****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I understand some of the poor reviews, though Prepac has obviously gone through some design/materials changes since some of the worst. The most obvious is that the two wall mounting boards are no longer made of the same type of particle board that the rest of the cabinet is made from. Ours was medium density fiberboard (MDF) which is still softer than real wood or plywood, but much less prone to shattering.It was pleasant to assemble and the instructions were thankfully clear. Again, the negative reviews had me checking every step carefully and that helps. This is especially important with the doors. Since you have to decide which door goes where and then drill holes for the handles (which is NOT reversible if you mess up) I pondered them for quite a while.I assembled the cabinet completely except for installing the doors, put a table and long tote to set it on to attach it to the wall, then lined it up with the wall studs (thanks, stud-finder!). Got lucky and there were 4 wall studs exactly where they needed to be for full support. Attached the doors, adjusted them so they didn't interfere with each other, and project complete!I thought it was a nice touch that they included little white doohickeys to press into the visible screws so they wouldn't be noticeable. The only reason I don't give it a full 5 stars is that properly assembling and mounting it would be beyond many average people today. And using real wood or plywood for the two wall mounting boards would strengthen the entire assembly greatly at very little cost.Edit: Some of the other reviews complain that the two doors that close towards each other leave a gap between them. This was also the case with mine until I found that the hinge has an adjustment that can move each door up to about 1/8" towards the other. There are two screws, the one towards the back holds the door, the one towards the front adjusts it. It takes some tinkering and you have to loosen the back screw slightly while adjusting the front screw. Once adjusted, tighten it back up and you're good.I read all the reviews before purchasing the wall cabinet, I have to tell you for the price $123.00 it's a great deal on the material alone. he three stainless steel handles alone cost $ 14. each at Home Depot. Assembly, if you have half a brain, putting this together in less than 20 minutes is a breeze, the precision work of cuts and pilot drilling I found faultless. Common sense would tell you that for that price and today's materials that it would be particle board like everything else has. Never needed the directions, everything was common sense on fit and finished edges with pilot holes for your backup security of the right placement. Expecting it to be particle board and have some flaws just like everything else purchased these days, I prepared myself for keeping an eye out for possible strength problems. Right off the get go I figured to hang this cabinet and like everything else, pretty much abuse it with heavy items so I purchased a piece of firing a cut it to 46 inches and used this as a ledger board to hang under my top support brace of the cabinet, this secures the hanging weight and allows the manufactured wall plate to attach to the wall without strain, I also used fender washers where I screwed the wall mount into the wall which prevented the screws from ripping through. The shelving like any other shelving is always a nightmare with those little round peg and flat landing spot. I purchased a pack of round wooden dowels 1 1/2 ". For safety measures I coated the bare spots of particle board in the with some lacquer paint that I had, this helps prevent moisture from entering the particle board and in time swelling and slowly flaking apart. So for an extra $7 or $8 dollars of preventive measures and maybe 3 ounces of paint laying around I have a wall cabinet holding up beyond well and receiving compliments from my neighbors and friends. I will be purchasing 2 more. Also when using in garage, mount your handle options high so that your car door will not hit into them. And for added measures I have purchased 6 cabinet locks for the 3 doors of which I will mount a top and bottom to each door, doing so prevents to a degree someone from prying open a locked door from the opposite lock point. Good luck is not needed just common sense.Though easy to assemble (for me anyway as I can build a house) the instructions may be sparse for some people.The surface laminate is extremely thin and fragile - any thinner, it would be transparent.Parts fitting is poor in some locations (see photos)Some of the supplied nails have missing heads and should be more of them for a proper backing.Biggest problem for this cabinet is that is has no feet so it cannot be adjusted for floors that are not perfectly level.Tha cabinet will flex on an uneven floor and may make adjusting the doors difficult.Even worse, if any water comes in contact with the bottom edges that have no covering, the press-wood will immediately absorb it and swell, destroying the cabinet.Though the package arrived with no external damage, the internal buffers were severely deformed.Did leave some minor damage in the cabinet parts.Could really use better packaging design.I am only using this as storage in a laundry room but would not install it in my living quarters.Firstly, I did not expect this to be a high quality product based on the price. However, I didn’t expect it to be this bad. The product was damaged inside the box; dented and scratched. The design is horrible. Probably the worst designed particle board thing I’ve put together. It comes with large, heavy shelves, but with these tiny plastic shelve holders. There’s no way this thing will last. The finish is garbage and scratches easily. It’s structurally unsound. I have no faith that it will support the few items I plan to keep in it. I do not recommend this for anyone.The instructions are useless, you have to use your imagination to figure out what goes where (no stickers on the real pieces), there are extra holes for no use, there are two missing holes,This is the first ever cabinet line that came without a cheap sheet of for the back, not even 1/2 back, so I had to go buy a 4x8 for $8 from local hardware store, cut it to side and install it myself. Not a big deal by very annoyingHowever, the most annoying fact was that I was convinced that I've ordered a grey cabinet, did not pay attention that picture in the order changed, and I ended up with a white cabinet, with white doors, no back, and a gray topFor our Laundry room reno, I purchased the 32" upper and was quite happy so I ordered base cabinets. When I received the 32" base along with a 16" mate cabinet I was disappointed. The counter top was slightly chipped near the top edge and the edge banding looked poorly done, it's marred with little back scratches and there's glue that I'm going to try and clean up. There are NO backs with these cabinets. I had to grab a sheet of white laminate at Windsor Plywood and attach it because I don't want stuff hitting the back walls. The kicker is the upper cabinet came with the backing....so Prepac why not be consistent? And why not include the mounting screws already and save me a trip to the store? Stuff like this drives me mad. Also I wish the side screws were countersunk as they do stick out a ways. On the plus side it went together fairly easy (I had a helper which made it quicker) and the handles are nice.This cabinet would be good for a laundry room to hold fabric softener that’s about it the main brace on the back is particleboard I had it mounted in my garage to store my aerosol spray paint cans etc. light Weight items and the back brace cracked it was literally hanging off my garage wall I replaced the brace that’s made of particle board with a piece of pine seems to be OK but for $200 I should not have to do that not impressed
