yippie's Profile

I used to work for West Elm a few months back. They offer an "acorn" finish which is like a darkish oak, some black finishes, some white finishes and were planning to introduce some "silver" finished pieces and the infamous chocolate. These other finishes are usually on-line exclusives. The furniture continues to be of poor quality unfortunately. Most are made of poor grade particle board and very cheap flimsy hardware. Please remember these are mostly built it yourself pieces and are extremely over-priced. I left working there after I discovered I was selling over priced pretty looking junk all made in China. I cannot even begin to tell you about the high volume of returns of the fake wood cracking, splitting suddenly, easily warped and tons of wobbly chairs with cracked joints. Seriously Ikea's furniture is much better made and much cheaper. West Elm only copies the expensive furniture with dollar store construction.

I used to work for West Elm too and as rushmoore said, their furniture is expensive crap. The only solid wood used are the legs of tables, dressers, sofas and chairs everything else is particle board with a thin veneer covering. The pieces look expensive but the quality, believe me or not, is below Ikea's!!! Believe me everyone that works there knows it but we flash our pretty smiles and put on a poker face because we have to. I left working there after I got tired of people calling complaining the furniture I sold them broke, scratches easily, warps easily, chips easily and on and on. I cannot with a clear conscience continue to sell such crap and rip people off.
If you do buy from West Elm do not buy any of their "assembly required" pieces they are the really cheaply made shoddy workmanship ones. Also shop around allot, most of their home accessories can easily be found at Target or similar stores. Tons of furniture stores now carry the "clean look" furniture fully assembled for about the same price. Again shop around first!

West Elm has a problem which is they are expensive for build- it-yourself furniture with fair/poor quality pieces. I went to their store with caution after reading these reviews. I live in Miami and their stores are relatively new down here and the showrooms are beautiful. The pieces look good from a distance until you touch them. They are obviously made from pressed wood with wood veneers and, yes, some have a hollow sound to them. I must disagree with previous comments that they are bargains, they are not. I refuse to pay $800.00 for a sofa and have to built it even if it is just putting on the legs. I also refuse to pay over $500.00 for a dresser that I have to build myself. I can find similar clean lines chairs/sofas at other furniture stores with similar prices and are already built. West Elm will also charge you for them to built the furniture for you which will further increase the price. Their accessories/housewares can easily be found at Target for cheap. Also with IKEA about to open down here, they are in for stiff competition.