John Louis Home Premier 12-Inch Deep Closet Shelving System

Our closet came with a single shelf and a single rod hanging beneath it. That was all I needed for many years, but now I'm married and have a child. Our storage needs have gone way up and the old configuration proved to be inefficient and inadequate. Thus it was that we discovered the John Louis Premier Solid Wood Closet System. It seemed like something that would work. We installed it in "Configuration C" and it works splendidly.

A note of caution is in order. Before you attempt to install this closet system, you'd better do an honest evaluation of your skills. Are you very handy around the home, or are you just barely able to get things put together? If the answer is the latter, don't attempt this project. It's very difficult. The instructions are opaque, to say the least. This project will favor those who are able to improvise when things don't go well. Things won't. If you are unable to do anything except following instructions, don't attempt this project. I ended up with far more parts than I would ever have needed, and not enough parts to get the job done.

After the very difficult task of getting the whole thing assembled inside the closet, I found that there were only two "G Shelves," although the drawings I was following clearly indicated three were necessary. Hmmmm. There were enough parts for the installation of three shelves, but there were, in fact, only two shelves included in the package and, clearly, no room for three. I called a 1-800 number and explained the situation. First, the telephone experience was exceptionally good. I got a person on the first ring and the lady was both understanding and helpful. She said an additional shelf would be shipped immediately. Evidently this is an ongoing problem that they are familiar with. But, why would they sell a product that indicated the need for three shelves but supply only two?

Another thing I noted was that a little tube of finish repair was included in the package. Expect to use the repair kit. The wood finish on this closet is very easy to damage and the repair kit will come in handy.

Well, all in all, my experience with this closet system is very mixed. I love the way it looks and works. I hope it lasts over an extended period as the wood seems very easy to damage. I gave it four stars, but perhaps three and a half might be closer.

Gary Peterson

Note of 1-13-13: The closet has now been in for a little over 3 1/2 years. We couldn't be any more satisfied. We installed it in a bedroom, but the room is now used for an office, sewing and general-purpose room. The closet system is so attractive that we took the folding doors off the closet and now use the shelving system as a display for my wife's doll collection and doll clothes, among other things. The wood and finish is fragile, as noted by many people, but our usage presents no stress and it has held up well. I'd get another of these systems for our other small bedroom closet (the young boy's room) but I've already built in my own shelving and it's just not worth all the work to change it.

It's hard to trash this product or speak it up. The John Louis closet organizer systems represent a middle tier of closet organizers that has no competition. That is, if you want a solid wood closet organizer that costs significantly less than $1000 and you don't have to completely build from scratch, this is the only way to go. However, The method of construction is the same as the Ikea junk that falls apart as you install. First, the package includes a ton of drywall anchors that are meant to be self-drilling. They don't work; they're junk. They simply melt before they get into the wall. If you're lucky, you'll get one halfway in, the head will break off and the extremely hot melted tip will fall down into your wall. If you're really lucky, it will land on extremely dry cellulose insulation. The cam bolts that hold some pieces together are the classic Ikea junk. When assembling the main tower, you are required to assemble three pieces together before attaching to the wall. This guarantees that the third piece will pull away, tearing the cam bolts out of both pieces and leaving you with either useless junk or a new fix-it-yourself engineering issue. For $400, more than a few expletives flew from my mouth during the installation. I could not finish the installation in one sitting because I needed to go buy additional drywall anchors. I foresaw this issue and had pre-purchased some, but not enough. The look of the product is pretty good. The wood is solid, not medium-density-fiber-board, but it still cracks easily Every piece I installed cracked when I used the recommended 1/2 screw. It is unclear what kind of wood this is, but since the product appears to be manufactured in China, you can bet yourself that this is an unsustainably harvested wood product. The only conselation there, is that I can tell you this is a fast-growing wood; it's soft like a young, highly-productive wood, not hard and tight-grained like a mature wood. Thus, it is possible they are not mowing down older forest to create this product. At first, I would have thought it was something unsubstantial like eukalyptus, but the entire package is very heavy. I bet they don't care what wood or where it's from, so it may vary from batch to batch. The finish is easily scratched during installation, but the packaging includes a small vial of colored powder. I couldn't tell if it was meant to be powder or if it dried out in the warehouse. Overall, this product is probably worth $100, well overpriced at $300 to $400, and has no competition in the $250 to $800 price range, so you can rest assured the price is set arbitrarily. If you do choose this product, make sure to have a second (maybe third) set of hands for installation of the main tower, and supply your own fasteners.

