Studio File Cabinet, Honey

This is a very attractive small bureau. The fit is just about perfect better than an IKEA piece of furniture. It was made in Vietnam. The only negative which I could fix in my shop was the bottom drawers meant to be only a file drawer. It doesn’t have a bottom. We use these things as nightstands in a bedroom so I don’t need technically a file drawer. It’s just a matter of putting in a piece of wood. Given the price, I find this an amazing bargain.

Nice wood, good design, but shoddily prepared at the factory. Parts incorrectly attached that had to be removed and placed correctly before it could be assembled. Inadequate instructions. One of my drawers could not be made to align.It's too bad, because the piece looks good when assembled correctly. Mine were assembled by an experienced cabinet-maker, who had a helluva time doing it.

I bought three of them, and I am very happy. I was a little skeptical if my cabinet will be as pretty as it is on the picture, but what you see is what you get, and more. I was actually looking for a nightstand with drawers and out of all the choices available out there this one was the best for me, and I was very happily surprised by the quality of this cabinet. It was a very easy and very pleasant to put them together, because of the very smooth finishing of all the pieces. Even the back walls are smoothly finished and painted back and front. You don't see that quality in most furniture. So that is to me a big plus. The assembly was easy, but the middle drawer was too tight, because the horizontal frame was too short by one millimeter. But that was very easy to fix, I just stuck a toothpick between the inside horizontal frame and the outside veridical frame, and then i tightened the screw, and it gave more room for the drawer to come in and out perfectly. And since I am so happy with that cabinet I didn't mind that the file drawer had no walls. It was not a big deal to instal the bottom and the walls to the drawer. Using 1\4 in. plywood, I cut out bottom, and sides, and I just used a wood 3\4 in. stapler to fasten them in place. But if I didn't have that plywood, I thought I could use a regular cardboard box and staple it in place. Good quality cardboard is very strong, and can be used to create the inside walls, and be stapled to the frame with a good stapler. Don't need any fancy tools, not even screws or nails, just good quality cardboard, and stapler, and little creativity. Overall I am every happy with my cabinet project. People do complain, but they have to be the type of people who don't know how to turn their shirt inside out, there are people like that, but if you know how to do that, you will have no problem to assemble that cabinet and even to install walls and the bottom to the file drawer if you would want to use it for anything else, like me. It is fun project, and excellent cabinet. Go for it, good luck, and have fun.

For the money, this is a great wood filing cabinet. It took about 45 minutes to put together. I would by another if I needed it.

PROS > Excellent materials > Very sturdy--makes a good solid printer stand, PERFECT for my new Epson 4020 printer. > Very attractive > File drawer has suspension rails/tracks. Therefore opens and closes easily even with a heavy load of files. But it's NOT a double (full) suspension track, so access to the last 2" of files is not easy if you have the drawer tightly packed with files. > Well packed QUALITY CONTROL ISSUES > I noticed many small flaws in the wood, and woodwork when assembling, but few were noticeable when assembled. > The fit of the components is less than perfect, but this is mostly unnoticeable in the assembled printer stand. Alignment and tightness can be greatly improved by judicious use of a mallet during assembly (see "Assembly" below). > In mine the holes were not drilled for one of the drawer sides. I'm an experienced wood-worker, so drilling the holes were no problem for me. > In mine, the components were short one screw, but it was a common size, easy to find in my workshop. > In mine, the right side of the file drawer is lower than the left side. Repair would require moving the right drawer track up 1/16". (see "Easy Fix" below) FLAWS In mine, and apparently others, the file drawer easily comes off the track. This is because the printer stand frame is too wide on the bottom. You could sand the sides of the bottom panel 1/16" to 1/8". I simply shimmed out the track with thin strips of cardboard, which works fine. DESIGN ISSUES > File drawer has no bottom, and so cannot be used for other purposes > For perfectionist the drawers should be assembled with pegs and glue (at a minimum) rather than small wood screws (but you don't get that option unless you have a woodshop). For ordinary folks, you have to be very careful not to strip the holes by overtightening the screws. If you do, see "Easy Fix" below. TOOLS > An allen wrench is provided. However you also need a small phillips screwdriver, a small hard hammer, and mallet (a large soft hammer). > A power screwdriver makes the job easier but: >> You'd need a 1/8" (allen) hex bit that fits your power screwdriver. >> It is easy to overtighten the small screws (used for the drawers)--which strips the holes. If you use your power screwdriver, just set the screws loosely, and hand-tighten with a manual screwdriver. > Rely on a soft mallet to close gaps rather than tightening the screws tighter--otherwise you'll just strip the holes. Loosely assemble with the screws, smack with the mallet where necessary, then re-tighten the screws. ASSEMBLY > The shipping box is designed to open completely flat. Open it up on the floor to use as a mat to protect the printer stand during assembly. Assembly is fairly easy for anyone with experience with "assemble-yourself" furniture, but not IKEA simplicity. > A big soft mallet (rubber hammer) can come in handy to align components and make the joints tighter when necessary. (It is best to protect the surface with a 1 x 4 x 12" scrap board, etc which you actually whack). > The drawers assemble with simple screws, meaning that there is some "give". You may need to push or pull to align parts while tightening the screws. DO NOT overtighten. > There are 12 filler pegs to cover large screw holes on the sides. These should be lightly hammered in place, but use a piece of scrap wood, cardboard, etc. between the pegs and the hammer so that you don't mare the finish. > If you want the drawers to slide more smoothly, the traditional remedy is a wax candle. Simply slide a wax candle back and forth in the groove in the side of the drawer to coat it with wax. There are also commercial products available for this purpose. For example Slideez Lubricant or Elmer's E450 Slide-All Dry Spray Lubricant 4-Ounce or Nylo-Tape 10 mil thick x 1/2'' x 10 feet > You may be tempted to glue the floating back panel or the floating drawer bottoms for extra strength. Beware that, in theory, these are floating for a reason---to be able to respond to expansion and shrinkage caused by temperature and humidity, rather than joints cracking under the strain. In reality, whether or not floating panels are necessary depends on the type of wood, how it is finished, and the climate. I suspect that in most cases the primary purpose of floating panels in modern furniture is to simply assembly. In my former ignorance, I routinely glued floating panels in place---and have never seen any problem as a result. The small drawers are the only components of the cabinet which might benefit from gluing. I did NOT glue the drawer joints (nor floating bottoms) of the small drawers of the printer stand, but in my opinion doing so "can't hurt". EASY FIX for stripped or mis-aligned holes > If you strip a screw hole, the easiest "fix" (other than finding a larger screw), is to jam a sliver of wood in the hole (e.g., a toothpick). If you want, a little white glue on the sliver is even better. Elmer's Craft Bond Wood Craft Glue, 4-Ounce, White The white glue will also be absorbed into the wood and make it stronger. I often fill such holes with white glue, wait for it to be absorbed, then refill the hole, etc. If course, you need to set the screw before the glue dries. > This is also the easiest way to slightly move a misaligned hole. Fill the hole completely with a plug of wood (hammered-in if necessary, liquid white glue lubricates hammering plugs in). Bamboo skewers (used for cooking) make great mini-plugs. Then drill a new hole at the edge of the old hole. With small woodscrews, you may not have to drill a new hole--just install the screw on the edge of the old hole, but a shallow starter hole made by with a tool for this purpose, or small nail, is recommended to be sure the screw digs in where you want it to. > Click on “Stoney” just below the product title to see my other reviews, or leave a comment to ask a question.

