Customer Reviews

Craftsman 48"w Four door Lowboy With Wood Doors

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

 

 

This is a review for both the 48" Four-door Lowboy buffet and 32" Two-door. I bought both at the same time.

Pro:
They both arrived quickly. I ordered them on a Sunday and was assembling them the following weekend. Both were well packaged with lots of foam all around to protect the wood. For example, Ikea does not package their stuff this well. Assembly was straightforward and took about an hour and a half for each ... I did the big one second, so it took about the same time as the little one. They use the same cam-lock style of assembly that Ikea so often uses. The directions were fine, although you did have to pay attention to a few details like not orienting things backwards. Once assembled, they were sufficiently sturdy and looked pretty much like the picture. There are no adjustments on the doors, but as instructed in the directions, one fiddles a bit until the doors square up prior to screwing on the back (which holds everything square) and they came out fine. I am satisfied overall.

Con:
Comparing again to Ikea, the quality is not as good. These pieces and Ikea both use laminated particle baord. But the particle board itself on these is layered with regular density particles near the surface, but coarser grained board in the interior. Overall, the wood is less dense and more subject to screw stripping, resulting in a strip-fest.

The annoying flaw is the cam-locks. If you've ever built cam-lock furniture, you know that a tight lock is the key to a sturdy piece. These cam-locks are cheap, flimsy, brittle metal. The very first one I put in bent badly and then broke when I tried to straighten it. You can't apply any torque at all ... but it's cam-lock torque that makes a firm assembly. I've put together a lot of Ikea stuff and only once did I mangle a cam-lock. I mangled two on the small buffet. Fortunately, they must know of the problem because they provide two extra. In addition, the associated cam-lock posts do not screw directly into the wood. They screw into little plastic threaded things that are embedded in the wood. These are relatively soft. You can't just screw the post in until it stops. You have to carefully watch for when the non-threaded part of the post goes flush with the surface of the wood and then stop. If you go too far, you have to back out.

My two pieces did not match. Although both were ordered in light oak, they had distinctly different shades. One was lighter and yellower than the other. The particle board used on each was different. The door latch used on each was different ... one was magnetic and the other was a peg-into-rollers catch. Fortunately for me, the larger one was a little better quality and I didn't mangle any cam-locks. The 48" buffet came out more sturdy than the 32". For the 32", after a lot of fighting with cam-locks, I ended up having to screw some extra bracing underneath and inside. Oh well.

The laminate is cheap. It already started flaking as I put them together. The door hardware looks nice but is flimsy.

Conclusion:
They are a reasonable deal for the price. They look nice. But this is not the kind of furniture you will be passing on to your grandchildren.

Received it on time. It looks wonderful and is of very good quality. Well worth the price. It did take a while to put assemble and I am good at assembling furniture. It will take you 1 to 2 hours to assemble, but again, it is worth it and all pieces/parts fit very well together.

I've put a lot of furniture together. This one had me thinking it might be better to buy already assembled furniture. The piece went together okay, but the top was almost impossible to get seated correctly. If this is your first assembly, make sure you have someone with you who has experience and patience. It looks good once complete, but not a fine piece of furniture. Good for a den.

I love the style of this buffet table. Took my husband about and hour and half to put it together and it's now holding our 55" TV on it until it goes up on the wall. Really good for a good price.

I really like this piece. It was easy to put together and it looks nice. I wish that it was a little longer and had a couple of drawers, but other than that, I really like it. I would recommend this to a friend.