Use this with "IF EXISTS or IF NOT EXISTS" this always works for me.
xxxxxxxxxx
IF EXISTS(SELECT 1 FROM sys.Objects WHERE Object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'dbo.Customers'))
BEGIN
PRINT 'Table Exists'
END
xxxxxxxxxx
IF (EXISTS (SELECT *
FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'TheSchema'
AND TABLE_NAME = 'TheTable'))
BEGIN
--Do Stuff
END
xxxxxxxxxx
IF EXISTS
(SELECT object_id FROM sys.tables
WHERE name = 'Artists'
AND SCHEMA_NAME(schema_id) = 'dbo')
PRINT 'The table exists'
ELSE
PRINT 'The table does not exist';