Review on White Entryway Shoe Storage Bench with Leather Cushion Seat, Drawer, and 2-Tier Wooden Shoe Rack - Shoe Storage Cabinet for Living Room, Bedroom by William Gildea

First of all I have to warn you that the instructions are absolutely awful and not worth the paper they are printed on. I literally spent 15 minutes figuring out the single (double sided) instructions after making sure I had all the parts and they were fully laid out on the floor. I'll try to clarify the first few steps to get you started and make your build a lot easier. The images in the first step imply that you need to assemble the drawer slides; However, it is delivered already assembled. What you really need to do is disassemble the innermost (narrowest) part of the assembly. To do this you have to release the latch (this is the part that prevents you from removing the entire drawer from the rails, it's black and looks like a lever) and then pull out the inner rail (the narrowest part of the drawer) three ). in assembly.) I only found this out because step number 2 indicates you need to install a rail on the sides of the bench. The picture in step 2 is so awful that it doesn't show which part needs to be assembled. The part you need to install isn't the part you just removed in the first step, it's the widest one. I figured it out because it best matched the pre-drilled holes in the side panels. Steps 3 and up are a bit more direct, especially if you've built something from your big Swedish shop. With the exception of the back wall, all other walls and shelves are made of chipboard. The finish is textured laminate and only the sides are exposed. For example, the middle shelf is NOT laminated on the sides that attach to the side panels. The assembly is a combination of wooden dowels and eccentric clamping fittings (eccentric screws with lock nuts). Again, if you are familiar with Swedish boxes, this is easy. If not, you need to know that the cam nuts (which are round) have an arrow on the front. This arrow should point towards the adjacent handle when the eccentric screw is installed. To lock the screw in the nut, all you have to do is turn the nut clockwise. If your cam nut does not now lock (ie it can rotate a full 360°) then you have overtightened the cam screw. Loosen the screw and try again. Another thing to note is that the quality is below the level of your Swedish box shop. Of course, their products are also made in China, but they have slightly higher standard requirements and slightly better quality control. In my hardware set, a cam nut was dented inward, rendering it inoperable. The good news is that additional parts were included in the hardware kit so my build didn't stop there. The quality of the laminate was also poor in places and there were several chips. But they were mostly on the inside edges where they're not very noticeable. Where possible I placed the chipped surface on the underside or inside where it would be least visible. The top seat is the only part that didn't have pre-drilled holes and where an electric screwdriver came in handy. The seat is subtly padded and upholstered in PVC leather (aka Pleather), making it easy to maintain (if you clean it right away, otherwise it'll last forever). The drawer is shallow and doesn't hold much; Wool hats, mittens, scarves and headphones for three and she's full. I am torn on how to rate this product. There are no words in the instructions and they are deceptive from the start; Hardware quality control is not standard, but offers additional possibilities for compensation; Materials are cheap but built to last; cut corners adjust and finish, but can be hidden or minimized visibility; the drawer doesn't hold much (it's rather shallow), but it's comfortable and slides smoothly; and when all this was assembled, the device turned out to be quite durable and functional. In the end, I have to look at the whole experience, including its montage. Overall it took me 78 minutes (including unpacking and then cleaning up) for the build, which should have taken about 45 minutes, which is about 70% more time than it should have been. Also, the bench's size doesn't fit (at best) shoes larger than average sized shoes, severely limiting its functionality. That's two knocks against the perfect score in my books, 3 stars overall. Note: I will be removing the drawer and rails entirely to allow this bench to accommodate short boots and high heeled shoes. Of course I lose the box, but from the beginning there was little storage space in it.