Storkcraft Beatrice Combo Tower Chest, White (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

We purchased the Stork Craft Beatrice in cognac coloring to match with the Tuscany crib also from stork craft. The colors are very similar to the crib, although the changing table is slightly darker in color.Delivery: First of all, product was delivered timely by FedEx. The box is compact, however it is VERY heavy (somewhere around 120 pounds). Obviously it will take two people to move it. The contents were packaged very well and much like the crib the tower was double boxed with styrofoam padding around the inner box. Therefore no damage to the insides of the box at all.Assembly: There are a TON of pieces with this tower! The instruction book is much like all the booklets now, all pictures and no text at all. However, the diagrams are very well thought out, parts labeled for guidance, and the manual contains a 'real-size' parts chart to help find the exact piece you are needing. Typical of most press board furniture items, the tower is held together by wooden pegs and "quarter turn locking screws". Word of advice on assembly tools, a good electric screwdriver is a must! Additionally, the locking screws are not the highest quality parts as compared to other furniture items i've assembled. There was never a "right" size screw driver to use to turn the locking screw pieces, and often we had to re-tighten several times because the parts wouldn't lock in hard. Assembly took my wife and I a good 3 hours. Its really handy to have a second person to hold parks especially when the locking nuts keep falling out of their holes.More assembly: Another word of advice is to be very careful when putting the backer board on the piece. The tower portion is extremely tricky because it has to fit into the correct grooves. Also, if you screw in the screws at the wrong angle the guide holes are so close to the inside of the sidewall boards that you could potentially send a screw into the inside of the cabinet or cause the press board sides to" bubble" where the screws are.Appearance: Overall this piece seems very sturdy for what you pay. It does have a nice finishing appearance and the drawers and doors all close and line up correctly. The knobs for the drawers and door look a little cheap, so we will likely replace them with an oiled bronze metal handle instead.Drawer depth: Some have complained about the drawer depth begin too shallow. Yes, the front of the drawers are deceiving as they are much bigger than the actual depth of the drawer itself. The sides of the drawer are about 4" tall however the vertical height of the drawers will allow you to fold or pile closes higher than the drawer sides without problems closing the drawer.Pre-Screwed holes: Some have complained about how poorly the holes are drilled for this piece. I do agree that the manufacturers did a poor job with the screws and type of holes for the door hardware. The screws fit very tight and are difficult to adjust. Word of advice is to not tighten the screws all the way on the latch that helps later on in the door installation. Otherwise, most of the holes were correctly placed for our product. Only pieces where they appeared to struggle was with the holes for the drawer tracks. All of the pieces fit together well, which can be problematic if the holes are mis-aligned.Overall: We really like this chest. It is not hardwood, but for the money spent it will get us through the first couple years. It has a nice appearance and is sturdy; those are the main points of any good changing table. The plus side is the available storage which for those of us who have small closets is a huge benefit. I would recommend this chest to anyone!

We originally purchased this combo chest and the matching hutch for my first child back in 2007. It has held up extremely well over the past 6 years and matched our crib perfectly in finish. We even found a bunk bed for her now that matches the finish (we have the Oak color). I have had no problems at all with the dresser - the drawers still function perfectly, and while it shows minor dents and scratches after 6 years of daily use it's nothing I wouldn't expect from any wooden piece of furniture.We are expecting baby #2 any day now and since we are re-using our old crib and I liked this dresser so much, we ordered a second one, along with the hutch. It was shipped promptly from Amazon Prime and they called to set up a delivery time with us. The boxes arrived intact with no damage, the dresser was well-packaged and padded inside the boxes, and only one of the pieces of the hutch part we ordered at the same time had a small scratch, but not in a visible area. (our first set of these also arrived with no issues as far as damage).It took us a few hours to put it together. It's not complicated to put together, though the cardboard backings that go on the hutch and chest are the worst - they are nearly impossible to line up correctly, but I find that with ALL consumer-assembled furniture that comes with those types of thin backboard pieces - they never line up right! It is not something that is unique to this piece of furniture.My only other complaint is the drawer glides on the new chest we just purchased. They do not go all the way to the backs of the drawers, thus the drawers do not open completely. It renders the back 4-5" of each drawer nearly useless, as you can't get anything out of the back of the drawer unless you also take out what is in front of it. Our original chest purchased in 2007 had drawer glides that went the full length of the drawers so you can open them all the way (and we've had NO issues with that - I've never had a drawer fall off or anything, it still all works as perfectly as it did on day one!). I'm sure I can get replacement drawer glides for the new one somewhere, I just have to get them measured and look into it, but it's frustrating to not be able to use the back portion of the drawers easily.As some of the other reviews mentioned, the hutch doesn't really firmly attach to the dresser - it's only attached on the back via a couple of screws through those thin backboards, however that could be easily remedied with a couple of small brackets if you were really concerned about it. We never did anything extra to our first daughters, it's just attached to the wall with the anti-tip bracket provided with the chest. The weight of books and things on it, the few attachments it does have, and the anti-tip bracket have kept it firmly in place in my oldest's room for 6 years. It's never budged even a slight bit.Aside from that issue on the newer models, it's an amazing chest/hutch set IMO. I never expected my first daughter's furniture to hold up so well for as little as we paid for it. I'm very pleased and highly recommend the set to anyone who doesn't have a lot or doesn't want to spend a lot of money.