Beautiful crib with uncoordinated instructions
Pros:
Beautiful dark wood, sturdy, reasonable price, DIY-assemble
Cons:
Uncoordinated instructions, soft wood, wobbly drawer
The Bottom Line:
Good Assemble-It-Yourself crib
|
|
Overall Rating:
|
 |
|
Author's Review
The Rochester crib is good looking and sturdy. Good news is that it is not 'made in China' but Canada.
The dark brown painted wood look luxurious, the wood is actually light (i drilled a hole as a test) but dark painted. Compared to other similar dark furniture I like that this one does not smell. Storkcraft probably painted with a baby-safe (zero-outgass) varnish. The wood is quite soft so there were a few dents already present (not deeper than 1-2mm) before shipping (the cardboard was intact so parts were bumped in Canada), oh well, and most dents were caused by the assembler (me). You can easily dent this wood with just a penny. Some pieces (drawers) are harder wood (particle board). But the main problem was not the softness of the wood but rather the instructions. The main instruction sheet, which was glued on the base board, has 6 sections but does not mention preassembly steps and has many inaccurate details. There are 2 other separate sheets not referred to. Suddenly the headboards show up assembled, and drawers pop up, and the sliding of the front wall is totally unmentionned. I don't understand why Storkcraft does not make better instructions, and one single large sheet or 'manual', they got the tech drawings quite right but not their coordination. Finally as many report the drawer is not great, it is wobbly and crooked. I would say that you have to remove 'C' (front) to mount rails.
As a conclusion I hope this crib-daybed will last decades, which it should if nobody forces the wood
PS: I wanted to mention that I like the assemble-it-yourself stuff, not only it reduces cost and packaging volume, but also it provides a great feeling of self accomplishment, the 'I made it'...