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!

I bought two of these after reading dozens of reviews. I also bought these after almost buying a much larger "Real Oak" product for about $1200.00. Reviews for this product were generally high, with customers generally expressing very positive views. Originally promised for January 3, they were delivered by ABF on 12/13. Ordering, shipping and delivery went very well. Another selling point were reviewers' comments regarding assembly, cost/value and quality. I took a chance and bought two. I was not disappointed. Assembly was relatively easy. With the exception of a few items, everything fit together nicely as other reviews indicated. Directions were easy to follow. The material is not solid wood, but is very solid with a wonderful finish that matched our new dresser, chest and nightstand. A furniture touch-up pen nicely covered small nicks. Each armoire took about 2 1/2 hours. I took my time. The hang bar goes completely across, and the bottom drawer is very roomy. The hidden door hinges are easily adjustable, making it relatively easy to adjust the doors to close "almost" perfectly. They look great. I will not give the product five stars due to inner space. The unit could use another one-half to an inch in depth. Suits and shirts slightly over-fill hanging area. Other than that, my wife and I are very happy with this purchase. We highly recommend this product for value/quality. Very solid and sturdy.

I had to give up my only closet (which was pretty small and basic) for our soon-to-be here son and needed somewhere to put my dress work clothes and a few pair of shoes. While nervous about having such a large item shipped to me, it was delivered with only a only long scratch along the side corner of one of the panels which ended up along the back so it doesn't show and doesn't affect my liking of the product. My fiance took a few hours to put this together by himself. The instructions were pretty simple - even straightening the doors out wasn't a problem for the both of us to do. I thought the amount of clothes I ended up putting inside might be too heavy but the armoire is very sturdy. As for the drawer, it is a nice sized sturdy drawer that now holds the stuff that was in my closet up on the shelf - a few bulky photo albums and some shoe boxes. All in all, this is a great buy for the price. It was one of the least expensive compared to the other, probably better made, armoires I saw online but I am very satisfied with the space, the look and the sturdiness of this. It does its purpose as a quick fix to my no-closet circumstance!

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.

There are other armoires that are cheaper but when I chose the Sauder I looked at the reviews for those other less expensive options. There were three areas of concern in most other options (condition on delivery or damage, missing parts, imprecisely machine parts so that pieces don't fit). Let me tell you how the Sauder product stacked up. 1. Delivery condition: my armoire was shipped from the factory in Archbold OH via FedEx ground. It arrrived in pristine condition. The carton edges and corners were all reinforced with cardboard and the entire carton was wrapped in heavy grade plastic. No damaged edges or any shipping damage. 2. Missing parts: All panels were present and all screws and hardware were accounted for. Assembly hardware was sealed in individually marked bubble packing. No need to figure out what screw was what. No extras were included (except small nails for the backer), but nothing was missing. 3. Precise machining: Every piece was drilled and fit the way it was supposed to be. Nothing had to be re-drilled or adjusted. It assembled exactly as it was described. And in addition to the very adequate written assembly guide (with excellent visual images), there is also an on-line video assembly step-by-step streaming assist. And you don't need to watch the entire entire stream to find a particular step in the process. It's all individually selectable by step number. In short, I was very pleased with the purchase and the quality of the product. It was relatively easy to assemble and looked just like it was supposed to. It's was well worth the extra cost for a higher quality piece. Spend the money and buy this one.

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.

AMAZING! And easy to put together. I put together all by myself (I'm female). When the box came in it weighed about 200 pounds!!! I had to carry each piece to the place where I wanted to assemble it one by one! I put this together in just over 2 hours with sorting out of the pieces! The hardest part was putting the hardware on for the doors. Inside the cabinet with the doors attached to the hardware is very dark and the screws are very difficult to screw in. OH and the back cover didn't look like it lined up when I went to hammer it on but in truth, I didn't have it square. Once I squared it up the back went on PERFECT! The directions were amazing! and easy to follow!

the look of the item is great however the backing they use to finish it off is lacking due to thinness of product it renders the armoire tippy and unstable