row, or a bottle and a bowl of olives, and still fits through a door. Acacia has a tight, dark grain that hides small marks and does not mind a wet glass if it is wiped afterward.

Skip it if you want a tray with a high rim for carrying full coffee cups up the stairs. The edge is shallow, which suits a sideboard or coffee table better than a staircase. It also nests under Nambe's matching Portables alloy tray, if you want the pair.

Lacquer is the traditional finish for a drinks tray because it takes a wet glass without marking and wipes clean in a second. This pair from Mud Pie is wood under a glossy lacquer coat, with a scalloped edge that acts as a low rim.

The large tray is 18 by 13 inches, right for four glasses and a bottle. The small one is 15 by 10, which is the size for a single breakfast plate and cup, or for the bathroom counter. Nested, they take the cupboard space of one.

The listing describes the wood as both mango and pine, so we cannot tell you which it is. Either way, treat the lacquer kindly: hand wash or wipe, never soak, and keep hot dishes off it. Skip them if you prefer plain wood that can be sanded and oiled back to new.

This is not a tray for carrying. It is carved from a single piece of marble with a raised rim, and a 12 inch disc of stone is heavy enough that you set it down and leave it there. That is its job: a cool, clean surface under the bottles on a bar cart, the decanter and glasses on a sideboard, or the carafe and glass on a nightstand.

Marble stays cool and looks better with every bottle ring you wipe off it. Each piece varies in veining, so the one that arrives will not match the photograph exactly. The 2 inch height gives it a proper lip.

Marble is porous and etches under acid, so lemon, wine and vinegar left to sit will leave a dull mark. Wipe spills promptly and hand wash only. Skip it if you want one tray that also carries drinks to the terrace.

A bar tray has two jobs: hold the bottles in one place so the cart or sideboard looks deliberate, and lift off with everything on it when the drinks move to the other room. The Myo does both. It is 17 by 13 inches with a low rim and two handles that stand up from the ends, easy to grip even with a full load.

It is iron with a brass finish, not solid brass. That keeps the price under $100 and means it will not tarnish the way raw brass does, but it also means a deep scratch shows the metal below rather than more brass. Protective pads on the base keep it from marking a wooden cart.

Stand glasses and bottles on coasters or a cloth if they will be wet, since the finish is the part that wears. Skip it if you want real brass that develops a patina; that costs several times more.

Mepra makes its stainless steel tableware in its own factories at Lumezzane, near Brescia, and sells to restaurants as well as homes. The Palace tray is a large rectangle, 50 by 34 centimeters, or about 19.7 by 13.4 inches, in a polished steel that reads as silver from across a room.

This is the tray for a hotel-style breakfast carried to the bedroom, or for a round of drinks for eight. The size takes a full coffee service. Because it is stainless, it goes straight in the dishwasher, and Mepra backs its pieces against rust, discoloration and peeling for life.

Polished steel shows fingerprints and water spots, so it wants a dry cloth after washing if it is going back on display. Skip it if a tray in your house is mostly decor; a wooden one is warmer to look at.