Customer Reviews

Graco Lauren Classic Crib, Espresso

5 star:		(80)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

It's so hard being a new parent, isn't it? How many hours have you already researched cribs? Losing sleep yet? Well, stop.
This is a great crib for around $150.00. I am an ICU RN, my husband is a safety engineer. We spent a LOT of time researching cribs. Please note most negative reviews for this product are for the drop side crib. That is not this crib. If you are looking for a safe, cheap baby crib, you have found it. That's why this crib is a baby bargins winner. What I care about is safety, safety, SAFETY! Who loses sleep over a knick in the wood? I could careless. I'm not rich; I need something that will last through 2 babies without breaking the bank. I've had this crib for 7 months and it still looks great. My husband assembled it with no problems. I purchased the Sealy Soybean Foam-Core Crib Mattress to go with it and it fits perfect (best mattress ever if you're struggling with that decision too BTW). I am very happy with this purchase for the price. I will use it for baby #2 as well. Save your money for their college and buy this crib.

We love this crib :) It gets an A rating in Baby bargains, which is a book which tells you everything you need to know about purchasing baby items, as well as safety ratings. We ordered it online and it arrived very quickly. It was packaged very well, everything was there that we needed. The instructions were simple, and I was able to put it together by myself in less than an hour. I also purchased the matching changing table and was very happy with that also. I would recommend this crib to any of my friends and family looking for a safe and good looking product for a very reasonable price. :)

I love this crib with one caveat: IT WON'T LET A STEEL-FRAMED CRIB MATTRESS SIT FLAT because it won't squeeze between the brackets that hold the springboard up.

Why I chose this crib:
(1) After reading reviews on a TON of cribs, the problems reported seemed fewer and less significant or even avoidable. (More reviews for this crib are under the espresso finish.)

(2) I chose the natural finish because, like many cribs priced up to $500, it's made of pine, which is by its nature a softer wood, so likely to be dinged by a baby. I figure that with the natural finish, any dings or chips on the finish won't show as badly as on the espresso finish. Also, pine is a light wood that you can kind of mesh with other pine or birch pieces and it looks fine... Darker stains are harder to match.

(3) I went to a store with a lot of cribs set up to see how the standard mattress fit in each one and to shake each one for sturdiness. This was the cheapest one where the mattress fit snugly and it seemed very sturdy. (Granted, even good cribs may seem less sturdy if not tightened properly when built.)

(4) I found it for $125 new, which made it a lot cheaper than my other top choices for cribs.

(5) This is convertible to a toddler bed. The downside is it doesn't have a half-rail, however it's super low to the ground at that stage, so I don't see that it will be a huge problem. I can always put pillows or blankets down for the first while. I would think that most kids will only fall out a few times before they learn not to roll off.

(6) You can also convert it to a twin headboard (not the whole frame) which I liked because a lot of other cribs require you to spend around $100 to buy the matching side pieces to put along the bed. I thought this was much more economic, because if I do use it that way I can just buy a cheap bed frame and cover it with a dust ruffle. And really, kids don't need footboards on their beds, in my opinion. I don't even think they need headboards, but it's sure a nice option!

When we received the crib, my husband and I put it together. The directions (which are on the spring assembly in the box) were great as long as you really pay attention to where the holes are on the picture to see which way the pieces are facing. I didn't do great at first, but it only added a few minutes to fix the piece I'd turned around. It was easy to assemble, and when you tighten the bolts properly, it is very sturdy.

Only problem:
I tried to put my nice steel-framed mattress in and saw that where the brackets made it so the mattress wouldn't fit flat. I warily called customer service and was actually very impressed with them--except the replacement springboards they sent, though different, still had the inherent problem of not allowing enough room for the mattress which was the size they said to buy because it won't "squish" in between the brackets. So... not having the packaging for the crib anymore, I ended up buying a firm mattress without a steel frame instead. I'm extremely disappointed with this easily avoidable flaw in the design, but otherwise really do like the crib.

