Sauder Palladia Armoire, Select Cherry finish

First off, we loved the humor on the box...:"Contains Wardrobe. Lion and Witch Not Included" Cracked us up! We wanted something that looked somewhat like real wood, since everything in our home is cherry, oak or hickory. This actually looked pretty nice, especially after we'd coated the pieces with satin Varathane before we put it together simply to get it to match the finish on the other pieces in the room. Assembly was a breeze, though to be honest we do all our own woodworking so we can't say if everyone would find it quite as easy. We put it together in the guest room so we could shift furniture out of the way to make room, as it was clear this thing wasn't going up a flight of stairs after it was built. You do have to have enough space wherever you decide to assemble it since it will be laying down lengthwise & then you need to have 'nuff space to switch it to upright afterwards. It is VERY heavy once assembled. It took both of us to lift it after it was together, plus we used 3-wheeled 200# rated casters on each corner to move it into its current location. We did change the design to remove the insides provided to add [handmade] cherry shelves after we got it settled since we have plenty of closet space but needed additional storage for other items. The included hardware for hinges are solid & work very smoothly. The drawer is spacious & it slides easily without jumping the track. Liked this cabinet so much we just bought a second one for another room, also done in cherry.

We have had several Sauder items over the years, and all have been terrific high quality furniture. This definitely did not disappoint! The finish is VERY lovely - just the rustic touch we wanted, and the color matches the room perfectly. And their assembly directions are spot-on. As mentioned by others, it's very important to follow the directions exactly in order, and not "fudge". My best hints: 1- we started by taking about 20 disposable cereal bowls and labeling them with each stock number for all the screws, bolts and small hardware items involved. This helped a lot, by keeping everything organized. 2 - definitely plan ahead for a trip to your local big box hardware store to get a metal set of rod holders! The supplied set is thin flimsy plastic and the rod is about 3/4 inch short. But the metal ones for $5 provide a full inch of sturdy metal on each side to take up the slack (and we also added a small piece of stryofoam to shim up the rod once installed - works great! And 3 - toward the end of the project, we added a small extra square of 2x4 under the front and back inside corners of the legs, to enable us to add plastic carpet slides, so we can easily preposition the cabinet as needed. Result: perfection!!! We're thrilled with this cabinet, and are still in awe of how lovely, and sturdy it is! The delivery by Amazon was spot-on, right in the time window they promised. We can only say thank you Sauder, and thank you Amazon!

This is a great-looking wardrobe that is relatively easy to assemble. I recommend it to others. The wardrobe looks great. The pieces are simple to assemble with just a hammer and screwdriver, and it only takes a few hours to assemble solo. Although the piece is made of compressed wood or something similar, it seems pretty solid and looks like a fairly realistic cherry finish; it matches the cherry wood bookshelves and desk that were already in my office at work, and several people have commented that it matches (not knowing that it wasn't solid cherry). Sauder was also very helpful. Two pieces in my shipment, including one of the large side pieces, were cracked or chipped. I went to Sauder's website and they replaced them within two weeks with no charge or hassle. The new pieces worked out quite well. As a final note, although this can be assembled solo, I recommend that you get help with two parts: (1) at the stage where you have to flip the piece over, I would recommend that someone assist you or that you very carefully (and slowly) roll it over; and (2) if you have to move it around after you assemble it, lift it up and wedge the cardboard box under it—you can drag the cardboard box (with the wardrobe on top of it) much more easily than you can push the wardrobe (which might break if you pushed it in that manner). You could also just use furniture pads to move it if you have some handy or, better yet, assemble it right where it will actually reside! Again, great product, pretty good price, and great customer service. I recommend this wardrobe to others.

I like it. Good design, well thought out. Not difficult to assemble if you carefully follow the excellent instructions and illustrations. You do need to be able to deal with the heavy weight. And you need a large floor space for assembly. It needs to be nearly fully assembled laid down, not vertical and needs to be flipped over at one point so that is when floor space and the weight are an issue. And getting it vertical to finish assembly makes the weight again an issue. Gratefully, all the many predrilled holes aligned perfectly to mating parts. The hardware fit well and worked well. I assembled in 4 hours by myself, but there were some steps that would benefit from 2 person coordination. Moving the final heavy assembly into intended location is another weight challenge. I like the look of the finish which I would say looks like distressed, aged barn wood. The one fault I would say is the wood hanging rod is supported by two plastic cups attached by just one small screw. A week link. I reinforced the rod hanging method to strengthen it. The wood rod was also a little short requiring a fix.

