Totally Bamboo Expandable Utility Drawer Organizer

I purchased this drawer organizer to help organize the mess that lives inside of my kitchen junk drawer. This organizer has good qualities (it's solid and looks nice), but unfortunately, there are bad aspects that prevented it from being a five-star product.

The main problem is that the long piece of wood that extends across the length of a sliding section is bowed. The curve is convex and, while it's not a *huge* curve, it's enough so that the edge will not fit flush inside of the drawer. I see that no one else has described this problem in their reviews so it looks like I might just have bad luck. But still, a quick glance from someone in quality control would have been enough to see something was wrong.

Another problem is that it is not possible to "lock" the sliding sections in place. In my drawer, I have the organizer rotated 90 degrees from what you see in the main product photo (allowing me to adjust the width, rather than the length). Even in this orientation, the sliding sections move a little as I open/close the drawer. I would imagine this problem would be exasperated if you have it oriented as you see in the photo because of the inertia when opening/closing the drawer. Some sort of notches and springy clips to hold the sliding sections in place would really have served this product well.

Finally, I had a problem with the thickness of the bottom panel. This may be a benefit to some people however, so I didn't let this affect my star rating. The bottom panel is quite thick/sturdy. This would certainly be a benefit if you want to take the organizer out of the drawer and carry it around while filled. I can't see myself ever doing this though, so I would have preferred for the bottom panel to be thinner. The reason for this is I'm using this organizer in a very shallow drawer. Indeed, one of the main features that drew me to this organizer is the fact that it's only 2" deep (most other options are deeper and, thus, would have been too deep for my drawer). While the outer depth is 2", the inner (usable) depth is only about 1 1/8". What this means is, before I put the organizer in the drawer, I could fit things up to 2" thick and now, with the organizer, I can only fit things 1 1/8" thick. So I find myself having several doo-dads (chip clips, etc.) that will no longer fit.

Despite these problems, I do intend on keeping it. The difficulty in finding an organizer no more than 2" thick is part of the reason. Also, the quality of the materials is quite high and it does look nice. Clearly (based on the other reviews), not everyone receives one with a warped side panel so if you don't mind the inability to lock the sliding sections and don't have a problem with the bottom panel being so thick, I would actually recommend it. Having said that, I *do* have a problem with the non-locking sliders though and that, coupled with the bowed side panel, caused me to give this three stars, rather than five.

There are 5 to 7 compartments, depending on whether you pull the sides out, and they are a good size. Some drawer organizers have just as many compartments, but the sections can be too small for flatware. Not so for this organizer: even the shortest compartment is big enough for a stack of large spoons or forks.

It's also attractive and sturdy. You can carry the organizer filled with silverware around without the bottom feeling like it's about to fall out unlike some other wood organizers that have a very thin bottom panel, this one is solid-seeming.

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Great product. The only problem i have with it is that there is no 'lock' to keep the expandable sections open. so I am constantly pulled them back out to their full width. Its fine though and it looks really nice. Very good quality. Would buy again.

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I hate this thing, it is the epitome of a let-down. I wanted one so badly and went with the best reviews and interior layout but no, it sucks.

Firstly it's not bamboo. At least part of it isn't. I own a number of bamboo items and I can tell the difference between actual bamboo and composite with a high resolution texture printed on it. It's as obvious as the difference between lenolium and real tile flooring. When you compare the composite (on the bottom of the tray) to the actual bamboo (such as the spacers on the tray) you can immediately see the real bamboo has sharp highlights and lowlights with a faint iridescence, the composite is flat and grainy looking.

Secondly it is awful construction for thirty freakin' dollars. There are gaps. There are rough seams, There are dots of rogue glue in places. The top bar of mine is visibly bowed, making a frowny face to mirror my own.

Finally it smells disgusting. Some bamboo items do and I have no idea why, but this is one of them and it's not like I needed another reason to hate it. It's terribad.

Update: While browsing the products at Past Bathrooms and Bedrooms I discovered they listed a warning for every one of Totally Bamboo's products. They contain lead. There is LEAD in the things you put your food and utensils on. This thing needs negative stars.

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I love the idea and beauty of this product but was really disappointed when it arrived and I found the main tray is only 1 1/8 deep. This main portion/section "floats" on the adjustable section of the tray which is 1 1/2 inches deep. These depths would probably be fine for an average flatware collection but my flatware is rather large and I have 20 pcs of each item. I love the look of the utility organizer and it fits nicely in my flatware drawer and because of these reasons I have arranged my flatware in it in the best way I could and will try it out. If you are particular about the way your flatware is stacked, this is probably not the item for flatware organization. Using for organization of other items may work out fine, but I suspect that the depth will be an issue for most items.

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