****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I have a relatively large kitchen with a lot of cabinets and storage, but my house was built 40 years ago and is not equipped to handle the newer appliances requiring 1500-1800 watts each. Since I tend to be an appliance junkie, I have a couple different ovens, a couple grills, a griddle, a coffee pot, a couple food processors, and a microwave oven. If you are the cook of the family, you know it's difficult enough to plan and cook creative meals every day with out having to worry about the configuration of appliances you can use without blowing out the circuit breaker. If you don't choose wisely, the circuit breaker pops, everything goes off, and you have to guess where each appliance timer was to finish cooking after you figure out where you can plug an appliance that won't blow off the circuit breaker again. In addition, I was finding that some appliances I would use were in the back of cabinets, and weren't being used because it took too much effort to dig them out.This kitchen island has helped to solve both of my problems. We put it on a wall in the kitchen that is on a different circuit than the rest of the kitchen, so I can use more appliances at one time. This island has also provided more space in the cabinets that I can keep some of the smaller appliances handy so I will use them. The drawers and cabinets have also helped to keep accessories for my appliances together instead of trying to put them wherever they would fit. This island has really eliminated a lot of stress in my meal planning and cooking.I decided on this island because it is available in an oak finish. Most offer only white, black, and cherry. My kitchen is more of a honey oak, but this color looks fine even though it is a little darker in color. As others have mentioned, it was easy to put together and is solid wood. Personally, I prefer the casters since this makes it easy to move to wash and vacuum the kitchen floor. The drawers glide easily and are comparable to the expensive cabinetry. On one side of the island is a paper towel holder that is very handy to wipe messes on the counter. On the other side, is a spice holder and a towel holder below it.The doors of the cabinets can be easily removed by just lifting them up, and are held closed with magnets. The unit comes with 1 shelf for each cabinet, but my husband made two more shelves for me to hold items I wanted to store in them. The heights of shelves are completely adjustable with pegs inserted into the sides of the cabinets. In addition, there are grooves on the undersides of the shelves that pegs fit into so the shelves don't shift.Personally, I couldn't be happier with this kitchen island. It has solved most of my problems with dinner planning and storage. Best of all, it has solved the problems of cooking in my rubrics cube kitchen. I can cook good meals without having to figure out what appliances will work together. All-in-all, this is a very well constructed island that is comparable to much more expensive models.I hope this review was helpful for you. If you have had similar problems that I had, this island may be a Godsend for you.I rarely write reviews, but having just finished assembling this I felt motivated say how impressed I am with its overall design, engineering, fit and quality.All the parts fit together perfectly and unlike it's competitors all the structural parts are solid wood rather than cheap particle board. Plus the top is a solid slab of polished granite that is way better than the wood tops on most other products.It takes some time to assemble, but everything fit perfectly and it looks great.Highly recommended!Cons:•I specifically asked the company if it was bright white and was told yes but it's off-white.•It doesn't have a drop-leaf on it.•A butcher block top would have been nice.•The drawers aren't very deep, front to back.•Lots of styrofoam, ugh!!! But necessary to protect it.Pros:•This cabinet is convenient, as I can roll it right to the dishwasher and then to the dinner table as needed.•It was easy to put together. It took my Son-in-law about 45 minutes.•The top is very nice.•It fits well in my newly remodeled kitchen.•The bottom drawer is what I was wanting. I needed 1 deep drawer (top to bottom) because I want to put my silverware in the drawer standing up on end with dividers. The bottom drawer is perfect for this.•I used the rest for my everyday dishes in the cabinet sides. The other drawers are being used for my dish towels and other large cooking utensils.•Delivery was faster than indicated, and this was just before Christmas that I ordered it. It came well packaged in 2 boxes.•The other nice thing about it is it's solid wood! No MDF or other pressed sawdust parts.•Just one more thing that may be a problem, I have been using a silverware tray that doesn't fit in these drawers.My kitchen doesn't have any upper cabinets. Just very large windows!!! I had been using a drawer for the plates and bowls. This was not very convenient.Yes, there are plenty of cabinets available with butcher-block, drop-leaf tops but none had a large drawer. And none of the others in this price range were solid wood!It seems like it will last a long time. One day I might just paint it a sea-breeze color to match my decor.I would certainly recommend it it you need more cabinets or drawers.I'm just glad that the bottom drawer is deep enough, top to bottom for my silverware to stand up on edge. I just ordered balsa wood pieces to cut into squares and interlink so my silverware can stand on edge. There will still be plenty of room in the drawer that I may just add more squares for other items.It was easy to assemble, and it’s beautiful and sturdy. Love the granite top. No damage at all, and shipped in lots of styrofoam. Only problem I had was deciding which color to buy! I bought the oak stained cart. I think it’s slightly darker than the picture.This is just beautiful! Very easy to put together. Directions were easy to follow. Not made out of cheap wood. Made out of real wood. Quality is very strong. Lots of compliments on how beautiful this is. Worth buying this product! JulieAnnIl est bien, mais le rapport qualité n’est pas vrai! Le prix devrait être moins de 500$Excellent would highly recommend this