To be upfront, I am not comparing this to read wood furniture, which would cost thousands for a credenza or wardrobe these days. I'm really comparing this to Sauder furniture from ten years ago. It's more or less the same kind of product. Pressed particle board (wood chips and glue and water pressed together and covered with a large sticker to look like wood), connected with little cams, structurally based on a large piece of cardboard in the back with 50 little tack nails. I've used these kinds of products for shelves and entertainment centers for 30 years. They are cheap, fairly light and easy to move, you can assemble them by yourself. This one is not as big as I expected (it matches the product photos but it's not towering over the room and is fairly unobtrusive and compact). It matches my office furniture, which is much nicer solid wood, which is great. It doesn't look out of place, and my nice office has a closet now, which I needed for suits and other things as I travel around but also go into courtrooms so I need that flexibility. It's roomy enough for a dozen outfits, shoes, a lot of personal items in the drawer. The packaging was inferior and you will definitely get damage on the time through no fault of the shipper. The edges on some of the decorate parts were pulled up, there were dents, and that would have been avoided with corner protection like Sauder used to use on packaging. A brown or black marker makes it difficult to see any problem, and no part was broken. Sauder ships written instructions, with links to videos of certain steps. They include puns in the instructions, something they've done for a while. The videos tend to only cover the easy steps. Anything weird or confusing won't have a video, because the videos are for multiple products. Yes, this is stupid and lazy. Several parts didn't quite line up, but it's just cheap particle board so you just push the screw through and it works. I always use a touch of wood glue before inserting a cam or screw, and this will help your furniture hold up to abuse, especially if you move it after a few years. Far and away the important step in building this is getting the cardboard backing on nicely. There will be a step where a mostly assembled wardrobe is laying on its face, and you put the backing on. the furniture won't be perfectly square... it will move around easily. Get it perfect with a block of wood or something, in all four corners. Get the backing on and tape it into place, because otherwise it will move around while you nail it in place. I always take a break at this point and come back fresh, ready to do this part perfectly. Get it wrong, and the furniture will always look bad and fall apart, get it right, and the thing will be fine. Use every nail they give you, consider using a few more. If you ever move the piece, consider tacking more nails in and ensuring none slip out (they will move out if you move it). All in all, it's just a cheapened version of Sauder's products... which were always kinda cheap, but also better than the normal cheap stuff. I'd say this is worse than Ikea quality now, and it used to be better. It wasn't expensive, but it wasn't really that cheap for what I got. It looks fine in my office and will last me a long time. I won't overload it, and you definitely shouldn't use this like it's a steel wall locker. It's a really really nice cardboard box. Average value in my opinion.

We were very pleased with this product! Every part was provided and the instructions were clear. My husband put it together in about 4 hours with very little assistance from me. I love it! The quality is great for the price!

Reading the reviews, I assumed this was a typical Amazon-endorsed quality product that could be assembled with relative ease. No - this has been my worst experience through Amazon to date. To begin, the wooden material is of pretty obvious poor quality; not quite particle board, but not much better. Two pieces also came damaged, having significant splintering/dents on the top piece as well as the bottom. I thought it of no consequence, as the bottom is never that visible and the top I could always cover with decorations. When it came time to assemble it, the frame seemed incredibly wobbly despite strict, methodical adherence to the assembly instructions. When the armoire was finally placed erect, the depth was not sufficient to fit a standard hanger from end to end - they have to rest at a 30 degree angle. When I went to attach the doors (placing the armoire back down on its back per instructions) the doors overlapped considerably and were not remaining screwed to the inside of the cabinet (I screwed the doors in as tightly as was reasonable and they simply would not stay in). I reported this issue to Amazon, who as usual was very eager to help, though since it was fulfilled by Targeted Decor, the refund has to be processed through them. Because the item was already assembled and the damage was not reported beforehand, I have to process a restocking fee of 50% -along with- paying for my own shipping costs as well, the combined costs combined are more than the cost of the armoire itself. This is completely absurd and I only hope that Amazon or the manufacturer, Sauder, can help.

So OK piece of furniture compact for small spaces also a nice amount of clothes