( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Apr 27 2009
Great bookshelf for the price. Sturdy, easy to put together. Only four stars because there are no plugs to fill out the holes on the side, but other than that, a really good piece of furniture for my two year old's room.
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Posted: Mar 24 2009
The KidKraft Avalon bookshelf is the ultimate in cheap Chinese craftsmanship and is not worth even the discount price offered on this web site. The main problem is that on the bottom of the unit, there are no screws holding this thing together from front to back--just two wooden pegs that are to small for the holes drilled. So after putting everything together correctly, it starts to fall apart from the bottom, once you've moved it. I was able to solve the problem by using some good old-fashioned nails in the back, but I would expect this unit to have some structural integrity. I think KidKraft is part of StorkCraft--the company that had to recall its baby cribs that were falling apart on top of infants. While I understanding the economic realities of outsourcing manufacturing to China, it sounds like these guys have outsourced their design there too!
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Posted: Feb 3 2009
KidKraft Avalon Tall Bookshelf - White I ordered this shelf as a Christmas gift for someone and I couldn't be more disappointed. First of all, it arrived with a broken leg. I thought I would glue it, but then realized the entire shelf is made of pressed paper and it would have no structural integrity. The pieces were marked incorrectly, so when I ordered a replacement part from the KidKraft website, I got the wrong part. I ordered another replacement part and it was apparently engineered differently than the originals...the screw holes and dowel holes were reversed. By the time I got the second replacement part over a month had gone by and I just wanted the thing together...at least until I could buy a better shelf. It took a little glue and drilling, but I finally got it put together. What should have taken 10 minutes to put together took several hours. I purchased a $20 bookshelf from Target that was much better quality than this one. This KidKraft bookshelf was a joke. It really turned out to be quite the crummy Christmas gift. I will give KidKraft credit for offering an easy way to get replacement parts via their website. I will also give the company I purchased it from, BabyAge, some credit for offering to help me get the correct replacement parts. After 3 bad experiences (the broken leg to begin with and the 2 wrong replacement parts), however, I just got tired of giving them chances to get it right and decided to move on. I will be replacing the Christmas gift with another bookshelf, but I plan to buy it locally this time.