These cabinets do look nice but... workmanship is a little sloppy. I bought two of them and on one of the drawers, the screw holes were not drilled int he correct position for the drawer to go together properly so i had tocarefully measure and re-drill the holes. One piece of the drawer was cracked/damaged--I had to glue and clamp it before it would work. One drawer, when assembled scrapes a bit as you push it in. I disappointed that he bottom file drawer is just a frame, no solid bottom or sides so you cannot use the large bottom drawer for anyting but hanging file folders. Would be nice to have the option to put other things in there. Going to hardware store tomorrow to buy bits of plywood to enclose it and make it a real drawer. It's going to be tricky--there is very little clearance room between the bottom of a hanging file folder and the actual bottom of the drawer frame. Had i known i would have to do so much customizing/repair I probably would have bought something else.

We hunted for an economically priced, attractive file and storage cabinet for a small den. Bar none, this is the very best on the market to meet those goals. It is solid wood and has a well applied finish. The construction was very simple. The pieces fit together perfectly. And even if you make a mistake attaching things together, you can take screws out without worrying about stripping the holes. The other great feature is that the file drawer allows for either legal or letter hanging file holders. The file drawer doesn't have a bottom, but I think it would be easy enough to put a bottom panel in if you wanted to convert the drawer to a regular storage drawer. Thanks, Amazon, for adding this to the catalogue!

I love this little filing cabinet / storage unit. It's compact and quite attractive. It serves it's purpose quite well. I will probably be buying a second one to match this one. Pros: Very attractive. Solid wood - not particle board. (It's quite heavy - about 40 lbs I think) Lots of space for your office supplies. (Although the drawers are a bit shallow at about 3" deep each) Very well packaged to prevent scratches from shipping. Was not too difficult to assemble. (Less than an hour.) *** A drill with the correct bit will save you you from having to use an allen wrench to install about 20 screws. Major time saver with a drill!! Cons: Came with a little damage - one of the side rails was split. Nothing a little white glue wasn't able to help with. (Although on this site, and others, I have noticed that damaged parts was a common problem.) I don't think the damage was from shipping. I think it was put in the box damaged. I would definitely recommend it and I will likely be buying a second one soon.

Nice solid wood piece for the price.Looks great;a step up from the usual particleboard junk.Clever file drawer design with brass rods but it needs to be lowered by 2mm so that the plastic label tabs on file folders don't hit the bottom of the next drawer as it is opened and closed.

I had read the reviews before buying so was aware the others had a few issues with the bottom drawer. I assembled it myself but it would have been much easier with another pair of hands! I could not get the bottom drawer to go in but turned the cabinet upside down and the drawer slid right in. Looks great in the room with the desk and the corner table.

Well made and easy to put together, well worth buying