Storkcraft Avalon 6 Drawer Double Dresser, Gray

This may be a long review, so I apologize in advance. Overall I am very happy with this purchase. For the price, I am very impressed with how sturdy this dresser feels and I love that it is real wood (not mdf or particle board) and real screws (not just dowels and cam screws). I have put together a lot of furniture in my time and while this did take a bit longer than most, it is also much sturdier and I have real hope it will last long enough for our child to grow into using once it's nursery value has passed. I'm going to start with the few cons I noticed while setting it up, just to get them out of the way. - Labeling for the instructions/putting together was not the best. In the manual several of the screw types look very similar even though they look very different in real life. I wish they had labeled the pouches the hardware came in with the letters to make it easier to match up exactly which screw you need when. Also, 2 of the pieces were mislabeled, so at first I thought I had 2x parts 8 and 2. Luckily they just had the wrong stickers and I actually had one each of 2,3, 7, and 8, which is what I needed. The mislabel could easily have gone the other way though and resulted in them shipping me duplicates which would not have worked. - While the packaging was excellent, more care could have been taken with the pieces before being packaged. One of the drawer fronts has a noticeable scuff in one corner and there were a few other nicks and dings. Overall nothing worth getting a replacement for, especially since we plan to paint it anyway, but if you are more of a perfectionist it might be enough to be a problem for you. Mosrly it just shows a lack of care when handling the pieces at the factory (especially when combined with the incorrect labels), as these were definitely small damages that happened before shipping. - Not all of the drawers are quite as smooth gliding as I hoped, although there is a chance that is somehow becaise I out then together incorrectly. I don't think I did, and none of them is loud or clunky enough to be a real problem, but as this will be in the same room as a sleeping baby I would have preferred they were a little quieter. None of these cons is enough to take off a full star for, although if half stars were an option I may have gone with 4.5. I just wanted to mention them so people were aware, as they may be more an issue for someone else. Now for the Pros: - It's really a lovely, spacious dresser. I really like the style and design and couldn't find anything else similar (design wise) for less than $500. Unfortunately it seems that this product line may be ending as it went out of stock in every color except black at every store I looked, which is why we ended up with the black when we wanted Grey or White. Hopefully they realize how popular it is and bring it back, because even in the black it is really beautiful (just a little dark for a nursery, in our opinion). It's a lovely, glossy black (without being too shiny) and the wood for the drawers inside is also very pleasant and soft (I've had some dressers with coarse wood inside that ruined my clothes, that won't be the case here). - It was well packaged. The outer box actually had some damage from shipping but that didn't penetrate through the packaging to damage the pieces inside at all. Also, the velarious box pieces used to insulate inside were taped, rather than glued or stapled. This may seem like a small thing, but between work and other furniture I have put together I can tell you tape is Much easier to deal with when it comes time to break the boxes down for recycling/disposal. - It is very sturdy. I have out together a lot of relatively inexpensive furniture and for the price this is much better quality than I expected. Real wood and screws instead of mdf and cams. This does mean it takes longer to put together, but it's worth it as the final product will def hold together (something very important as it will also be a changing table for our baby!) that I have faith will be able to grow up with our son rather than only last through the nursery years. Neutrals: - It does take some time to put together. For me this wasn't a problem, but overall it took about 5 hours. Granted I had to take a few breaks, being 7 months pregnant, but I am very experienced putting together furniture (I'm usually the person in our house that does anything like that) and I would guess that even with a more involved 2nd pair of hands (my husband had his own project and mostly only helped with heavy lifting and the push pins) and no baby belly it would take at least 2 or 3 hours. I would advise any pregnant woman to have a 2nd body around at least for heavy lifting, as it is 150 lbs in the packaging and not super light when put together (and there are a few times when you need to rotate or tilt it). I also had a very hard time with the push pins, but my finger strength isn't great. Someone who isn't pregnant could probably do it alone, but it's much easier with some help. While they only provide one Allen wrench (and none of my fancy special grip ones worked because the space they were used in was tiny) one person could easily work on the drawers, which require a Phillips head, while the other worked on the body, which uses the Allen wrench. The drawers alone took me about an hour, but I was very tired by that point and not working fast. Tldr: I love this dresser and am very happy with my purchase as it is both sturdy and beautiful. If I could take off half a star for substandard labeling and lack of care in the warehouse I would, but it is closer to 5 stars than 4 in overall quality. Get some help to put it together, it'll be much easier. I hope to add pics to my review soon.

Edit: So I am pregnant again, (35 weeks…. Don’t take this long before you build your dresser!) and decided to buy this dresser again. The original we bought has survived, very well actually, a rambunctious toddler and a move to a new state, so I figured I’d go ahead and buy this again. It’s still beautiful and sturdy and I had honestly completely forgot the nightmare it was to put it together. Yay hormones! Amazingly though, the company has completely redone the dresser internals/design! Oh sure it LOOKS the same, but somehow feels even more sturdy, and was actually super easy to put together, a complete contrast to the first one we bought. The parts were labeled very clearly (with stickers put in locations that would either be hidden or were in the back, so nothing you’d have to peel off to keep the piece beautiful), the instructions were clear, and all of the drilled holes and pieces fit together smoothly with everything lining up. Had I not been so horrifically whale-like this time around, (again, 35 weeks pregnant. With twins!) I could have put this together entirely by myself. This is a complete turnaround from the original/first one of these that we bought about 2 years ago. Last time I would have recommended this to only experienced builders, despite how beautiful I think the piece is. Now? Heck, I’d recommend this to anyone. It really was a very nice build and if it’s anywhere as sturdy as the last one has been, you’d definitely get your moneys worth out of it. Original Post: It’s a beautiful dresser, and seems sturdy. The drawers slide smoothly, and the top is wide enough to put a changing pad on, which is what I had hoped for. The negative is that, drawers aside, the dresser is a nightmare to put together. The hubby and I have plenty of experience putting box furniture together…. And this sucked. I feel there are ways of putting it together so it’s even sturdier, and they have rounded cut outs for the screws that could have been better if they squared it off sot he washers fit better. The parts didn’t come labeled, and some were skittering loose around the box. The instructions seemed to be of the opinion that six, poorly drawn steps were sufficient to easily put it together, and I can assure you, it would have been better if they separated it out to at least 10 steps, with more detailed drawings. Not every piece was labeled and it took ages to figure out how they wanted some of the parts put together. While it came together in the end, I would not buy this if I didn’t have experience putting furniture together. The drawers and the instructions for them were good, and easy to put together and slip into place, but the main dresser? No way, it was a pain.

