Venture Horizon Top Load Media Cabinet - Black

I ordered this on May 24 and received it on May 29 - talk about fast service! I was pleased to find that all the parts were shipped too - WOW, what a novelty. I'd seen other reviews on another site and was concerned that it was difficult to assemble. It took us about 7 hours, but part of that time was drying time to fix a mistake we made. My husband didn't trust the quality of the wood glue provided, he said it looked like Elmers, so he used his personal choice instead.When assembling the cabinet, pay VERY CLOSE attention to the illustrations - the raw sides and finished sides are not well illustrated and we ended up putting the right side on the left and visa-versa. This mistake gave us raw edges where finished edges should have been - oops! Since we used wood glue in the wood dowels, as per instructed, we messed up some parts of the wood and had to repair them. No problem - it's fine now.The bottom supports (parts M) are indented, but the instruction shows them as being even with the front and back edges of the bottom (part B). If you match the placement of the angle brackets with the holes provided, you'll get them in the right place. When you put the sides in place, the supports will align with the wood dowel holes just fine.The one fault I found was that the wood colors aren't consistent. I realize it's hard to stain the MDF the same color as the oak laminant on the doors and top, but I don't care for the redish oak color of the MDF on the rest of the cabinet. It would also be nice if there were locks on the cabinet doors instead of just the top storage area.

Ok, so after reading all the reviews; I went ahead and just ordered it. There is a lot of hardware, it took me and my daughter (14) about 3-4 hours to assemble. Some of the instructions are confusing, however, if you following the diagram you will figure out. There is a mirrored image in the instructions, which will make you stop and think (yes, the picture is wrong; follow the already made holes in the wood. The hardest thing for us was the pegs, if pushed in they go ALL THE WAY DOWN. You have to use your judgment on how much to leave out. Everything else was pretty easy, just extremely time consuming. I have alot of VHS movies, so the weight of them makes this piece stay where it needs to. I would recommend this, only to my patient friends though. If you are easily irritated, I would pass or buy it assembled. The four stars was because most of the wood is particle board, however, when all the pieces are placed together; it does create a firm foundation.

Where to even start? The manufacturing of the unit I received was absolutely the worst I have ever dealt with. None of the hardware bags were labeled so I have to compare and waste time guessing which wood screw to use. Next one of the main boards (letter D) was sent with drilling mistakes. You can totally see it was filled, and plugged on the black side, then on the cherry side they used a wood filler that hardly matches. So instead of them scrapping that piece of wood and giving me the customer a professionally clean (and properly drilled) piece, I got that (see the image)Now we get to the instructions. Letter B is black on one side and cherry on the other, but the instructions call it raw (the black side). Raw means raw wood, not the black. The board marked letter O is raw on one side and black on the other. Really? Do you not know what raw wood looks like? Couldn't you say black? I'm not going to even tell you how many pieces of this unit were scuffed and chipped during the packing process. Garbage.Folks this unit as of July 13, 2018 goes for $279. While this unit is 100% particle board certain things can be overlooked. It isn't REAL wood obviously, but I do expect things to be professionally handled (and manufactured). I expect mistakes to be thrown out and NOT given to me the paying customer. I expect no chipping, scuffs, or other damage to the unit when I receive it.I've built many pre fabricated units in my lifetime, and this by far is the WORST I have ever dealt with. The sad thing is I had hoped to rate this very high and recommend this to you all. Not only do I say look elsewhere, or save your dollars to buy one made of solid wood, I also say this company gives you manufacturing defects. They WILL NOT give you boards that are free from damage. I would have provided more photos, but the unit is about 70% complete. Waste of time to tear it down.I will not buy from this company again.

Recommend someone assist assemble if cannot handle maneuvering. Somewhat weighty during assembly. Manauvering it for various steps can be challenging by self. In regards to the hinged top that opens up, be mindful about improperly resting it at various steps. I somehow mishandled while mounting the left hinge and the screw crumbled the particle board where it goes in to anchor the bottom part of the hinge. Easy fix though. Since it was on the back I drilled hole through and used similar size nut and bolt and the hinge is very secure. More secure than what the screw would have been had the particle board not crumbled away. The dowels didn't align on the front pieces well enough to attach to the front so I didn't use all of them. Used a minimum that holds in on well enough and didn't affect the cosmetic aspect. All said, this item does more than I expected and designed so can better organize what I stow in it. It looks like a nice piece of furniture for common areas but I use it in a walk in closet to reduce clutter.