Dakota MS3346

Introduction

With an ever-increasing DVD and Blu Ray collection on my hands I needed to find something that would house them but would also look stylish at the same time. I already own a couple of acrylic racks that I bought from Argos but found that the length of them meant that they took up quite a bit of floor space so instead of buying something short and wide this time I wanted something tall and thin. Looking on Amazon for something suitable led me to find the subject of this review, the Dakota DVD tower and boasting enough room to hold 140 DVDs across its 7 shelves but with small footprint I figured it wouldn't take up much floor space so went ahead and ordered one.

The Tower

I'm the first to admit that I am pretty useless when it comes to assembling anything flat packed so wasn't relishing the thoughts of having to put this Dakota DVD tower together however when it arrived through the post I was relieved to see that it looked relatively straight forward. It comes very well packaged in a long, thin cardboard box and supplied is an illustrated instruction pamphlet which is easy enough to follow. The tower comprises 2 side sections which are made of metal and mine is the black painted finish although it is also available in silver too. Keeping the tower rigid when put together are a series of metal rods that hold the side sections in place and the 7 shelves sit on top of metal dividers which are fixed into position. You are supplied with all the bolts, washers and an allen needed to put the tower together but be aware that you will also need a flat headed screwdriver as not all of the bolts can be tightened with the key provided. Once removed from the box it's a case of following the instructions although to be fair assembling the tower is relatively straight forward as it's obvious where everything needs to go.

The sides of the tower aren't that heavy that the job becomes arduous although due to their length they are quite fiddly to put together if you are working alone. It took me around 20 minutes to put mine together which I didn't think was too bad but I would imagine that the job could be done a lot quicker if I'd have had help. All of the pre-drilled holes aligned correctly and all of the bolts and screws fitted into place without any problems and the shelves slotted nicely into place. The only word of caution I would give with this tower concerns the shelves themselves which are supposed to be held in place by tiny screws which are supplied, it's a nightmare trying to get a screwdriver (or, in my case a hammer - I love DIY...not!) to them as they are located in each of the 4 corners and as hard as I tried I couldn't get into the right position to secure them in place. This isn't so much of a problem for me as once my DVDs are sat on the shelves they don't move anyway but I thought it worth mentioning that this could be a problem for some. Once assembled though the tower feels sturdy, it doesn't rock from side to side and looks very stylish in my opinion.

My Thoughts

The matt black metal sides go well with my room's decor and the dark shelves give a nice contrast to the black frame. In height the tower measures 154 cm but is only 32cm in width so its foot print takes up very little room and its width is the perfect size to hold DVD's, console games and Blu Ray boxes. The blurb on amazon states that you can get 20 DVDs on each of the shelves but in reality only 19 fit into place but the tower easily holds well over 100 dvds in total so has been a great buy for me as far as I'm concerned as it's allowed me to keep my film and games collection together. This particular model does come in 2 sizes, mine is the 140 DVD 7 shelf option but it is available in a smaller, 5 shelf size for a cheaper price and either way I would definitely recommend this DVD storage tower from Dakota.

I paid £49.99 for my tower from amazon which I thought was a reasonable price. For what the tower gives me in terms of storing my DVDs and how it looks I think it was well worth the outlay, it can't be that bad as a few days later I ordered a second one and now have 2 in my living room and I think they are perfect for what I need them for. For something relatively easy to put together that offers a lot of storage I have been very impressed with my both of my Dakota DVD towers and they get a 4 star rating from me here only losing one for the awkward to secure shelves I mentioned earlier in my review.

Thanks for reading please note that this also appears on dooyoo under my username.