Not Just For Shoes! (Argos Value Range Solid Pine Shoe Rack)

Member Name: DavyMichelle

Product:	Argos Value Range Solid Pine Shoe Rack
Date:	20/10/09 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Value, Look Good, Versatile

Disadvantages: Tricky to Assemble

For less than £10 this is a bargain value shoe rack really. It isn't perfect, far from it in fact, but for precisely £6.79 it's exceptionally good value. As it's an Argos value product, it's only available directly from Argos of course.

The specifications, as on the Argos website, are:
*Wood.
*Unfinished ready to paint, stain or varnish.
*2 fixed shelves.
*Freestanding.
*Stores up to 6 pairs of mens UK size 8 shoe.
*Stores 3 pairs of shoes per shelf.
*Size (H)36, (W)79.8, (D)26.6cm.
*Weight 2.1kg.
*Self assembly 1 person recommended.
*100% FSC timber (Forestry Stewardship Council).

As you can see, it's on the small side as it can only hold up to six pairs of shoes, which are up to a size 8 only. But then shoe racks aren't just for holding the family's shoes did you realise? We've got two of these in our house, both of which were bought by the daughter. The first is by the grandson's shoe sofa for storing all his shoes on. For kid's shoes, you can fit loads on here! There's probably a good ten pairs of the grandson's shoes on the first one of these that we have.

The second one is in the daughter's room, as she uses it to store all her towels and bed linen. Keeping it all in her room means she doesn't have to go rooting around in the family airing cupboard every time she wants clean bedding or towels. This is a great size for that purpose, and there are loads of similar uses possible. As far as small shelving units go, this is excellent value for money. If it was called 'small shelving unit' instead of 'Argos value shoe rack' you can bet it would set you back twice the current price.

Assembling this fell to me, of course, and that was no feat I can tell you now. Unfortunately, there has to be some kind of drawback when you buy cheap stuff, and in this case it's that the assembly process is extremely difficult. To start with, you have to slot the shelves into pre-carved grooves on the sides of the rack. Sounds easy enough, only the grooves aren't quite the right shape or size! So I found I had to whack these in using a hammer and a good dose of brute strength.

Once I'd got the slats into the grooves, I was fine, and the rest of the assembly process merely involved tightening up a series of screws. In all, it took me about an hour to put together two of these. That's a little bit longer than I'd expected these to take me, but not a ridiculous amount of time to spend on two small pieces of flat pack furniture.

On the Argos website, people have given these four stars on average, and I think that's a very accurate. These are really sturdy, useful and even quite attractive once assembled. And of course they're amazing value for money too, especially for people looking for storage solutions on a budget. But the struggle to put them together means I can't possible give these a full five stars.

Summary: Highly Recommended