Winsome Finland Kitchen, Natural

PSA:I think Winsome may have updated this cart since some older complaints were made about it. To address some of them:• The towel rack brackets are now bolt-on options, as is the knife block. You do not need to install them if you wish to save space, as long as you don't mind seeing the screw holes. Leaving them off will not affect the structural integrity of the cart.• If the screws were phillips at one time, they are now allen (hex).• I had no trouble assembling this myself, and in a relatively short amount of time. A second person is not really necessary, but could be helpful if you're not the handy type.• The dowels on the wine rack shelf are about 2.75" apart. A typical 3" wine bottle will stay put just fine.Here are my thoughts on this cart:For the price I paid, especially when compared to the rest of the options I considered, I'm quite impressed! I needed these main factors for me to make my choice:• I wanted solid wood, not manufactured.• I needed a drawer spacious enough for flatware and a variety of utensils.• I needed enough storage underneath for my pots and pans.• I needed a wide enough top to serve as a secondary prep counter.• It had to be compact enough to roll into the corner space I had available to me, to be out of the way when not in use.• It had to be sturdy and stable enough to handle cutting and chopping.Naturally, I had to wait for it to arrive to confirm that last point - and yes, it IS stable enough - but out of all the options I could find, this cart actually turned out to be the only option to tick just about all the boxes on my list. There's some composite wood, but not enough to turn me off completely. So, score.The knife block comes in extremely handy, more than I thought it would. I do keep the bulk of my knives in a big block at my main counter station, but this gives you slots to keep three knives plus a sharpening steel within reach without having to go back and forth. The slots are roughly 3", 1-7/8" and 1-1/4" and are currently holding my cleaver, chef's knife, bread knife and a thermometer in the steel slot.The wood top has a bit of a finish to it, so you might balk a little at taking your knives to it, but there's the cutting board that stows under the top. The dimensions of the board are 14.5"x16"x0.75" and it has a flat surface on one side and a juice groove on the other. The board has the same glossy finish as the top, so for my purposes, it would be better utilized as a serving tray than a working surface since I already have a more substantial board that I prefer. But it's a nice feature to have for someone who needs it. Also, as I discovered accidentally, you can pull the cutting board out of its slot about half to three-quarters of the way and use it as extra counter space in a pinch.Speaking of the top, I saw more than one complaint about the height of the cart. Of course it's all about preference, but I don't get it. I'm 6ft tall and I think it's a great height, especially because it a gives me a much more comfortable angle for chopping than the higher countertop does. But even for cutting and slicing, I can stand straight up and work with no issues. If you're concerned and can't visualize 31.5" then just get a ruler, stack a couple of boxes or something that high, and try it out.The sliding action of the drawer is strictly a manual affair. No rollers or bearings - it mounts and slides wood on wood, and it stays where you leave it. This is not for you if you need a self-closing drawer for whatever reason, or even one that moves with a lighter touch. You couldn't just bump it closed with your hip when your hands are full, for instance, although it does smooth out a little over time. Not much, but a little. Also, the drawer drops frontwards and down when it's pulled all the way out, at which point there's a little rotating lock inside that stops the back of the drawer from coming out completely. No big deal, you just set it in place upon assembly and leave it. It rotates for when and if you do want to remove the drawer. It's a good thing they put it there - be warned that if you forget to engage that lock and pull the drawer out too far, it will crash to the floor, scattering both flatware and freaked-out cats.A last note of advice - if you can, get your hands on a ratcheting wrench/screwdriver with a 4mm allen socket, or a drill or powered screwdriver with a 4mm allen bit. Assembly will go a lot faster than fumbling with the little hex key they give you.

I love this cart. It is very sturdy and has a lot of space for storage. It was easy to put together and instructions were clear. On top of my satisfaction with the cart, the companies customer service is top notch! The cart table came with a cracked in it. I went to the company website, followed the instructions for a replacement part and was contacted the next day and got the part 1 week later. Easy peasy!!

I love this. very sturdy very well-made.all you Gotta do is put it together and enjoy it for years to come.

This thing lives in our kitchen now. I store a number of appliances on it - Kitchen Aid Stand mixer, Cuisanart Food processor and its attachments, Instant Pot Duo 60, and my hand-crank pasta-maker. These are all things I tried to store in cupboards where they were awkward to store and to pull out for use. It's also the "new" home of our paper towels taking another item off our crowded counters. I have 4 knives in the block including a couple of sushi knives and we hang towels off the pegs on the opposite side.Although it looks like I could certainly use the top of the rack as a cutting board, it comes with one that slides out for use and I pull that out and put it on top of the cart to use it instead. I store most of my sushi accessories and supplies in the drawer along with a rounded hot pot pad for pulling bowls out of the microwave which is to the left of the cart. It's located on the edge of the kitchen with room to walk buy and open cupboards and appliances. It has made our otherwise smaller kitchen much more convenient to use.Was very bummed my Kitchen Aid stand mixer didn't fit underneath top on the shelf, but it's been living on top of the cart ever since I put it together and that works fine. My Cuisanart is an older big metal one and the motor and attachments are kept on the bottom shelf while the top is on the shelf above it. It all fits, it's out of the way, and it's easy to pull up and use. Wish we had bought this years ago. It's very convenient to use and a nice addition actually giving us more counter and cupboard space.....buy it!

This is easily one of the most solid pieces of flat pack furniture I've ever owned, and assembly was a snap too. Add in the fact that it's a handsome piece of furniture and I'm quite happy with my purchase. However...1) The bottom shelf looked as it had been assembled by Elmo from Sesame Street on a sugar high. Boards and nails were sticking out all over the place. It was very easy to fix this on my own though.2) Unless you have a mess of C clamps handy, you're definitely going to need two people to put this together3) You will need a Philips head screwdriver4) The manufacturer really cheaped out on the casters. I do have some concern over how long they will last, especially if you have a microwave on the cart and/or move it frequently.5) I was also disappointed at how thin the bottom of the drawer was. While it's solid, don't look too out more than a couple of pounds in this drawer.6) The drawer is very hard to insert the first time. I assume a couple of screw holes in the frame were very slightly misaligned thus causing the rails to be too tight.

It took me about 1.5 hours to assemble by myself. I'm sure someone or two could assemble it faster. I am methodical as I've had to disassemble many things in the past. I used a ratchet type tool to put this together. I used a drop or so of liquid detergent to help screw in the phillips head screws. They were the hardest part to assemble, because the holes were small, but I prefer the phillips screw installation be tight rather than too loose. Overall this cart looks well designed and I have high hopes that it will be as sturdy as it seems to be.