International Concepts Wood Bookcase High Adjustable Shelves, Solid, Sturdy Parawood Construction, Eco Friendly, Easy Assembly, Kitchen/Dining Furniture, 60"H, Espresso

I almost never write reviews because, frankly, I'm not an expert with regard to most things I buy on Amazon. But I have so many conflicting feelings about this bookcase, I almost feel entitled to use the review feature as online therapy.First the good: this is a very solid, genuine wood bookcase--no particleboard or laminate. I appreciate that the back panel is also made of plywood, not a cardboard panel with a wood print. This is a nice feature that gives an already sturdy bookcase additional stability.The mediocre: given what I have seen similar bookcases sell for at local furniture stores, this bookcase seemed like a great deal when I bought it. I actually planned on buying two, but decided to order just one at first to make sure Amazon could ship an 87 pound box to my apartment without anything getting broken along the way. Mission *mostly* accomplished on that front. The box was pretty dinged up upon arrival, but the packaging inside kept everything pretty safe. There is one crack in the top arch board that may or may not be the result of shipping, but it's a minor crack and I'll just glue it if it starts to spread.The bad: this was a MONSTROUS pain to assemble. I have built bookcases out of plywood in the past, so I am hardly a woodworking neophyte. But putting together this bookcase was profoundly frustrating. The backboard is supposed to slide into a set of grooves on the top and side pieces, but these grooves would not align in a manner that allowed the backboard to slide in. I tried for more than an hour to align these grooves before deciding that widening them at the corners with a dremel bit was going to be the easiest solution. Even then only way I could make the backboards fit was by loosening every assembly screw holding the bookcase together, sliding the backboard into place while jiggling the grooves into alignment, and then securing the backboard with clamps before retightening the assembly screws. (I wish I'd taken a picture of this, but it didn't occur to me at the time--and now that everything is assembled, I'm certainly not going to take it apart again just for documentation purposes.)The peculiar: the measurements of this bookcase do not correspond to those in the product description. The shelves are not 32.67" wide, they are 28.5" wide (see photo); the bookcase is not 12" deep, it is 11" deep; the space between shelves is not 10.52", it is exactly 10". This might seem like nitpicking, but 4.17" x 6 shelves adds up to a lot of missing shelf space--25.02" to be precise. I still would've bought the bookcase if I'd known this in advance, but I don't think this can be brushed off as a description error; it's just plain misleading. Also, for some bizarre and unknown reason, all of the adjustable shelves that arrived with this bookcase have 5mm holes drilled into the undersides at a 45 degree angle. I'm not worried about it, I can patch and stain them; but why are they there? Was this bookcase used and returned, or did someone just drop a drill on every board in the factory?Anyway, all that said, I still like this bookcase. The wood is a nice quality, and it looks great in my living room. But if I weren't fairly confident in my ability to assemble large furniture, I'd probably give this one a pass.

Pros:- Arrived very well packaged, only a small amount of damage that was not structural and was on the back side so not visible.- It is real wood, ad the shelves are full strips (the sides are butcher-block pieced)- Assembly instructions are clear and simple; both bookcases assembled easily as designed- a fair valueCons:- A couple of pieces of hardware missing- Space is too short between shelves!!!! Because of the placement of the fixed shelves, the largest vertical space possible is 11.25", and that is at the cost of having the neighbouring shelves only give 8.75" of space. Consequently most of my books have to be filed laying flat in stacks, which looks like hell and is not functional. Too late to return now.

The bookcase is attractive, heavy and sturdy. Lucky for us we had a hex tool to use rather than the one included. Trying to assemble this with the small hex is difficult/tiring. It definitely took two to put this together. Screws are included that do not have holes. The back of the unit calls for screws to be installed across the top but with no corresponding holes. In the middle of the two rear panels there are 3 holes. However, putting in the screws revealed the holes are offset. The screws came out below the middle shelf. Two supplied support bars have 3 holes for application but no matching holes in the bookcase. The unit is supposed to be attached to a wall. This is a good thing with safety in mind. Unfortunately our walls are concrete. We compromised by apply shims that tip the unit to the rear. We did not apply the two bars on the back). One photo shows the hardware we did not use.

This bookcase would have been wonderful if it actually had any of the parts necessary to put it together. No screws. No washers. No bolts. Everything was missing.Amazon says that they don't carry any parts or hardware, so the best that they can do is send out a replacement (and charge us for it) for us to remove the hardware from and send it back.Let me repeat that for you:They are sending us a new product at our expense to remove hardware from and send back to them. When we send it back, they are just going sell it to someone else and cause the same issue over and over.But they have no idea how our bookcase could be missing parts... really?

After struggling with some cheap Walmart shelves, I found this piece that is wood (not sawdust) and affordable. I was still skeptical (though some nice customers here kindly responded to my main concern), but I ordered one. I have to say, I am truly impressed and very happy with the quality of this shelf. It is beautifully made, and the pieces fit well together. I could assemble it in a relatively short time (I had lots of practice on IKEA furniture). It is a neutral color, unfinished. They have an instruction sheet on how to finish it with your choice of color. It looks very durable. I have already loaded each of the selves with heavy (!!) books - it looks great and does not look like there is anything heavy on them (no bent shelves!!). I will order another one for our living room, and probably one for the kids room.

I love this bookcase. It is very sturdy and well made and was easy to put together. I was looking for something unfinished and made of real wood for a good price to make a Super Mario playset for my twins for Christmas. This was perfect. I would definitely purchase again.