Aobabo 2 Drawer Wide Lateral File Cabinet, Metal Filing Cabinet with Lock, Suitable for Home Office School Hanging Files Letter/Legal/F4/A4 Size,Black,Required-AssemblyRecycled Claim Standard 100

I initially had my doubts. At work we had Steelcase and high-end Hon cabinets - but those were double and triple the price. At this price point, could it really be any good? Decided to give it a try (I have the Two-Drawer Lateral "30-Inch" wide version, in off-white). Actual finished dimensions are 28.25" Wide x 17.875" Deep x 28.5" High. The white is a neutral greyish-white (not at all yellowish or ivory).Looks great and operates very smoothly. Quite sturdy, with no looseness or rattles.Pros:1. Comes in two separate cartons. Contents are “Packed for War” – with highly protective metal corners inside each of the four corners (just toss them after assembly). Very heavy gauge exterior cardboard used, with styrofoam boards strategically located throughout each carton to protect contents from coming into contact with each other. Everything arrives in perfect condition. All painting seems well done. All holes were cleanly drilled and correctly placed. Total weight of the two cartons, as received: 76 pounds.2. The full extension (I mean FULL extension) drawer glides are ball-bearing-supported and glide smoothly and seamlessly.3. Design is clever and well-executed: where appropriate, pieces interlock (in addition to the provided screws) – for a firm / tight fit. No rattles or loose joints.4. Metal gauge is not like “battleship armor,” but when all is assembled it is definitely sturdy and solid. No hint of softness or bending, and I would estimate it should give many years of service if treated with even a modicum of care. Finished units (mine is a sort of neutral off-white) are quite attractive IMHO.5. I have the two-drawer lateral model, nominally 30” wide (actual width = 28.25") The locking mechanism works well and additionally ensures just one of the two drawers will open at a time, limiting potential for the cabinet to tip forward when contents are being accessed.6. Excellent hard-plastic (or is it Nylon) “corner feet” are provided for each corner of the cabinet base. These ensure easy movement over a rug / carpet or, without scratching, over tile or other hard flooring.7. Assembly is definitely required, but it is straightforward and not difficult if one takes his / her time and watches the helpful assembly video carefully to clarify any points of confusion on which way the pieces are to be inserted.Cons:Very rare for me: I cannot think of any real cons. Do I have some tips and some niggling little “I would have done this a bit differently” suggestions? So glad you asked… :)Tips / Suggestions (These look like a lot, but really they’re minor and don’t need to be read at all unless you want the gritty details. They in no way detract from the fine finished product.)1. The instruction book I received had a few minor “unclarities.” Nothing serious, but incline yourself toward carefully watching the assembly video. Keeping it handy as you do the assembly is a good idea2. For models with screw-together components… Note that “self-tapping” screws are supplied. These work fine, but since it means the receiving hole into which each screw is introduced is NOT initially threaded, some extra effort is required to get each screw started. It is highly recommend that a really good quality No. 2 Phillips screwdriver be used – namely one that will not constantly be slipping out of the screw head (with the risk of damaging the screw head). This is also something that should be done manually (i.e., not with a power drill): these self-threading screws work best when steady pressure is applied while the first few turns of the screw-in are initiated – and is something that is best done by “feel.” (Trust me: if you haven’t used this type of screw previously, you will “go to school” on the first few, but in short order you will know exactly how hard to push as you initiate the ‘screw-in’. It’s not rocket science.) Also recommended, for those areas where the screw is being installed in immediate proximity to a panel that is to be fastened – is that such holes be “pre-threaded” by introducing the screw and turning it several turns (then backing it out) BEFORE bringing the to-be-installed panel into position. This will allow you full access to pushing and turning at the same time for those first few threads – WITHOUT having the panel right where you don’t want it (i.e., in the way) – as you provide the extra effort required to successfully thread each of these holes with the self tapping screws.3. The back of the file cabinet is made up of TWO panels that attach (from the INSIDE of the back) – to each side-wall and to the bottom of the file cabinet. After being put in place and screwed into the bottom, top, and sides of the cabinet, these two panels are then themselves screwed together with two screws to complete installation of the back. Perhaps this has been remedied by now, but on the unit I received, and where the two back panels come together at the rear center of the cabinet, BOTH holes on BOTH of the rear panels were of the small “self tapping” variety. This is technically incorrect, since it means that you must screw the self-tapping screws through two metal pieces that join together. This almost guarantees that the two pieces cannot be brought into intimate contact with one another as one screws them together. A small space between the two pieces is almost inevitable, and undesirable. If one attempts to close this small gap by applying even more screw-in pressure at the end, it is all but certain that the threads of one of the two metal pieces will strip and the threading on the other one will be damaged. The correct way to do this is to have a slightly larger “clearance” hole on one of the two panels (against which the head of the screw will rest when fully screwed down), and the smaller hole (where threading will be created by the ‘self-tapping’ screw) – on the other panel. If your two panels arrive as I have described here, it would be a good idea to open up the two holes on ONE of the two panels just enough to allow the screw threads to “slip through” the one panel unimpeded, and then introduced to the other / small hole where threading will take place. Hope this is clear!4. Finally, a possible tip if you find, after assembly, that one of the drawers seems difficult to push “home”… The drawers are pretty tight-fitting on the sides as they come to final closure at the front of the cabinet. If you look closely at the side of each drawer, near the top, you will see a small (about one-half inch on a side) square plastic / vinyl “patch’ with a slightly beveled leading edge. This is a very thoughtful addition in that it guides the drawer to its final closed position while at the same time not allowing the metal sides of the drawer and cabinet to come into metal-to-metal contact with each other – ensuring no abrasions to the painted surfaces develop from repeated openings and closings of the drawers. BUT: because the clearances are (intentionally, I believe) quite tight, it is just possible that, while assembling, the little bit of ‘slop’ that exists when installing each screw in the cabinet – could finally result in a “tight fit’ side-to-side where the drawer comes to its final closure. Should you experience this (I did on one drawer) – the remedy is simple: remove the drawers and slightly loosen the screws to the top and bottom of the cabinet sides. With your fist (or a rubber hammer), tap the cabinet sides a tad outwards and then re-tighten the screws. Voila: when you replace the drawers they will close that final half inch firmly, but not requiring undue effort to complete the drawer closure. We're talking about just a 64th-to-32nd of an inch here.If you’ve read this far you’re either glazed over by now - or a tech nerd engineering type like yours truly. This reviewer’s overall impression? As the Brits might say: “It’s a really nice piece of kit!”

