Cozyhome 101

Setup

The delivery man just left the boxes by my door, so imagine my surprise when I saw two big boxes of my computer desk when I was about to leave home. Delivery was very prompt, though. No one else was at home, so I had to drag the boxes across the floor myself. That was no easy task, but I managed it anyway. Just by the look of the boxes, you can already guess that there are a lot of pieces inside. I recommend two persons to do the assembly together. Don’t do the assembly alone unless you want a long, tiring exercise. The first box contains the parts for the desk, and the second has those for the hutch.

My husband helped me with the setup. This desk has the most number of pieces we have ever encountered as far as assembling furniture is concerned. Luckily, the directions were easy to understand. The pieces were labeled too. After sorting the parts, we read the instructions carefully and followed them. We didn’t run into any problem. None of the steps are difficult, but you may have to take time to align the cabinet door to the pre-drilled holes.

Here’s a word of advice: Make sure to put the desk together in the room where you intend to place it. Once fully assembled, this computer desk with hutch will be very hard to move. It would take you a couple of hours to assemble this thing, but don’t worry. It’s all worth the sweat. You’ll understand once you get to see the final product. It’s beautiful.

Storage – A

I am a housewife who offers graphic design services on a freelance basis. As you might have gathered, I spend most of my time at home. This is why I badly needed a desk that has a lot of storage. I wanted it to have room for our bills and even some of my husband’s documents from work. I’m glad I found this one from Sauder as I was searching on Amazon. This desk has given me a large workspace. The top is so spacious that my Mac fits in great along with my printer at the side. The printer sits nicely in a cubbyhole, so it doesn’t take up too much space on the surface. I love the convenience of having the printer very close to me. I can print a document and grab it while I’m seated.

With a keyboard tray, CPU cabinet as well as file drawers, the desk leaves me more than enough space on the surface to write or fix documents. The area for the monitor is quite large. Even if you have a large monitor, you can still fit speakers on both sides of the monitor. The wide surface is excellent for multitasking.

I love the cubbyhole layout of the hutch. The built-in shelves have room for many items. The shelves also keep the items organized with the dividers. The larger compartments can accommodate books and large notebooks. On the other hand, the smaller compartments can fit CDs as well as some personal items.

Storage – B

The two file drawers are deep and spacious. The fact that they have room for hanging files is a smart touch. If you use the drawer both for home and work purposes, you can use one drawer for home-related documents and the other for work-related ones. That way, you won’t have any trouble sorting through your documents. If you’re an accountant or someone who keeps a ton of papers for work, you will find the file drawers extremely useful. You can choose not to install the included attachments to use them as regular drawers. They should provide more than enough space for your office supplies. We don’t have many papers to begin with, so we just fit all papers in the bottom drawer. I use the upper drawer for my collection of art supplies.

The CPU cabinet is quite roomy as well. It has a hole at the back to provide ventilation for your CPU. If you have the desk against the wall, it’s better to keep the cabinet door open. This will allow more air into the cabinet. Since I use a Mac, I have no use for the CPU cabinet. The drawers and keyboard tray pull out smoothly with metal runners. My only complaint is that the keyboard tray won’t pull all the way out.

Storage – C

There are perforations at the back of the desk that you can punch out to give way for cords. There is no need to use a power drill. The holes would keep your cords neat and organized. I love that you can punch out only the holes that you need. You can customize according to the equipment that you use. This won’t leave you with plenty of holes at the back that you won’t end up using anyway. I have made holes for my monitor and printer.

There is sufficient legroom below the desk, which is a very important feature for me. I cross my legs a lot, and I hate it when my knee hits the bottom of a table. I bruise easily, so that’s why a low desk really isn’t for me. If you want to be able to fully stretch your legs under the desk, you should leave some space between the desk and the wall.

Durability

First off, this thing isn’t real wood. However, you should know that everything is decently solid. Expecting the desk and hutch to be made with real wood is unrealistic. For the price, that is pretty far-fetched. Don’t you know how expensive it would be if this was wholly made of wood? If you can afford an all-wood desk and hutch, by all means, proceed and buy one.

I suggest you use a coaster for drinks to keep the finish beautiful. There was a time when I accidentally spilled water on the desk. As long as you wipe the desk dry right away, you won’t damage the top.

I’ve had no issues with bowing wood. I’ve read the weight limits indicated in the manual. Don’t make the mistake of exceeding them or else you risk breaking your desk. It would be your fault, not the company’s. So far, the desk is holding up well after 10 months of use.

The desk doesn’t wobble. If it does for you, you should check if your floor is uneven. A heavy piece of furniture like this would cause scratches on your floor, most especially if you try to push the desk across the floor. A rug underneath would prevent that.

For the price of the desk, the quality is impressive. It is by no means an heirloom piece, but it is something that would last a couple of years. I am yet to see if this would survive a move as we are moving upstate next month. We plan to disassemble the desk first before we get it in the truck.

Style

This computer desk looks much more attractive in person than in the pictures. The brown is a bit lighter than in the photos, but that’s fine. It blends beautifully in our place. If you’re after a modern-looking desk, this isn’t it. However, if you’re searching for a classic-looking desk, you would love this. I particularly adore the drawer handles. They provide elegance to the desk. The desk has a beautiful sheen to it.

The only thing I don’t like is the back. If they were going to make the front look pretty, might as well do the same for the back too, right? Nevertheless, we have the desk against the wall so nobody can see the back.
The desk is not scratch-proof, but it all boils down to how you use the table. If you have kids around, the table may become more prone to nicks and scratches. That’s completely normal, though. When you’re using a pair of scissors or cutter, be careful not to drop it on the desk.

We have this near our living room, so guests could see it. A lot of them has said that the computer desk looks stunning. That makes me so happy. I appreciate getting compliments for my furniture since I choose them myself.

My Two Cents

I got this Sauder computer desk with hutch mainly because of its incredible storage. It has so many compartments that I can’t possibly run out of space for my work essentials. But more importantly, it’s within my budget. It’s a very practical buy. Instead of having to buy a desk and hutch separately, you can have both in one piece at a fraction of the cost. This came with free shipping too.

I recommend this piece for people searching for a large desk for their home office. It’s not hard to have it go along with the rest of your furniture and interiors too. It doesn’t occupy that big of a space, so it would work great even in small rooms. I also considered getting an L-shaped desk, but that would automatically take up a corner of the room. That is why I didn’t go ahead with it. This computer desk with hutch felt like a smarter choice. – Jenny K

Brand: Sauder

Product: Orchard Hills Computer Desk with Hutch, Carolina Oak

Purchase the product on Amazon Marketplace