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(More customer reviews)My husband and I are experienced do-it-yourselfers. This left us in a bit of a conundrum. We didn't want to buy the melamine stuff at Home Depot or Lowe's - it's better than it used to be, but still pretty cheap looking. But we also didn't want to hire a custom place who wants to do it all themselves (at quite the cost) since we could do most of it ourselves. Nor did we want to go with one of the cabinet companies (like American Woodmark or Kraftmaid - they make kitchen and bath cabinets, but also have closet options), because that would also be more expensive than we wanted.
We came across this John Louis Home solution originally on the Costco website. Costco sells a complete kit which includes the standard kit as shown here, plus a package of 2 extra tower shelves, 3 8" drawers, and 2 6" drawers. Target.com sells individual components in addition to kits, so we purchased from both places. This seemed like the only available middle-ground: better quality, with some configuration options, but not custom and not top-of-the-line (especially in price). So we ended up buying enough components to fill our fairly large master closet plus two other bedroom closets.
All-told, we installed 4 of the 16" towers with drawers, 2 of the 12" towers with shelves only, plus the connecting shelves and bars. We also installed some extra stand-alone shelves in an alcove in our master closet.
Our review of this suite of products is very mixed. There are some good and some not so good aspects of this system.
The good:
- It is solid wood, which gives it a sense of quality and sturdiness
- The drawer glides are the type with ball-bearings and full-extension capability. It's really nice to be able to open the drawers all the way and the ball-bearings make for a very smooth glide
- As other reviewers here and at Target.com have mentioned, the finished product really does look good
- The instructions are pretty clear - the install as documented is time-consuming, but accurate and easy to follow
- The packaging is quite good. Although most of the boxes sustained some shipping damage, with one very small exception, all the contents were in perfect condition when opened
- The John Louis customer service was really good. One of the drawers was missing a cam bolt and none of the others had extras, so I called their 800 number to request a replacement. I got directly to a human without a maze of phone selections, and she was very friendly and professional. She UPSed replacement parts to me right away.
- Assembling the drawers is easy.
The not so good and the bad:
- Although the drawer glides are smooth, they are also somewhat stiff - you can't just nudge a drawer closed - you have to push it all the way in.
- The screws provided aren't of very good quality - they strip pretty easily
- The manufacturing is somewhat careless. There are places where the wood was damaged in the fabrication process. They patched those areas with wood filler and stained over. Normally, this wouldn't be a bad thing, but the patch jobs were fairly sloppy. I also had one drawer part with the cam bolt holes mis-drilled, and another drawer part with the track guides on a diagonal, instead of straight across
- Installing the drawers is very tedious. Although the tracks go into specified places in the towers (the 16" deep ones), the drawers don't have pre-drilled holes for their half of the tracks - just guidelines, which sometimes are right on, and other times aren't at all close
The ugly:
- The installation method is unnecessarily complicated, and in our opinion not structurally sound. The towers themselves are quite heavy, especially with drawers. And yet the towers are held to the wall by just 6 thin, 1/2" screws, placed very close to the edge of the wood. The whole thing is also supposed to be supported in the top shelf, which doesn't make sense. We actually ended up using the materials but completely re-engineering the installation process. What we did is much more solid and faster. I would not feel comfortable installing the units as prescribed. I think within a few years (if not sooner) most installations would loosen or have some other structural failure.
Now that it's all done, and looking back, we would still do this again for two reasons (1) we have the expertise to deal with the challenges, and (2) it's still the only option in this class. If there were other options, we'd probably explore those, but there aren't at the moment.
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The Deluxe closet system brings you closet organization that is built for durability and visual appeal. This closet system features closet shelves made from beautiful 100% wood. Available in maple and mahogany finishes, the closet organization system is elegant and refined while providing you with durable closet organization. All shelves measure 16" deep and the system includes multiple components to organize your bedroom closet.HANGERS NOT INCLUDED.#106577 & #106578 Closet Shelf System:Three 16" x 24" shelvesOne 16" x 48" shelfTwo 16" x 72" shelves72" Vertical Tower Six Angle BracketsThree Metal Wardrobe BarsSix Metal J-Hooks#107677 & #107678 Additional ShelvesKit includes two additional adjustable shelves for use with tower portion of the Closet Shelf System. Eight shelf pins included.#107679 & #107680 Door KitDoor kit includes two doors to be used on the tower portion of the Closet Shelf System. The doors have glass doors and decorative beveled edging. Four hinges and all fasteners included. #107681 & #107682 6"H Drawer Kit6"H Drawer kit includes one short drawer to be used on the tower. All hardware and fasteners included.#107683 & #107684 8"H Drawer Kit8"H Drawer kit includes one short drawer to be used on the tower. All hardware and fasteners included.#137141 & #137142 10"H Drawer Kit10"H Drawer kit includes one drawer to be used on the tower. All hardware and fasteners included.#137145 &"
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