Convenience Concepts Deluxe 1 Drawer Potting Bench with Storage Cabinet and Shelves, Natural Fir

I bought this for my wife who had been wanting one for a long time. She is so pleased with it that she wants to put it in the house as a piece of furniture rather than use it as a potter's bench as it is intended. This is one of the nicest kits I've ever purchased. Not only did the pieces fit together precisely, but every bolt and screw hole lined up without need for adjustment. Unfortunately, one small part was broken on arrival. I called the customer service number that was on the included assembly instructions and spoke with a very nice person who apologized for the trouble and assured me that a replacement part would be sent out immediately. That was on a Thursday and the new part was received on the following Wednesday. I give this product 5 stars in consideration of a very nice design, ease of assembly, and excellent follow up when the problem arose. I don't necessarily judge against the manufacturer if a part is missing or broken. It's how that manufacturer follows up to make it right that means more to me. I would recommend this item to anyone.

The potting bench itself: 5 stars.The instructions: 2 stars.Time to assemble, with 2 people: over an hour if you're following the terrible instructionsI love the potting bench and I'm very glad we purchased it. However, it took longer than expected to assemble, and I am both generally a handy person (I renovated my 1921 house with my own 2 hands) and I've put together a LOT of flat-pack furniture. My recommendation is that you mostly ignore the instructions and simply put this together by looking at the picture. The instructions have 2 major faults: (1) they do not include distinguishing features of the various parts, so it's all too easy to put something on backwards or upside down; and (2) they switch perspective (up/down, front/back) without making that clear. We wound up taking it apart 3 times because of crappy instructions. Fortunately, it's all wood and wood screws, so it's easy to disassemble and reassemble. When we finally gave up on the instructions, we flew through the assembly process. Each piece (and there are a LOT of pieces) came marked with a sticker, which was helpful.The bench is sturdy and looks nice on our front porch; it has a cottage sort of feel to it, which works well with our house. We do plan to apply water sealant to the wood because it's very soft wood; ours was definitely pine and smelled fantastic, but a sealant is necessary because the bench will be outside year-round; I will probably get a furniture cover for it, too. The metal top is great for potting and very easy to wipe down. The bottom shelves are fine so long as you don't put anything too heavy on them - they're not suitable for bags of mulch, for instance. But to store watering cans and flower pots, they're great. Similarly, the very top shelf is not suitable for anything heavy. We're using it for starter plants, mostly succulents in very small pots. The cabinet is a great feature, especially since we've had a lot of high winds lately. I've added pictures - very happy with the way this looks on our front porch. We did apply 2 coats of water sealant.Many of the reviews mention a sink. To be clear, the potting bench I purchased has a solid metal top, a drawer, and a cabinet. No sink.

*UPDATE*I am totally impressed by the upgrade in this product. Basing my new review on replacement. The seller was very nice and I do believe that the first one was defective. (Amazon returns are great). They seem to have changed the product for the better.This wood is good quality, hardwood looking. Decent weight. So much better! Not 'fuzzy', soft, sticky or mothballed at all. It even has a nice grain to it. It does actually seem to be a nice cedar hardwood. I can't find any defects except a small chip on the back of a piece you can't see.The top is better quality. Different metal. It has a pattern on it I like. Not scratched or warped. Seems thicker.I would recommend this version.1st review - Oh this is HORRIBLE! Pieces with knots all the way through, pieces that are split, pieces where chunks are missing. They sure did know about the knots - which are on a visible area - because they are poorly filled with yellow wood putty.The smell of mothballs was overwhelming, you can see the sparkles where they rubbed it down with MOTHBALLS. (I think that's what some people are mistaking for the smell of cedar) I hope they did that to keep out insects, but it just seems deceptive. The top is dented, not shiny and covered in some sort of sticky residue.

When this arrived one of the side was completely split in half (see photo). I am pretty handy & I figured it happened during shipping (though the box showed no signs of distress) so I just got out my wood glue, sandpaper, and rolled with it (shipping it back seemed like a bigger nightmare than some elbow grease). As I worked my way through putting it together, I kept noticing areas where the wood was splitting (see photos). They also sent two sets of ‘A’ hardware (see photo) - leaving me short 38 screws. Fortunately I have a set of varying sizes of wood screws handy, which are uncountably better quality than what we would have received if it had been packaged correctly. I also had to replace several of the pre-placed screws, which had been so poorly secured that they were actually bent (see photos). This was a total waste of money and an afternoon. I had to spend another $100 at the hardware store replacing the split wood and conditioning the wood that remained. I wish I would have just put it right back in the bow, or just not ordered it at all. I may have just gotten a ‘bad apple’ but I have assembled most all of the furniture I own & have never experienced anything this frustrating or disappointing.