In theory, modularity is a good thing, but if it comes at the price of quality, it should be reconsidered. These DIY mesh cube shelves suffer from this issue.
THE PRODUCT
These modular
mesh cube shelves comprise square sides formed by a wire mesh. Each side
measures 35cm by 35cm. Wires are 5cm’s apart. Hence anything that can fit into
a 5cm by 5cm space will fall through. The mesh wires are medium thick, but are
still bendable. These are a matte black cover, and due to being only made of
wires are pretty light.
These are meant to form a cube with mesh sides on 5 of the 6 sides. The last side is open so contents can be put inside. Sides are connected using a circular connector (made of very hard plastic) with grooves to snap in the corners of the mesh grid sides. Once snapped in, some force is required to pull it out. In general, the mechanism is secure that it can be formed as a fairly stable structure, but easy enough to undo should you want to change its arrangement.
From one
cube, you can build more by adding more sides, and it’s really up to you as to
how many rows and columns you want. Laid out like this, it’s possible for a space
to have only 4 mesh sides instead of 5, provided that adjacent spaces use 5
sides. The lattice structure is able to stabilize a 4-sided space.
A set of 20
sides costs ₱1,389. This can be stretched to a shelf arranged as 3 x 3 cubes.
BUYING GUIDE
These are
shelves of the same class price:
Pipe Wardrobes:
These are assembled shelves/ wardrobes where the borders are made of pipes that
are connected by plastic angle connectors. Surfaces are made by a cloth that is
pulled taught between the pipes. The pipes are prone to bending.
MDF Shelves:
These are bought already assembled, and have some weight due to the MDF boards.
Because of the material, the laminate can sometimes peel off and expose the
grains.
ANG OKAY
They are a
cheap solution to get sizeable shelf storage. As long as you are okay with the
cube unit, you can make it as tall or as wide as you want it (though at more
than 5 cubes high it gets unstable already). This flexibility is very welcome.
Looks-wise the black gives an industrial look that doesn’t look bad.
ANG HINDI OKAY
This product’s
biggest issue is the cube unit’s design limitations, this means first, that anything
longer than 35cm’s will not fit horizontally or vertically. And second, because
of the spaces in the sides, you’ll have to add boxes or some form of continuous
surface in order to store smaller contents. Contents in general are exposed.
Another
issue is a quality one. The mesh wires do get bent, so there’s a limitation on
the weight that it can carry. Clothes are fine but heavy items, an aquarium for
example, are out of the question. You’ll also notice that the shelf unit does
sway slight if it gets hit for example.
VERDICT
■■□□ Does its function, but has
stability issues.
There
are issues on how the mesh sides are too open and that the wires can be bent,
and that as a whole, it’s not a very stable shelving unit. True, its modularity
is good, but in houses, it’s not likely to be reassembled again and again. Both
aesthetically and stability-wise, unless you want to lean into it in an
industrial look, you’ll find yourself wanting to replace it for a more stable
and more solid looking shelfing unit.