This file cabinet is pretty solid. It's made of metal and is pretty heavy. It looks nice and works well, especially for this price (about $100 at the time I'm writing this). Some of the parts have scratches on them that were probably there from the factory. It's not really a big deal though, as they're not noticeable in day-to-day use unless you specifically look for them. Otherwise, it arrived in good condition and was well packaged.When I tried to first assemble the cabinet, I made a mistake: I swapped the order of parts C and D that go on the bottom. This meant that the holes that secure the back panel were on the front instead of the back where they should be. However, it's not really possible (as far as I can see) to separate the plastic feet from the bottom once they're inserted, and I slightly damaged C and D and broke the plastic feet when trying to separate these parts and redo them. It was totally my mistake, so I messaged to seller to ask if I could buy these parts again. I offered to pay for shipping and everything. The seller actually sent them to me completely for free. That's really generous, since they didn't do anything to cause the mistake and therefore weren't obligated to do that.The downside is, I had to sit and wait with the whole cabinet just awkwardly disassembled all around the floor for almost a week, partly because of holiday shipping delays. At least the second time, the assembly went well for the main chassis. The part where you have to set up the locking mechanism was the only thing that was confusing, but I eventually figured it out.Be warned: The drawers are nightmarishly difficult to put together! There's something really odd about the way these screws go into the holes in the metal. At first, they go in smoothly for a few turns, then you feel a heavy resistance, and then they go in smoothly again at the end if they went in straight. I don't know what to say. They just didn't go in straight a lot of the time for me, so I had to fiddle around with them for an embarrassingly long time, but I finally did manage to get every single screw in the drawers to sit the way it should. I did use the screwdriver that was included in the package. Maybe you're really supposed to use a powered screwdriver like in the video.Then lastly, actually installing the finished drawers into the main chassis is tricky. I honestly couldn't figure out how to do it myself so had someone else do that part for me. As it turns out, some of the hooks on the sliding rails didn't have enough of a gap for the drawers to insert into them. Luckily, this could be fixed easily by just slightly prying them apart with a flat screwdriver.Overall, it was a quest and a half to get this thing assembled (to be fair, partly set back by my own mistake...), but in the end I'm happy with the result. On mine, the top drawer closes with a satisfying thud. The bottom drawer doesn't have as satisfying of a feeling when closing it, but does still close fully. The locking mechanism works fine, though I don't plan on actually using that. One thing to note is that if you try to open both of the drawers at once fully, the cabinet will tip over, so don't do that. I'm not using it to store documents but just objects in general, and it works well for that too. It has a lot of space to store pretty much anything I could ever want. I recommend this product, but keep in mind that assembling this may take some persistence. I especially appreciate that the seller was willing to help me out, even when something wasn't their fault at all. I noticed some people here left negative reviews for various reasons. Consider trying to contact the seller first because you might be able to resolve whatever the issue is.

Really easy to put together, great value for the price. I bought two for my home office and love them. The only thing I have a complaint about is that they don’t have a safety lock feature. Some cabinets will only allow one drawer to open at a time. This keeps it from both drawers opening and potentially tipping over.

Sturdy, attractive and overall good quality

Went together well and it’s perfect for filing!

I put this thing together but didn't take the keys out (which for some reason are not in a separate bag but are zip-tied to the inside of the file cabinet), and once I put the drawers in, it locked. Apparently, the cabinet shipped with the lock engaged. I tried to pull the drawer open and actually bent the cabinet. I'm reasonably strong but not that strong. Save your money and buy something else.

Just got done putting this together. I know I bought something on the lower end but I'm still kinda disappointed. It's flimsy at best I wonder how long it will last. The one positive was the instructions where easy to follow. However I wouldn't buy again.