Customer Reviews

John Louis Home JLH-615 Deluxe Stand Alone Tower, Red Mahogany

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I ordered the tower to finish my closet remodel and was disappointed to find only two shelves included. You'll notice the picture has four. The John Louis closet system seems reasonably priced until you realize how many parts and pieces you'll need to complete an even modest sized space. Overall, the quality is good, but for most walk-in closets (mine is approximately 7'x4') you'll need to order at least two complete sets to get it done.

The organizer is relatively easy to put up but the picture makes you think there are many more shelves for this unit. In fact there were none that came with it. I had to order extra shelves to the tune of $50 per 2 shelves for the unit. It is still not a bad deal compared to california closets or other all wood closet organizers.

I ordered this along with the closet organizer system from John Louis to use as a shoe rack for my wife. I was a little annoyed that it does not come with any shelf inserts, they are sold separately, which makes the cost of the tower enclosure on it's own seem overpriced. But at the same time it does make sense b/c there are several custom options you can choose with this enclosure (all shelves, or combination of shelves and drawers, doors, etc)

My biggest issue was the installation. The instructions have you measure, mark out, and place the wall brackets for the sides which need to be precisely correct so the shelves will fit (too close and shelves won't go in, too far and shelves will fall to the floor). The problem I had was with the included dry wall anchors which are difficult to stay on center when screwing them into the wall. I ended up with a slightly too wide initial placement(about 1/4-3/8in) of spacing making my shelves prone to slipping out of the groves. I had to pull it down, patch the wall holes and start over again the next day. On day two, instead of measuring the placements of the wall brackets, I installed the two top hanging brackets, then assembled the whole unit (sans shelves) and hung it on the wall, then I just marked the location of the side brackets and was much faster than dealing with drawing plum lines etc. To deal with the drywall anchor issue, I found a piece of PVC pipe found around the house which I used as a guide to keep them on center and not wobble while screwing into the wall.

If you have a John Louis system you are already familiar with the tower unit. This is just a standalone unit that you can add for more storage space. It is made of the same materials as the closet system and goes together similarly. One thing to be aware of, it does not come with any adjustable shelves! Depending on your usage, you will probably want 2-4 shelves, so you'll need to factor that into the tower's cost. It comes with the four "walls" - sides, top, and bottom, and mounting hardware. So what you have when you are done is an empty tower ready to add shelves, drawers, etc. to.

Does the job and works alongside my John Louis closet system. Was relatively easy to install. Seems like a better deal than buying the set from Container Store or the other closets from Home Depot that weren't as pretty.

Great idea but cheap material. It is not easy to install alone. Requires more than one person Material cheaps very easily and the material is painted and not stained

Originally I was going to get the 16" organizer for our closets, but came across the Solid Wood Closets ones, those are much nicer and more solid looking, so I bought 2 Solid Wood Closets organizers. But I still needed a 12" tower to use as shoe rack for my wife and Solid Wood Closets does not make a standalone 12" tower so I just ordered the John Louis 12" together with 4 sets of adjustable shelves. The finish of the John Louis is not bad, but nowhere close to how nice the Solid Wood Closets look, the fit is kind of bad and I had to force a few shelves in and the wood chipped very easily. The slotted shelves are really not good for shoes since dirt will fall into shoes below so I lined every shelf with drawer liners. But for a 9 shelves wood shoe rack for around 300.00 dollars, not bad. Actually the review is for the 12" tower, but as far as fit and finish, I believe the 12" and 16" are the same.

Going back to the Solid Wood Closets, if you are looking for closet organizer, the quality and appearance are amazing for the price. But if you are thinking of a standalone shoe rack, the 12" shelf is not a bad option.