Winsome Dayton Storage Hall Bench with Shelves, Antique Walnut - Entryway Shoe Storage & Seating Bench for Home, Mudroom, or Bedroom (Model 94841)

Perfect shoe bench for our entryway and for less than I thought! I have been looking several months for a new shoe rack for our entryway since we just have a pile of shoes at the door and a couple pairs that were on an old, tiny Target particle-board rack. The Target one didn't even last a year before the particle board cracked and it fell apart. The Winsome Dayton is *much* better made. The wood is heavy and solid. The description says wood and some manufactured --- I didn't see any MDF, but if there is some, it's much better quality than the Target one which was clearly glued sawdust. I think the thin panel back is fake, but the main panels seem solid. There's some WEIGHT to it as well. The finish is great -- the walnut color even matches some other walnut items we got from a local furniture store, which is an added bonus. I don't know how it will last with shoes sliding on and off of it constantly -- I'll have to do a followup in 6 months. It's probably wise to leave an inexpensive horsehair brush on the rack to brush the dirt off shoes before racking them --- a quick brush is good for leather anyway. I think we'll also need a mud mat for first drying shoes on the rainy days before shelving them, but we don't live in a wet climate, so those days are rare.It holds 4 pairs per shelf of wide mens' shoes comfortably, but you can get 5 in if they are sneakers or sandals or want to press them closer. 5 pairs of my wife's thinner shoes fit no worries. An innumerable number of toddler shoes fit as well. The top shelf ("bench") part stores two pairs of boots plus my wife's purse and my laptop bag, plus shoehorns. Perfect!We looked at many of these "cubby" benches, shoe racks, all kinds of stuff ranging from hand-made wood items at a local wood store for $600 to Pottery Barn asking over $1000, to some other Target items (Target has some great items, but shoe racks are not one of them), Overstock, Wayfair, Pinterest... Seriously, I looked everywhere and was unhappy until I saw this bench and took a chance. At this price point, I expected much less, but was happily pleased with the quality. I definitely recommend the Winsome Dayton!Assembly was mostly easy, but I have some quibbles. You need 6 hands to do it. Most of it I did myself, but the final assembly of the last side panel you need to hold two shelves inside, plus hold the back panel in 3 grooves while sliding it into a third and aligning 4 dowels while not catching the shelf pegs on the shelf and keeping them in place. Do yourself a favor and have some little hands to just hold the shelves in place and another set to hold things tight so the alignment goes well. It is held together with wood dowel pegs into holes for alignment and some support, then wood screws. Another quibble -- wood screws with hex head!? They do supply an allen wrench, but it takes FOREVER to get these in since you can only do 1/3 turn then have to pull it out, reset and go again. And it takes a lot of turns. I immediately looked for an allen bit for my socket/screwdriver set, but didn't have hex bits. I ordered a set off Amazon so this doesn't happen again --- I'd recommend getting a screwdriver or ratchet that has allen (hex) bits before trying to assemble --- your fingers and patience will thank you!This says it is a bench, but I'm not sure I'd sit on it because I'm 200 pounds. I don't think you want to use it as a bench anyway -- honestly, the top part is a great place for boots that don't fit inside the shelves. I leave 2 pairs of boots there, plus my wife's purse and my laptop bag, plus some shoehorns. Perfect! To sit for putting on shoes, we have a little ottoman in the same color that we keep next to it which actually works perfectly. I'd recommend going with this ottoman + rack solution and gaining an extra shelf and more durability out of the rack. Plus the ottoman is padded so your sitting bones will thank you.