This dresser will be used in our nursery and we hope to use it as a changing table as well as storage for diapers/clothes/etc. Tl;dr review Pros -looks great -well-packaged and nothing broke during shipping -assembly instructions were clear (still took 3-4 hours with only one person) -very sturdy, but not too heavy to move Only cons: -putting together drawers by hand was difficult and inconsistent from drawer to drawer -one drawer ended up with more friction than others -top surface is just barely deep enough to fit our changing pad so there is no room for a tray Super long review: The first thing I noticed about this when it arrived (aside from how difficult it was to get up my stairs by myself) is how well everything is packaged. The pieces were well wrapped, or separated into smaller boxes, there were extra layers of cardboard included between pieces when necessary, and overall it felt like they took extra steps to make sure nothing was damaged in shipping. All of the pieces were well labeled with stickers that came off easily, so following the instructions for assembly was very easy. Assembly took me approximately 3-4 hours total by myself. Almost half of that felt like it was constructing the drawers and making sure they slid open and closed easily. I did run into some difficulty early on with making all of the frame pieces line up evenly, but I think with an extra set of hands that could be minimized. The wood itself felt like it's good quality. It's a great balance between being light enough to move easily and heavy enough to be very sturdy. It's nearly a perfect fit for what we needed and we're very happy with it so far. If I were to nitpick at all, there would only be a couple areas for improvement. As I mentioned above, I spent a long time putting together drawers, and no matter how hard I tinkered with it, there was one drawer that had more friction than the others. This could be an error on my part, but figured it's worth mentioning. The only other potential negative to this dresser is that the top is just barely deep enough to hold our changing pad, which means we have no room for a changing tray. That could have been avoided had we compared the dimensions of the changing pad to the dresser and then choosing a smaller pad, but we're new parents.. what else can I say?

Useful drawer, surprisingly sturdy. The fittings for assembly feel a bit brittle, broke one easily.

Me and my husband couldn't be happier! So worth it! Works for us since we don't have much space and it stores almost everything and acts as a dresser and changing table. It was so easy to put together. I was worried about getting a smaller dresser with not enough changing space since our baby boy is already 5 months old so this is perfect. I picked out a bigger changing top for him and still have space for diapers and lotions. We went with a Summer Infant Safe Surround Changer with higher walls, non slip legs, and an anchor we are going to drill in since hes learned to roll over. I spent weeks researching the perfect changer and dresser so I hope I saved someone else on time we love ours and I can't wait to get the diaper caddy which I have room for on the side. My husband was so impressed with how sturdy and well built it is and every drawer comes with 2 brackets underneath and it also comes with a safety anchor you can put into the wall to prevent tipping when your child is older. We can't wait for our Graco Hadley crib by Storkcraft to come in tomorrow! The look of this dresser is just gorgeous I definitely reccomend it! So glad we spent the extra money on it instead of settling. The only concern is it is a heavy package and when it was dropped off on our porch the guy literally dropped it that I heard it slam and he took of running! Thankfully nothing was damaged since it's well packaged! I'd look out for it being delivered so you can get someone to assist to prevent damage.

Great chest!!!! Durable and steady!!! Nice color!!!

We were gifted this product off our baby registry due to the few positive reviews, size and functionality of the changing table being on top. Loved the look. Seemed like a perfect fit. This experience was a literal nightmare! We wasted 3hours of our life with a newborn trying to build this piece of crap(for lack of a stronger word). The hardware is trash-we even were missing pieces of hardware. The holes in the wood don’t easily align or allow the hardware to have a nice snug secure fit to assemble easily allowing the wooden pegs to fall out easily. There’s no sturdiness to allow ease with thoughts of safety knowing your infant will be changed on the top of the dresser, when you move the dresser it rocks and pieces fall out of place-the anchor they send with it is flimsy and I can’t imagine it actually working keeping a kid safe from it falling over. The side came scratched(among other pieces as well), their was a part that was dented in the corner/end piece-the instructions weren’t clear at all-pages lacked words and the diagrams weren’t any better to decipher. We didn’t even bother building the drawers bc we couldn’t get that far after seeing the safety hazards and the lack of overall stability. When taking it apart to put back in the box for the return it took me (by myself) less then 2 minutes…literally!!! 3hrs trying to build the product and disassembled it all in less then 2 minutes. Don’t order this product, do yourself and your blood pressure a favor and keep searching for something better even if it means a-little more money.

Super great! I love everything about this. Spacious and great quality.

Love it! Easily to assemble and super fast shipping!

We love it. It’s sturdy and truly looks great. Only downside is it’s a pain in the neck to put together. Also, it’s a bit pricey but well worth it.

Perfect size for my daughter’s room.

Had to get a replacement part as the threads were missing but it was delivered quickly. Took a couple hours to put together, great instructions.

Product will show up with multiple damaged pieces either out right broken or dents and scratches. Boxes show up in good condition so this is a manufacturing problem. buyer beware