I bought the tower despite the bad reviews and so far I think I made a great decision. I didn't buy it at Babies R Us, but chose another vendor instead that offered free shipping and ended up costing a bit less. I ordered the tower on 10/28/05 and it arrived 11/23/05, which wasn't a problem since I knew that Stork craft products tend to take awhile to ship, so I ordered early. The box came in perfect condition and when we took it apart all the pieces where undamaged, in great condition and there was nothing missing. It took my mom and I (I am 5 months pregnant) an hour to put it together, the directions where easy to follow and the assembly was a piece of cake. The only difficulty is to screw on the back panel. There were a million screws, so have your electric screwdriver handy. Also be careful with those screws the tolerances are very close and the wood is soft so is you don't screw them in just right you may end up with screws sticking out. We simply redid them and now there are a few chips in the back of the tower, nothing to worry about.
View Storkcraft Baby Beatrice Tower Combo Chest
We just assembled this last night and so far so good! It looks great in person - I love the sleigh look of it. It seems like good quality although we have not used it yet since baby is not here yet. The drawer seems sturdy and will come in handy. The only thing is the two shelves are made out of a semi-flimsy white material (not wood) but when you secure the shelves in the wood sides, they are very sturdy. Once you put items on the shelves you don't notice them either. I think most changing tables use the same materials for the bottom shelves. Also warning - do not buy a contoured changing pad with this! It comes with a thin, but perfect fit changing pad and strap. We bought the contoured changing pad thinking that would work but it's too high for the top (covers the nice scalloped design on the back) and you can't screw in the pad because of that scalloped thing. You need a changing table dresser or one that has no decorative piece on the top in order to fit a contoured pad.
View Storkcraft Baby Aspen Changing Table with Drawer