We bought two of these. The fit and finish on these are very nice making this the bargain of the century.
A few notes:
The units we received are a little different from what is pictured. In the picture it shows the sides extending a bit above the top. The ones we received had the top extending over the sides, so the entire top is at the same level. Better than what is pictured, in my opinion.
The packaging was very adequate, lots of Styrofoam surrounding the wood. No problems with damage. Nice two-day delivery with Amazon Prime.
I don't know why this is titled a Corner Bookcase. They're fine to go along a wall, especially if you want to hang pictures over them. I also don't know why this is associated with a kitchen. They look great in our office.
A couple of assembly tips:
The boards are held together with long screws and round clips. There is a Phillips cross on top of the round clips, but one line of the cross is a bit longer than the others making this look a little like a dagger instead of a cross. This longer line goes towards the hole where the screw is coming in. Unfortunately the instructions don't explain this. You should be able to turn the clips a half turn to tighten the connection.
There are 4 caps to cover the visible round clips. Since the clips were a little recessed the caps didn't attach to these, but since the clips aren't really visible we tossed the caps.
After finding out that the shelves would hold heavy book loads, I ordered two of the 72" high, 6-shelf bookcases. One never arrived, the other arrived but several of the embedded nuts simply wouldn't accept the special screws (which in turn fit into quick-lock fasteners) that came with the bookcase. The box they came in was also ripped and damaged and one of the pieces had a chunk of veneer gouged out. I call Amazon and their customer support rep said, "We'll send 2 new ones and pick up the old one." I told her the box it had come in was too badly damaged to return it in. She said, "No problem. We'll have the carrier bring their own boxes" A few days later the carrier (CEVA) called about delivering the 2 replacement bookcases and picking up the defective one, but said Amazon had not told them they needed to provide their own box for it. Delivery was made on schedule, and the 2 deliverymen were great (the same ones who had delivered the first shipment). We unboxed one bookcase. It seemed OK, except for cosmetic damange on one piece, which we swapped with one of the good pieces of the bookcase I was returning, they then packed the returning bookcase in the box that the first replacement had come it, taped it up, and took it away.
There were other cosmetic defects in some of the pieces of the replacement bookcase, but none that would really show or interfere with its functionality. But when I started to put it together, I found that it, too, had some embedded nuts that would not accept the screws that were supposed to go into them. I opened the 2nd box, then, hopeful that I could use the side pieces of that bookcase, so that I could get at least one good bookcase out of the whole deal. No such luck. One of the side frame pieces had a couple of embedded nuts that it was impossible to get any of the screws into. And the other side frame piece was totally missing all 7 embedded nuts. I called Amazon and asked them to come get these defective bookcases and refund my money. They issued an order for the carrier to pick them up (and told me to tell them when they called to arrange a pickup date that they'd to bring box/es suitable for repacking at least one of the bookcases). I'm still waiting for the carrier to call (all this happened just today), but their performance has been OK so I'm not too worried about this. Amazon has said it will refund all my money when they get the returned bookcases back.
On the plus side, the assembly hardware came nicely packaged in well-marked re-sealable pouches and instructions were fairly easy to understand. And the bookcase, wood-wise, is really sturdy and handsome -and I think the assembly (of a non-defective product) would have been fairly easy, if it could be assembled. But the manufacturing process evidently doesn't involve any inspection of finished products. The side piece that had no embedded nuts whatsoever also had two quick-lock fasteners stuck into the end of it. Either somebody at the factory was drunk, or some customer had started to put this together, then realized it was defective and returned it -after which Alera sent it out again hoping the next schmoe would not return it.
One defective product I could dismiss. Even 2. But all 3?? Do not buy this product.
Buy Alera Square Corner Bookcase, Finished Back, Wood Veneer Now
I love this bookcase. I actually bought 2 to serve as a wide entertainment center. The bookcases are definitely sturdy enough to hold my TV, players, and other knick-knacks. They were also *very* easy to put together. The directions were clear and I was able to put both of them together myself in a reasonable amount of time (and I am not handy at all).
My only complaint is not about the bookcases themselves, but about the warehouse / delivery. When I received them, the boxes looked like they literally fell off the truck. One bookcase was fine, but the other bookcase was completely unusable it was all scratched up and the box was in such a state that I could not use it to send the bookcase back. The directions inside the box included a number to call in case of a damaged product; however when I called that number, they claimed to not handle damages or returns. They were pretty useless actually I eventually found a phone number for the seller and they sent a replacement. The box for the replacement wasn't exactly in the greatest shape either, but the bookcase inside was undamaged and the box was usable enough to ship the damaged bookcase back.
So, morale of the story. Bookcase = awesome. Shipper = very poor. Definitely check the ratings of the seller before placing your order.
Read Best Reviews of Alera Square Corner Bookcase, Finished Back, Wood Veneer Here
The bookshelf looks nice and is solidly built. It was easy to put together. My only complaint is it only came with four stickers to cover the screws at the top and there are five screws, so it looks pretty tacky with one screw showing.
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I ordered two of the 84" 7-Shelf Cherry bookcases from Shoplet via Amazon. The delivery service contacted me the day before delivery, and my shelves arrived within 10 minutes of the scheduled delivery time. Both bookshelves were complete, easy to assemble, and were packed without damage. These bookcases are extremely sturdy and they seem to be very durable.
Pros:
Easy to assemble.
Really nice looking gloss finish.
No lip on the sides or under the shelves to obscure or block books.
Books glide out nicely on the polished veneer.
Nice, thick, veneered, inset, press-board back (not cheap thin plywood).
Holds a lot of books.
Comes with plastic Earthquake strap and hardware to secure it to a wall.
Cons:
Shelf depth actually only 11.5", as the inset pressboard back takes up 1/4"
Other notes:
A lot of non-recyclable/compostable packing materialit's a lot of styrofoam. Shoplet also shipped a 3rd package with my order, a medium sized box, which only contained their product catalog, but was packed with a huge sheet of plastic packing bubbles. Hey Shoplet, next time, just send me a link to a PDFit's a lot less wasteful.
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Pros:
