Customer Reviews

Catskill Craftsmen Drop Leaf Utility Cart

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this cart because Catskill makes some really nice hardwood carts and this one was inexpensive. The site is not explicit that this cart is not hardwood, it is fiberboard laminated with a white material. The site said it is a lacquer finish but that implies a painted finish, not a laminate. The top is wood. The rest is not.

That said, it is a very well made sturdy cart. I only cried once when putting it together.

It is made of wood (not composite board), but that wood is laminated with a white vinyl finish, not painted. One of my pieces came with three parallel slits in the laminate that would face out and front. I requested a replacement on the manufacturer's website on a Sunday afternoon and the piece arrived by Priority Mail on Wednesday. The top is lacquered wood, so you will want a cutting board any time you use a knife during prep work. It was well packed--the defective piece went into the box that way. Assembly is always the hard part with this sort of furniture. It was harder than good Ikea pieces and not as hard as the worst I've done over many years. It looks nice when assembled.

Make sure you have Goo Gone and some soft paper towels at hand because all the pieces have sticky labels. Goo Gone will remove the glue but not harm the laminate. Other solvents are deadly for laminate.

The instructions are almost all pictures with a few cautionary words here and there. Caution: don't use a power screwdriver. I have arthritis in my hands, and I have a cordless power drill/screwdriver with 22 torque settings. Using the lowest setting VERY slowly I was successful--but you do this at your own risk. My hands are too weak on their own.

Some of the screws are nearly impossible to set, even with the power tool, because the holes are not drilled deep enough. The parts list distinguishes between the two slightly different crossbars called 2 and 2(i). It fails to distinguish between the differences in the two crossbars numbered 3: the one with two grooves should be called 3(i). Get a rubber mallet and also an old towel as a cushion to use under each crossbar when you find that you must hammer in the pins.

The other caution is not to tighten the eight bolts that hold the side panels to the cross bars. Insufficient instructions! You should tighten the bottom four well enough to allow you to insert the casters and set the partly assembled cart upright on the floor. The upper four should be less tight. They illustrate putting both the base and mid panels in place at the same time before inserting the casters. Don't do it. Put the base panel in and also the bottom back panel, then tighten the bottom bolts enough to hold the base panel in place. Then the casters go in (rubber mallet help here) and the cart can stand up.

You now may even need to loosen the upper cross bar (the one to which you have already attached the door magnets). Being able to rotate this crossbar a good bit is ESSENTIAL to getting the doors on. Otherwise, you'll never have the clearance to get the hinges in place.
Re-orient the upper crossbar and tighten the bolts enough to hold the doors in place. Insert the mid panel and the upper back panel. NOW tighten all eight bolts to final position. The two side panels of the have an UP and a DOWN (look at the hole spacing) that is not labeled anywhere! Put the drawer together carefully because you must get all the screws lined up with their predrilled holes. Don't tighten any screws until all of them have been properly started. The knife rack is just a little slit between the edge of the top and the outside of the box you attach.

The main problem and the weakest link in this assembly is attaching the top. You have to align holes on the UNDER side of the top with holes in the support bars (that you attached to the side panels way back in the beginning), then set screws from BENEATH the support bars up into the top. But the drawer guides are in your way--I had no choice but to take them off. AND, there is simply not enough working room to screw in the rear screws all the way. You cannot leave any of the four screws sticking out because they will prevent the drawer from going onto its glides and and/or from pushing all the way in. I had to go buy shorter screws--none that I had on hand was the right size. Catskill Craftsmen really need to rethink how this assembly works!!!!

So, after a grueling early evening of tennis, I sat myself down to assemble this 63 lb flat pack cart, anticipating a multihour ordeal as per some of the previous reviews. All in all, took maybe outside of an hour, and the instructions were fairly clear. If you've put together one flatpack item, you've put together them all. Shipping was a breeze, and it arrived mostly intact, with just some of the interior styrofoam lining broken. All pieces were wrapped in foam wrap and arrived in excellent condition, each piece numbered.

So, as any good assembler & follower of instructions, I unpacked everything and laid it all out, counted the pieces, and got to assembling. The only problem I could see with the instructions is some of the pieces need to be oriented in a specific direction - that is of the two number whatevers, one of them is meant to be mounted on the right, and one on the left. THIS IS WHY YOU DO NOT TIGHTEN THINGS UNTIL FULLY ASSEMBLED.

Attaching the top was also kind of awkward, as if you're using a power drill, you'll need an extended bit, or number 18, the bottom guide of the drawer will get in the way. Problem solved by removing #18 (which they tell you to install in the first step), attaching the top, and then re-attaching 18. Easy peasy.

Everything seems solidly assembled when complete, the unit is a bit smaller than I anticipated (SHOULD HAVE MEASURED), but it fits well in our space and is a great value. Two of the coasters lock, and I accidentally installed them on opposite corners, but no big deal there - any way you install two locking coasters of 4, its going to stay in place.

One warning I would give is that I don't think the drop leaf is meant to support someone leaning on it, eg a breakfast bar type situation. The supports that extend out from underneath the top are galvanized steel, and very securely held in place, but I still have my apprehensions.

I found this cart to be priced within my budget. I did notice some visual blemishes on the hardwood top / cutting board -- along the edge. It looked like it had been dropped before it was packaged up. I wondered if this was a "second", which is why it was discounted. Regardless, I am happy with my purchase.
The cart needed to be assembled, which I knew when I placed my order. Directions were clear and it took only about an hour to put it together.
It complements a small open space in my kitchen and will be well used.