A normal reach-in closet is about 2 feet deep. Mine is 23.5 inches deep. It is difficult to guess whether to install the 12" or 16" deep organizer. I chose the 12" deep model, and I think there is room to have gone 16" deep. The deeper one gives you the option of drawers, which might be nice if your closet doors accomodate.

Anyway, I think I would prefer this over the MDF junk, but I am am still underwhelmed by the materials quality. If I were a real stickler, I would ask for the entire unit to be replaced by John Louis Home because almost every piece broke in one way or another during installation. With additional equipment, I have made it work, but I have yet to decide what I will request from the company for retribution.

Hope this was helpful. Though, it may not have been because this is neither a recommendation for, nor against the product.

More than a year later, the whole unit is holding up very well and all issues during installation are inconsequential at this point. It turns out to be a good closet organizer. I do not feel bad at all about the relative cost given it's ongoing performance.

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If you know how to use screwdrivers, drills, hand saw, and a level, you can put this together. It took a little time to read the instructions over and over, but really there a just a few critical measurments, the rest is somewhat forgiving. Just don't go cutting all you wood up all at once. Cut as you need to and double check the measurments. Took about 4 hours to properly install, first timer. Thinking about doing another! I would buy this product or one similar again.

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We read the reviews and this seemed like a good option. After several hours of installation it does look nice but I'm not sure it was worth it. It is certainly better than the particle board or wire closet systems. This is not a beginner project unless you have extreme patience. Not only is there no room for error with some of the measurements and leveling there is cutting involved. When we finely finished I felt like I could have spent the same amount of time and less money to design and build my own closet system that would have been better suited to our needs.

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Bought two of the Premier Red Mahogany 12" sets for our walk-in closet. The wood as others have mentioned is light and gets scratched easily -however I didn't see that as a disadvantage with the weight -easier to install on your own also wood didn't split. The main thing is to make sure you have the right tools-I used two drills one impact drill with a phillips head bit to screw in screws (think the impact drill feature helped considerably to drive the wall anchors into the drywall and the screws into the studs)-the other I had a 1/8" drillbit to predrill (predrilled everything except forthe small screws).Had a couple of levels and a miter saw to cut the shelves to size.

Before you start read the instructions ahead of time and follow them closely. Also make sure if you select one of the 10" configurations that you have enough shelving (I had a 8" closet so I didn't need all the shelving but you may need additional shelving and additional curved wooden supportsthe package comes with six but some of the configurations show using eight).

The u-clamps that go on the wall to support the shelves do not have any play so if you've got walls that have imperfections (as I did)the shelves will not slide into the clamps-you will need take a pliers and open up the clamps or shim the clams.

Another key consideration is the height of the top shelf when installing the two shelves one above the next -you are expected to position the upper shelf at 84"if I had to do the installation again I would have tried to install this perhaps at 72" or at least where my wife (5'1") can reach it. At least for her clothes she doesn't need the same kind of room as mine(the 84" is just right for me -actually the suits and shirts reach the top of the bottom shelf reducing the effectiveness of the bottom shelf for storage.

The wood scratches when pushing the shelves into the clamps -but they are mostly hidden-of the two touch-up bottles one was completely dry (not a big deal to me because I had other stuff to use for the touch up). Also be careful with the application of the supplied touch-up-it eats up the existing finish if you accidentally brush on sections that are not clear wood.

Also assume it will take you at least a full day for each closet set installationmore if you are not quite handy and familiar with tools.

The end result is excellent -closet looks like a million bucks (ok perhaps 250K since I did not add doors or use the 16" which allows you to add drawers but I didn't need any). Am planning to get more sets for other closets in the house. Also now that I have installed the two