Realspace� Premium 4-Drawer Laminate Vertical File, 51 1/2H x 18 1/2W x 16 3/4D, Medium Cherry
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DON'T DO IT
This cabinet LOOKS great, and for the first four or five years was perfectly satisfactory (it does get tippier than a metal cabinet so my advice is to either take advantage of the wall attachment or put a wedge under the front panel to balance its weight.)
Then one of the drawers collapsed, bang, and the whole frame became loose and detached. I did my best to reassemble it, but I never could get it all to fit together properly. Now another drawer has imploded, and I'm reluctantly trashing the whole thing and going back to a metal cabinet, which while unattractive will at least stay in one piece.
July 18, 2013
Easy Construction, Could Be Better Quality
The way the parts were individually packaged for each step made this a snap to put together. I had no help and minimal floor space to do it in -- basically a bed to lay out what I wasn't using yet and enough room to lay the long pieces down flat on the floor. If you aren't strong enough to haul around 80 pounds of particle board and laminate, don't try it alone. The box even expressly tells you NOT to lift it alone, but I was young and foolish and did it anyway.
Use a cotton swab to help with glueing the pegs into place -- there are a LOT of them, and I can see how someone who was squeezing the tube into the holes would have problems with running out, not to mention making an enormous mess. What they give you isn't very big. I was moderately generous when swabbing into holes, and still had a bit of glue left over, so it's definitely enough to get the job done.
The 'instruction' manual was, other than a parts-list at the beginning, entirely in images. If you aren't good at interpreting pictures, you're going to have some trouble. It also assumes common sense #i.e. if putting together one drawer requires 4 of a part, and the next page has 12 of that part and the same drawer pictures, that means you have to put together three drawers#, which means PAY ATTENTION to the wooden part letters. You put the locking drawer together first. I almost messed it up by forgetting that detail. That's what I get for watching the climax of a movie during construction, though.
Common sense which my distracted self almost missed during construction: the book isn't very clear on which side of the lock to put facing the top of the cabinet. Pay more attention than I did #or don't have The Departed on in the background#. The slot in the top piece makes a lot more sense when you don't have 'duh' moments like mine!
The only real cons I encountered were both material-related. It IS just laminated particle board. Pretty laminate, but laminate. There's no getting around that. I made the mistake of putting a wood screw in crookedly while installing the front braces, and it went right through to poke out the inner side of the cabinet. I had a Dickens of a time getting it straight once it had established the path of least resistance for itself.
In terms of the laminate itself, it has a pretty good grain, but it's brittle, and they didn't bother to sand the edges at top/bottom, so you may want to wear some light leather work gloves if you're worried about splinters. Mine had a few sections where the laminate had been splintered up at the bottom, but since I don't expect people to be gasping in horror at my file cabinet's ankles, I'm not worried.
Overall, it's a sturdy file cabinet, easy to build and attractive to look at. The medium cherry was a bit darker than expected #and definitely dark RED#, but still quite a lovely shade.
June 28, 2012
Classy and Functional
My office bought this cabinet for my use. It arrived the morning after I ordered it with basic shipping (nothing fancy or intentionally fast). I've put together a lot of "assembly required" furniture together before but I've never seen something as plainly laid out as this was. Everything is clearly marked, all the screws/dowels/etc are in a sectioned bag marked for the step it's used for and it arrived very well packaged and didn't have a single scratch on it. The drawers came with the sliding mechanisms already attached. That was nice. The drawers slide silently and easily and kind of slide into a notch so they don't come out by themselves. Only the top drawer locks, but that didn't bother us. I kind of wish the drawers were a little deeper, but it's still got plenty of room. It's a handsome piece of furniture, very reddish brown finish, simple, and would be attractive in a female heavy or male heavy work environment. It's sturdy and feels solid despite being particle board. I expect it to hold up for a long time.
June 13, 2012
Good product, assembly required
I purchased this product. It is particle board with wood veneer. It does look very nice. I do not ever plan on having this disassembled so to make it more solid, during assembly I used wood glue on each of the dowels.
The parts for assembly are very well laid out. Each step has all its parts in a separate bag. I've never seen this before, and I consider this awesome. It did take a few hours though. It would be nice if I could purchase assembly at the same time as purchasing the product.
The bottom of each drawer could be more solid. The back of the file cabinet could be more solid.
Overall, I would recommend this product. I purchased it for $132.99 on sale.
April 13, 2012
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