****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
This thing was a pain in the butt to put together!!! But once I was finally done, it was worth it! I ended up sanding it down, staining and burning the bench and painting the rest light grey. It's so beautiful and everyone that comes over wants it.This is straight forward and is simple to put together for one person, but way easier with two people. Quality parts and clear diagrams. It’s great for the kitchen corner. Biggest complaint is one of the top rails had a significant bend instead of being straight.Second complaint is that the middle corner seat is for small kids only! The design for the center needs custom reinforcement for adults. It will sag and the back part will pop out without reinforcement.Overall, would buy again but it needs improvement.Great product for the value. Made some seat cushions and painted it. The storage under the seat is a good bonus storage for placemats and table setting items.I like the bench it is very nice the only thing the holes were not all drilledout my husband had to do it. I would recommend the bench but watch out for the holes check it before you assemble it.Good value for the price. Definitely a 2 person job to put together unless you have 4 arms and happen to be Stretch Armstrong. Took my husband and I about 2 hours to put together. All of the prices were there and labeled. Does have a scratch on one of the seat backs which is annoying but hardly noticeable. Seems sturdy.Fits actually with what I want. Storage could be deeperI'm writing this review as the product is decent with some flaws. In the end, the product works fine and customer service was quick to requests.Ease of Assembly - I've read other reviews and I agreed what most would say. The wood is hard but soft so be careful when assembling as it is easy to dent or chip. Screws and the pre-drilled holes are somewhat complicated. Sometimes they screw in smoothly sometimes it requires a lot of force as if the pre-drilled holes weren't aligned properly or were not pre-drilled deep enough. I recommend screwing it when it's laid flat (if following their instruction, it is preferable to screw in outer "Rails" for "Middle Legs" much later as it will wobble if laid flat).Same goes with the wooden dowels. Some goes in fine. Some do not go in smoothly and you will need a mallet to smack in it.Though be wary of "Double Bench Storage Bottom" part because it's a particle board so it gets easily warped. The original one was incredibly warped at the ends which made it impossible to fit. The replacement was still slightly warped which made it barely work unless there is one person squeezing the parts while another assembling rest of the parts. But it worked out in the end.Sturdiness - I would say it's sturdy for now. If it falls apart, I will update the review.Value for money - I noticed that the price fluctuates a lot. I would say that it's a good if it priced sub $200~$250.I bought this as a returned product so the price was sub $200. It came with dents (either from shipping or the previous buyer) which I did not mind for the price that I paid for. The imperfections are not noticeable unless I'm staring at it. I did end up creating more imperfections but most weren't noticeable. Though as a returned product, I noticed mine came with a duplicate part and missing an important "leg", and some missing small hardwares but support were quick to send the replacement parts (only the missing parts - I did not request to replace the damaged parts). So customer service is great.Overall 4/5When I opened the box, it seemed like I ended up with something sub-par due to the feeling and look of the wood. Everything was nicely packaged - although I did have to get everything out in order to build it in the order it recommended VS gradually unloading the box.I can safely say, after assembling it, getting the family to try it out, and standing on the middle of the longer bench section, that I am very pleased with the quality and look of this product.I used toothpicks to help hold the dowels at their midpoint and I truly only had an issue with one screw when attaching the angled back piece. I installed the screws from top to bottom on one side which resulted in the top screw slipping a little and no longer grabbing (so I used a deck screw to substitute). The other side, where I went bottom to top, went a lot smoother.I will probably end up adding some stained wood "support" material to make the storage compartment more sturdy and also provide some additional weight capacity...because, why not? Do I think I need to? Nope, but we would like to.It's pretty decent unit. Problem was center angle panel did not line up very well and some of the screws could not be tight as they came through the finished surface.Got what I expected . Be very carful about tightening screws that go towards a finnished surface. Make snug not tight. Screws are 1/8 inch to long.
