Bush Home Universal Small 2 Shelf Bookcase in Black, Low Storage and Display Bookshelf for Home Office or Living Room Organization

This review was hard to write... because while the item itself is one of the nicest "faux wood" shelving units I've ever seen, and while it looks really nice... getting one INTACT was a challenge, as the vendor BADLY mispackages it. Ultimately, I chose to base my review on the item itself, not on how it is packaged and delivered, but I'll discuss both here. For anyone wondering... yes, this is a particle-board-with-cosmetic-covering type item, not "real wood." If you want something like this in real, solid hardwood, you can get that, too, but it will run you many times more ($800-$1500, I'd say). Solid hardwood is always going to be more robust, and better looking, overall. But if you can't afford that, or don't need that, this is about as good as you're going to do. This is a VERY SOLID piece of furniture, once (properly) assembled. I've worked with "store brand" shelves before, and this is far superior to those. Most of those are rated at 25 lbs per shelf... some as low as 15 lbs per shelf. This one is rated at 45 lbs per shelf. Note that I've often put far more than 25 lbs onto shelves rated for only 25 lbs, and have never had a problem... but if you do that you'll see eventual "bowing" of the shelf, and POTENTIALLY see a crack occur at some point. These shelves can probably "really" hold eighty or more pounds on a continuous basis, in other words... but if you put that much on, and it bows, or cracks, at some point, Bush Furniture will put the blame on you, in other words. Suffice it to say, I doubt you'll overload this unless you're putting something besides books on the shelves (like granite blocks?). Assembly is pretty standard for this sort of furniture. Toggle "cam" devices, a few dowel pins, and a lot of nails to secure the (structurally-significant) back panel into place. But if assembled properly, it's very sturdy, and several of them side-by-side look almost like a continuous bookshelf. The "attachment to the wall" as provided is much nicer than other shelves I've worked with as well (but you MUST attach this sort of shelf to your wall, to avoid the risk of it falling over!) So... once you have it, intact, in your home or office... assembly is easy and painless, and the final product is attractive, professional-looking, and very sturdy. So... the problem isn't with the product itself, but with how it is shipped. A number of reviews here will tell you about how they got a broken bookcase delivered. My first unit came that way as well. And as the vendor packages this, it's almost INEVITABLE that a signfiicant numberr of the pieces will arrive this way. Look at the shelf's image, and realize that each "flat" section is a separate part. The total height is six feet, and the shelves are three feet wide. So, in the carton, these are all fairly densely packaged... from bottom to top, as follows: 1) The back panel (folded) 2) The left and right side panels 3) 3X shelf panels at one end of the box. 4) 3x shelf panels at the other end of the box. 5) The hardware bag, instructions, and small bottom panel support) Now... ALL of these parts are heavy... the full shipping package is about 80 lbs! And if this is dropped or mishandled during shipping and handling... the full load of the 6x HEAVY shelves is carried by the two side panels alone. And an 80 lbs package is VERY likely to get "dropped" at some point. In which case... the two side panels are going to get snapped in half! That's what happened to my first unit. And to those received by many others here (look for the bad reviews!) Realistically, Bush Furniture should ship these in TWO CARTONS... one with the shelves, and the other with the two uprights and the rear panel. Doing so would almost totally eliminate the "side panels snapped in half" issue which so many (myself included) have experienced. In my case, Amazon worked with me to get this resolved, and I am now fully satisfied. Bush Furniture replaced the two damaged side panels, and since I was working with Amazon, they got them to me FAST. The phone number for Bush Furniture's US headquarters is right on the outside of the shipping carton. (They manufacture in China, like pretty much EVERYONE ELSE these days, sadly.) So if you get a damaged part, contact them, and they should get you straightened out in no time. But... every time they have to do so, it costs them money. And with as many instances of damage as the reviews here seem to indicate... I think they'd be better off moving to a "two cartons" shipping method. Especially since OSHA ("Occupational Safety and Health Administration") rules say that a single-person job (as is the case with most Fedex and UPS delivery guys) should limit the lifting of any single package weight to about 45 lbs. In other words, to be compliant with OSHA, they need TWO GUYS on the delivery truck to deliver one of these to your home (which clearly they do not do).

This is wonderful for large heavy books and "seforim". The shelves are significantly thicker than most of this type of self assembly units. I have one for several years with no sagging. The assembly was very straightforward and easy - the pieces were perfectly aligned and everything slid into place. The finish is attractive and has not chipped. It comes with a wall anchor, for safety. It is really very useful and lovely, and very simple. This is possibly one of the best finds I have ever made on Amazon.

Straightforward assembly and it's held up great, we purchased over a year ago, loaded it with hardbacks and record albums (yes, old school), and none of the shelves have bowed at all. Definitely recommend.

It assembled very easily, and it's very sturdy. But the edges are very easily damaged. One piece out of the box was scraped, luckily in a non visible area, and just putting books in it I made a scuff on the top edge, and also on the edges of the shelves. I don't think this will age well if books are put in and taken out frequently. For the price I expected it to be more durable than this.

Very sturdy and easy to assemble. Like the dark color and price.

I bought four of these bookcases back in March of 2022 and have been using them for the past 2 years. OVERALL QUALITY: The packing and overall quality of materials is great. These shipped all the way to Hawaii and the boxes showed up packed efficiently with no damage or issues. The outside part of the bookcases are MDF while the movable shelves are particle board. There are no slots/grooves in the shelves, so they can be flipped over to avoid any potential sagging in the future. The finish is great and the cardboard-esque backing is typical for something at this price point. Assembly was easy and everything lined up fine. Quality is great. Especially for the price. CUSTOMIZING: We were looking for something a little taller than these bookcases and decided to hire a friend to cut up one of the cases and create covered storage on the bottom of the remaining three. This increases the height from 6ft. to almost 7ft. (82”.) An image of the plan is included. We ended up using leather pulls and piano hinges on the bottom faces. We then screwed the three bookcases together and attached them to the wall. When the bookcases were done, we put our new Zinus Marissa King bed (also reviewed on Amazon) in front of the bookcases, got a couple of paper lamps, and my wife went out and got some new pillows. Now, it’s like sleeping in a hotel room. The things look so slick and sophisticated. We’re super stoked. LONGEVITY: We have had zero problems with these bookcases in the last two years and it looks like they’ll hold up for much, much longer. Recommend for sure!

I purchased this for my daughter's room. The shelf itself if fairly sturdy and easy to put together. The backing however is horrible, even by Ready to Assemble furniture standards. It's not much more than poster board and is folded into thirds. When unfolding it, one of the seams ripped making it unusable. I did reach out to Bush and am waiting for a response. However, I figure a replacement is going to likely have the same problem. I instead went to the HW store and bought a piece of beadboard, cut it to size, and nailed it to the back. It looks great and is much sturdier than what was provided.

Easy to put together and great size for under a large window.

Happy Client

The attachments are solid and the shelves are extra thick.

The quality of veneer is really bad. Couple of shelves had chipped off. Even the back support is not solid.