I wanted to add a comment to the previous reviewer's. They were unhappy with their drop-side model. The model shown here is for fixed sides. I received one in espresso finish (stationary sides) and it is extremely sturdy! Not only is it very stable, it's also extremely lovely, and for the price, I have to say it can't be beat. It's great quality. The instructions were a bit funky, but my hubby was great help. LOVE THIS CRIB. Keep in mind about the difference of drop-side and fixed. If you can, go with fixed anyway. They almost always are more stable, safer, and much more rarely recalled.

i bought this crib from Babies R Us and it arrived in perfect condition. i put it together easily and it looked great and was very stable. however, once i put the crib mattress in it, there was always too much space between the mattress and the side of the crib (especially in the corners). according to the latest safety guidelines from the Consumer Product Safety Commission, you should not be able to fit more than 1 finger between the mattress and crib. at first i thought it was just the mattress i had but after trying 3 other mattresses (serta, colgate foam with square corners, sealy) i realized that the problem was the crib itself. i did some research online and it sounds like some other folks have had the same problem, but others have not. so i guess it just depends on the exact crib you get. it has been a pain to pack it back up and return it, so if i had to do it again i would just have bought a more expensive crib to begin with (like the bonavita our oldest little girl uses).

We bought this crib because we loved the first Graco convertible crib that we have for our son, who is now in the full sized bed. This crib was easy to put together, looks great in the room, and the price was very reasonable.

I was only disappointed because I thought it would have a toddler railing like the previous crib. Since there was only one picture of the crib on Amazon I couldn't be sure. It won't be a problem since we can buy a separate toddler rail to use.

Overall, very happy.

This crib was purchased as a gift for expectant parents. The packaging protected it well during shipping, which apparently turned violent. Assembly was simple, and the crib is remarkably sturdy when fully assembled. The crib is beautiful and of surprisingly high quality.

One caution: The owner's manual that ships with this crib indicates that it is not intended for newborns. This may be due to mattress dimensions (as others have mentioned) or perhaps the spacing of slats. With that having been said, a set of bumpers around the perimeter of the crib and it was ready to go. It would have been nice to know this prior to purchase.

In all, this is a beautiful, sturdy crib.

I did a lot of research for a crib and while I would prefer an American Made, top-notch crib, they are expensive and typically start at $600. Since that is a little much for me I needed to find something cheap that is also SAFE. Safety is the #1 priority.

Baby bargains highly recommends this crib and I was hesistant since it is made in China and all the negative complaints for this product complain about dented parts and the hassle of returns. My wife and I decided to buy this from Babies R Us instead of amazon (an extra $30 or so) just because we knew if it came trashed, we could easily return/exchange it at the store and not deal with shipping and waiting, etc. We thought it was a wise investment (and means to finally get rid of some gift cards).

We picked up the unit and I put it together quite easily. I am VERY surprised how sturdy this is. Not that I was expecting anything bad (the store display was nice) but this was brand new and feels great. So, the solid wood fits together well and is quite strong and is covered is a strong coating (the wood stain/coating). This crib looks great and holds my Soy-Foam $100 mattress perfectly.

NOW - small problem. A corner of one of the pieces was dented. While this doesn't change the safety of the product, its a dent which means it's damaged. The manual clearly states to contact them if there is a problem. While this is made in China, there is an office in NJ. I emailed them a photo and thorough description of my dent. They got back to be about 4 days later and told me they are shiping me a new top-board. Nice!

IN CONCLUSION - buying a crib sucks unless you have $600+ to spend, then you can buy anything i guess. Maybe even someone else to do all the work for you. But in reality, you need somethnig cheap and safe. This is it. Buy plenty in advance for possible damage returns. This crib is more than worth the money.

I needed a crib to replace our old drop-side one and spent a long time searching for what I wanted. It may not have the hidden screws and hardwood style of an $800 model, but for the price this looks good when it is set up. My husband was able to set it up quickly with no problems. I read in several reviews that people had trouble finding a mattress that fit properly but I have had two different mattresses in the crib and they both worked well. Most recently I bought this mattressSealy Baby Firm Rest Crib Mattress.

After using an older model of this crib with our first child (a Graco Lauren Crib with the drop side) we decided to order this one in the same style for our second baby. There are some noticeable differences between this one and the older model. Note: The older model of this crib with the drop side was recalled, but this model does NOT have a drop side

This crib is different than the older one (purchased in the beginning of 2009) in a couple of key ways:
1. This crib does NOT have a drop side. The front of the crib is attached using screws through the sides.
2. This crib does NOT have the casters that were on the 2009 Lauren Crib
3. The mattress spring/base seemed to be of a better quality than the one on the 2009 crib (it was much easier to put into place on the new crib)

The assembly of the crib was straightforward and took about 1 hour put together(with a little help needed to hold up some of the pieces due to their size).