Whitmor 9 Cube Organizer, Espresso, Engineered Wood

When I pulled everything out of the box I immediately had an "oh noooo, why did I buy this?" moment! The instructions said it took 2-3 people to assemble it! Wait!!! What??? ... It also stated that you had find the studs and secure it to the wall with the enclosed hardware. Ugh! I'm 75 and my 96 year old mother lives with me. This isn't gonna happen! The box was so heavy, returning it would have been more trouble than it was worth! Anyway, I opted to give it a go ... by myself! I laid the pieces on a carpeted floor and went to work ... and guess what??? ... I ASSEMBLED IT ... BY MYSELF!!! ... soooooo easy!!! I stood it up and it didn't fall apart!!! Yaaaay me!!! Since it was going against the wall in my bathroom, I didn't feel the need to attach it to the wall. It's very sturdy and doesn't rock. Looks absolutely beautiful, too!!! I couldn't be happier!!! ... I just LOVE it!!! 😀

I'm two minutes into putting this thing together and four of the eight the junk "dowel rods" included with it broke when the structure twisted slightly. Now I've got to made a trip to the hardware store to buy actual dowel rods to put it together. Not happy about that. Edit: upgraded to 4 stars. Got it together. Two of the metal hex screws heads wouldn't take the hex driver so I could screw them in. Got one in finally by using pliers, didn't install the other one. Product is fine, works as intended and looks good.

Update: Go ahead and buy this unit. Just understand the quality and only attempt something that stresses it once all boards are fully assembled on a horizontal surface and screwed in. I should have known something was up when the package showed up marked as Fragile! :) I changed this review from 1 to 5 because the customer service people at Whitmor are actual humans who want to give the customer a good experience. They were understanding of my situation in this exact case and also that the instructions didn't make it clear that the thing needs to make it past step 6 (screws in the side boards) before it can be moved. In this instance, I didn't have enough space and had to move it before the critical "screws" step. The dowels are apparently just there to somewhat hold things in place till the screws anchor it all Only the vertical side boards (same material) are intended to take the distributed weight of the unit. Every force must only be straight down. For example, even with it glued, there is no chance of it withstanding a lateral force. In the end, we agreed both parties could have done better. They let me keep the somewhat mangled one and sent me a new one. I can use them for light weight storage where they won't be bumped by anything. I'm happy with the compromise. ------------ Original: —-------- The panel board needs to be much thicker and higher quality. The unit barely stands up to its own weight. The dowels provided are too short and not large enough in diameter for the task. However, the holes drilled are large enough such that there is wobble and only about 2-3mm of particle board supporting the dowels. Also, the particle board looks more like a sponge than wood. To top that off, it seems the varying position of the pre-drilled holes side-to-side on the panel boards also applies to the angle the holes are drilled. It seems they used the hole to dowel size difference to handle the horrible drilling tolerances. The unit collapsed, breaking nearly every dowel, the first time I tried to move it to put the “top” on. Re-drilling holes, and using glue to fix all the places the dowels broke through the panel boards is a nightmare. If this shelf ever gets together, it will be a slanted eyesore that can only hold about 1lb per “box”. I never expect Whitmor to be great quality, but they do tend to make it to the assembled state before falling apart.

The tiny dowels they give you aren’t stable. Be careful to ensure you build it as it’s lying front down. It finally feels sturdy once you get the backs nailed on.

Having been raised by a Tradesman father who created, refinished or repaired antiques and high dollar furniture, and having spent many summers in his shop doing the grunt work, I feel especially qualified to rate this cube stack. While it will definitely work in the purpose for which it was purchased, it is cheap, vinyl covered pressboard and will never be confused with a good, or sturdy, piece of furniture. There were a lot of nicks in the raw edges that a saw mucked-up during the construction process of each individual piece. The nicks and gouges were covered by a black magic marker I ran along each, and every, raw edge. Indeed, I found several spots in the pre-drilled holes where the manufacturer used a black marker to "repair" where the drill press gouged the surrounding "wood". Make sure you have a broad-tipped Marks-A-Lot, but do not count on ever using that Marks-A-Lot for anything else but repairs to black or very dark brown edges on some other piece of furniture. When used on each and every raw edge you should be able to hide the imperfections created during the manufacturing process and to create a cleaner effect for the finished construction. There were also 3 or 4 spots where a raw edge was in need of wood glue and a clamp to repair other gouges that seemed to have been made during the packaging process. I have not yet put it all together as the instructions seem pretty straightforward and easy to follow. Delivery was timely, but I really do feel bad that the delivery person had to lug it up three flights of stairs. Lastly, the Espresso color was created by wood grained vinyl, not dark brown paint or a solid dark brown vinyl. Had I known that prior to ordering it, this would have remained in their inventory until the next fool came along and purchased it. Yes...you really and truly do only get what you pay for, but I will definitely have to re-evaluate my thoughts and knowledge on pricing in the modern way of selling to the buying public.