Homestyles General Line Kitchen Cart, FURNITURE, Natural

My husband and I just purchased a house - a house that we love dearly with one exception - the kitchen. Its a large room but with very little counter space and storage. We decided to buy this kitchen cart to rectify that.Assembly: This was very easy to put together - with many of the "harder" components like hinges already attached. Working together on a Saturday morning my husband and I put this together in about two hours. No bad I'd say. One drawer face was slightly misaligned, and would hit the counter top but we were able to adjust it ourselves using his drill. The other drawer worked perfectly from the get go. I also thought the cabinet hinges were brilliant.Storage: I use this to hold mostly appliances and have a pot rack hanging over it. It provides enough storage to fit our large food processor, are panini press, crock pot, rice cooker, waffle maker, Ninja Blender, two fondu pots, and immersion blender. Obviously my husband and I love food and the appliances that go with it. With all those appliances in the cabinet, there's still quite a bit room left - in fact the whole right side cabinet. I love that it is divided into three separate storage areas with independent shelves that can be adjusted.Finish: its been a couple week since we set this up, and honestly it's already had a hard life. We've yet to use it for cooking purposes but rather for dropping boxes on it as we unpack. The finish has held up wonderfully. I don't see there being a problem in the future with it.Accessories: The towel rack and the Knife block... The towel rack is eh, we hardly remember to keep a towel on it, though I'm betting that it would make a decent rolling pin in a pinch. Its not annoying so we left it on and aren't really concerned about it. The knife block however, is odd. Almost all of the bolts on the outside of the unit are counter sunk with plugs except for the ones on the knife block. We put the knife block on as directed and I really appreciated the slide out bottom for cleaning purposes - but when I tried to put some spatulas and such in the designated spot they just fell right in. They were too short I guess, but they just all slid right in. The knifes fit, but since we prefer to have our knives on a magnetic strip we were kind of "eh" about using it.So here's the brilliance.... I was looking for a place to store cutting boards and was bemoaning the knife blocks apparent uselessness... and then I had a light-bulb moment. If you take the knife block and install it upside down and remove the "bottom" slide out piece it works perfectly as a cutting board holder! The slots in the bottom allow air flow so even if a cutting board isn't completely dry when put it in it will be fine. It fits even our biggest cutting boards and it just works beautifully and is wonderfully convenient. I highly suggest flipping it over and getting a Chicago Cutlery 1063947 Magnetic Knife Storage Strip.Love this kitchen cart - its a really good value and an excellent piece. We've already decided that if we redo the kitchen at any point in the near future this will become our "bar" in the dining room or we'll use it as a bar outside. Its versatile and well built.

This is a well-made, quality kitchen island that was actually fun to assemble. A lot of the fussy assembly was already done; hinges, strike plates and drawer guides were in place. There were only 6 cam screws and cam locks to put in. (I also just put together a kitchen pantry made by another company, and the first step was to put in 60 (literally!) cam screws. Where cam screws were needed, there were plastic receivers with screw threads to put them into, so there was no problem getting them in straight (which can be a real challenge with just holes drilled in particle board in many kits). This was the most consumer-friendly piece of furniture I have ever assembled, and I've done lots over the years. I am 72, and my grandson and I had this put together in about an hour and a half. It looks great, and will provide much-needed storage and countertop space in my small kitchen.This does not have the typical oak kitchen cabinet look that is common in the U.S., and which the picture looked like it would be. It is definitely lighter. It was perfect for me, but something to note. Much of it is hardwood, but not oak.Assembly tip: In the early stages of assembly, you attach one side and middle dividers to the bottom, then slide three pieces that make up the back into grooves and attach rails to the front and back. Next, you are to attach the remaining side piece while the unit is standing upright. Do not make the mistake I did and try to shift the unit onto the side you first attached in order to attach the second side. It didn't yet have enough structural integrity and pretty much came apart. It wasn't a disaster; just had to go back a couple of steps. Keep the unit standing upright until you've attached the second side (even though tightening the bolts close to the floor is a nuisance). You'll be better off. Enjoy!

The quality surprised me It's really made of wood. It's strong, hard and straight. Nothing cheap about it; The pieces were marked exceptionally and as long as you follow the instructions it can't help but be perfect. I made one mistake along the way while assembling one of the drawers; The first one went together correctly while i followed the instructions, then on the second one I tried to wing it. I got the left and right sides backwards and it threw it all off. On inspection it was easy to see the labeled pieces weren't in the right place. A night's sleep and ten minutes in the morning, backing out the screws that secured the drawer bottom and flipping the sides, and it was ready to go. Seriously, follow the instructions and you won't go wrong.The fold out extension on the back side wasn't shown in any of the sales pictures on Amazon and it came as a surprise. We have the microwave and the hot air fryer on the top, and the extension allows them to be pushed back toward the wall leaving ten or so inches work space in front of each device. We picked up some hot pads and leave two on top. Decorative and functional. Utensils, extra hot pads and gloves go in one drawer, while cookbooks, paperwork for the devices and other stuff in the other. We don't use the knife rack for knives, so it's a good place for tongs.Fits right in. Perfect height. Love the color and a bit proud to have put it together. Worth every penny.