Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsCheap, but some of the best cheap you'll find
Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2020
I've gotten similar furniture from Furinno a couple times before, so this is also kind of my review for the whole line -- and, well, the fact that I keep coming back to them says something. This is cheap furniture made out of particleboard and hollow plastic, and nobody's pretending otherwise, but for the price and for what it is, it consistently impresses me.
Assembly is toolless and extremely easy, enough so that most of us could probably figure it out without instructions (but instructions are provided, which is for the best as I'm not always that quick). I had these shelves done in five minutes. These sellers aren't cutting corners by passing off tiny furniture with misleading pictures or anything, either, these are full-size, substantial articles that will actually hold your stuff. They even look pretty nice -- way more pleasant to look at than most other kinds of cheap furniture I've used, which tend to be pure utility.
Are they sturdy? These shelves seem to be, and the other items I've had for years have given me no problems. In fairness, I've had all of them on a carpet which makes everything a little more wobbly -- not ideal for the little pipe feet on this design -- so it's hard for me to completely gauge their steadiness. For standing up to use, despite those hollow tubes, Furinno's approach is well designed to distribute weight. Speaking as a petite adult, I'd be willing to sit on top of these shelves, but probably not on a regular basis. I'd be willing to put a TV on them, but maybe not an expensive one, or at least I'd discreetly tape the legs to the wall. I want to say I wouldn't put my PC on them, but I've put my PC on much worse before. It'd probably be okay. If I really really needed shelves to specifically store heavy expensive equipment, though, I'd likely look to those pure-utility alternatives instead.
If I had to give a downside, I will agree that quality control can be a little iffy. Most of the corners on the boards for these shelves were scuffed or had rough spots where the bits didn't get glued together cleanly, some of the tubes were distinctly more resistant to screwing together, and my previous purchases have had a couple scratches too. You can see from the other reviews here that these types of blemishes are relatively common. Personally, I haven't encountered anything like a major defect, and nothing that really impacts the look or utility of the furniture. (It's probably more noticeable as you get further from natural wood-like colors, since any exposed particleboard will stand out more.) But it's worth keeping in mind that reliability can be a quiet downside to going cheap. If you really need perfection, don't gamble on it.
Bottom line: $20 furniture is not $200 furniture, but for $20 furniture this excels.