Ordered this piece after doing extensive shopping for a cart/island that would work in my house but not break the bank. This definitely fit the bill! Arrived in a slightly beat up box but I blame the shipping co. for that. Pieces inside were very well packed and undamaged. Noticed a tiny chip in the laminate on one of the doors but it was hidden inside and not worth getting a replacement for since you can't see it.
As for assembly, some people mentioned that they had problems so I was prepared for the worst. However I was pleasantly surprised! It was only slightly more involved than some other flat pack items and the only reason it takes awhile to assemble (took me an hour and a half... by myself, no power tools) is because there are a ton of pieces. Instructions are entirely pictures so you do have to pay close attention to positions and pre-drilled holes, if you look carefully at the pictures and use a little common sense this should be a super simple if not a little tedious to assemble. The pages all say DO NOT TIGHTEN until finished for a reason, I had to undo or loosen a few screws during the process particularly on the drawer.
Two things worth noting:
The drawer guides will get in the way of attaching the top but they are easy enough to remove once they are on (so long as they are a little loose) so it wasn't really a big deal and I was glad I had screwed them on first because the holes were easier to reattach them later as they are in an awkward position to reach.
Also, a few people mentioned that the top was very difficult to screw onto the finished unit because the wood is so hard and the holes are really shallow... the screws have to go in all the way or the drawer will catch. (This is true and the only reason for a four star rating rather than 5) I was glad I had read that because it allowed me to cheat a bit by screwing a screw into each hole to about the right depth (not too far or you'll crack the wood!)and then unscrew it so I'd have a good guide hole to work with once the top was in place.
All in all definitely a great buy and a nice sturdy finished piece! Looks very nice and high quality once assembled. After shopping for a product like this for awhile I can tell you that you won't find another cart this size or this quality for under $200 so a little work assembling it is totally worth it.

Having just received this item, here are some impressions:

The good:

It's a sturdy cart, a good height to work on, and provides a decent amount of extra counter space with the drop leaf up.

The bad:

It's a project to put this item together. It's not *difficult* exactly, but there is more to do than one would think. It's about 50 pieces and will take you at least a couple of hours.

The finish on the wood is kind of plastic-like and doesn't seem very durable. Three pieces arrived "scuffed" where you could see the wood through the finish. (Two of those ended up concealed, but one was right on the front edge of the table top where it couldn't be more visible). The packaging was actually quite good - it really looked like the three pieces were packed already damaged. It's a kind of "soft" covering on the wood. Despite the "butcher block" look of the top, there is absolutely no way you'd be able to use a knife on it, say.

There were some difficulties putting it together - one set of pre-drilled holes was not quite in the right place, making it a little hard to get the pieces to fit right. I was able to get it to work by angling a couple of the screws, though.

The piece was not terrible, but overall I have to say I was a little disappointed in fit and finish for the price. At $170, I expected better quality; this seemed like something you'd get for $50 at Target. I'll keep it and use it, but I'm not very pleased with what I got for the money.

The drop leaf cart was a gift for our daughter who has a massage therapy clinic.
It was easy to put together and looks really nice in her office. It holds items
for a "hot rock" massage therapy and can be rolled easily between therapists rooms.
Extra storage is an added plus. She's very happy with it.
The cart could be great as a portable bar, serving cart for patio, or kitchen. Catskill Craftsmen 16755 Drop Leaf Utility Kitchen Cart

I recently purchased the product noted above and I am in love. I could find nothing like it in Australia where I live. The delivery time was amazing. The product instructions were very simple and all the pieces numbered making assembley a dream. It is an extremely usefull new addition to my kitchen which has limited bench space. The additional storage is great also. I have added two baskets to the shelf adding additional storage. I am thrilled to bits with my purchase and highly recommend this product.

I've bought a few self-assembled furniture pieces, and this one was by far the most well-crafted. The wood top and hardware are good quality for the cart's price. The cart itself is laminated wood (probably particle board), but it's better quality than most.

The package was a little beat up upon arrival, and the only problem I noticed is one of the doors had a little chip out of the laminate. The styrofoam protected everything else, although I had to vacuum up a lot of little styroform beads that had broken apart and went all over as I removed pieces. The cart took me 3-4 hours to assemble, but I don't have a good power drill and had to hand-tighten the screws. It wasn't a problem except for the top, which is such hard wood that I had to just get them tightened as much as I could--gave me a blood blister! You have to tighten them to a certain point or the drawer will catch on the screw heads. The knife rack is just a slit that sits next to the cart top. I ended up removing it to decrease the cart width. The towel rack doesn't take up extra space and is a nice addition. The cart is fairly thin from front to back, and it fits very nicely in my narrow, galley-style kitchen. Note, they give the depth as 16" but it's actually 17" because of the drop-leaf overhang.

The directions are drawings only, no words. It's not a problem if you study it carefully and pay close attention to the numbering, including which are right and left pieces. One of the Amazon comments recommended buying Goo Gone because the labels were sticky and left a residue. I did buy some, but the labels weren't that much of a problem for me.

The drawbacks are that the drawer bottom is not overly sturdy. I keep the drawer full, and it supports the weight, but it may start to bow after a year or more. It would be nice to have an adjustable shelf in the lower section. The top drawer doesn't have the smoothest sliding action, and the drawer catch has rotated on me and caused me to totally pull the draw out accidentally, but that can be fixed by tightening the screw.

All in all, I was so happy I found something that's several cuts above Sauder-type products. I almost bought a cart at Wal-Mart, but I'm confident the value wouldn't have been anywhere close to this cart, although the price would be comparable.

I have owned this for about 2 years now. It works well. i can not say to much for fine quality. the doors like to randomly swing open. over all it serves its purpose. some serious assembly is required.