I needed a short stand with a shelf and enclosed storage for a TV installation. I had mounted a TV and sound bar on the wall of our spare room. (See my reviews of http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-40L1400U-40-Inch-1080p-60Hz/dp/B00I0S70GQ/ref=cm_cr-mr-title , http://www.amazon.com/PowerBridge-TSPBIW-6-WH-Solution-In-Wall-Management/dp/B003CJTQ3I/ref=cm_cr-mr-title and http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-SCHTB70-2-1-Channel-Soundbar-Subwoofer/dp/B00BI4JX2I/ref=cm_aya_orig_subj ) The cabinet/stand I was using was high enough that it blocked the IR receiver of the sound bar. You could get it to work, but only when seated in a specific location. It was annoying and, more importantly, not acceptable to my significant other. So I went on a hunt for something suitable that would, I hoped, fit in with the room decor. For a reasonable price, there isn't a lot out there. After a lot of searching on Amazon and some other retailers with online presence, I even searched on Ikea. I was more than surprised to see that even the Swedish giant didn't have anything suitable -- whaaaaat? So I kept coming back to this unit and dithering for days because of so many bad reviews. I've confidently bought products with some bad reviews when I am certain that the reviewer didn't know what they were doing, what they were talking about, or were a troll. And I suspected that many of the negative reviews for this item fell into that category, but I couldn't be sure of all of them. So, not finding anything else that inspired me or inspired confidence, I pulled the trigger. At just over $66 with Prime shipping included, I thought it was a bit over-priced, but there weren't many other options unless I was willing to spend a lot more. For a spare room? Nah, not going to spend more. Once the stand arrived and I unpacked it, I was mildly pleased. The finish isn't great, but for the price, I wasn't expecting any better, and would not have been surprised had it been worse. There were no knicks, no uneven areas, no glaring variations. All parts were included and the packaging was good. The overall design is good (with one exception -- see below) with an emphasis on ease of assembly. And that pays off -- I had this thing assembled in under 15 minutes. Were I to do it again, I know I could get that down to about 5 minutes. The design of this piece is one of the best I've seen from that perspective, and solidity of the assembled unit is not compromised. I have nothing resting on the top shelf, but I am confident it could hold a fairly heavy load. On the shelf I have a Toshiba DVD recorder, topped by a Bell TV satellite receiver. The Toshiba unit is slim, and the stacked pair fit nicely, though without much vertical clearance to spare. In the bottom compartment I have an Amazon Fire TV streamer and a USB hard disk connected to the satellite receiver as the drive for the DVR function. All the cables for the devices route through the cable exit built into the back panel. Now for the one bad design choice. The bottom rails that run between the front and back legs have no guides in the legs to secure their positioning. This means that when you attach them with the included screws, they can rotate around the axis. Especially when using a power screwdriver, you have to finish up the attachment very carefully so that they are exactly perpendicular to the legs. If you don't, you will do exactly what I did -- you will drive a screw into the end of the rail but not exactly into the rail's guide hole, and you will split the rail piece. I'm going to get a replacement rail, but replacing it will a chore because I will likely have to remove all the equipment. Because the signal cables run through the wall, I don't have a lot of excess cable to work with, and plugging everything back in means the unit needs to be close to the wall and the equipment pretty much in their final positions. So that assembly mistake was clearly my own fault, but it could easily be averted by having guides that hold those rails perpendicular during the final fastening step. But by no means should this issue on its own deter anyone from buying this unit if it meets their needs and fits their decor. I would not hesitate buying this again if I had a need -- and I can foresee that. *EDIT/UPDATE 2015-01-18* As others have said, the magnet that holds the bottom door shut is too strong. I'm not sure why the manufacturer chose that part; maybe they just got a great price on the assembly and thought, what the heck, better than too weak! In any event, unless you apply backward pressure to the bottom of the open shelf, when you try to open the door you will move the whole unit unless you have a pretty heavy object on the top of the stand. I don't so the strong magnet is a bit of a pain. I don't open the door often, so it's not a big issue for me. But I did want to include this to confirm what others have noted.
