apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I have bought two items over the last 10 yrs
from gothic -- a side table and an armoire.
The side table was on sale so I was glad to
get it at the time, but the drawers flop
around when you open them. just kind of flimsy.
The armoire has held up but initially, the
doors were hung wrong and didn't close and
there were nicks and some outright splintered
wood. Took a long time to get
the company to fix the problems and then,
not without some persuasive argument.
otherwise, it functions, but it's not a
solid piece of furniture.

I bought a basic pine bookshelf there (about 10 yrs ago). It was generally sturdy (and made of REAL wood), but it's definitely starter/postcollege furniture.

I had the same issues as Valerie with the armoire I purchased from them! The doors were not hung right, and I had to have them come multiple times. They blamed it on my floors!

The whitewash finish on the armoire aged over time, but the drawers aged to a pinkish color and the doors aged to a more yellow color! It was clear that it was not all done at the same time.

Also, I bought two unfinished end tables and had a terrible time getting them stained. Maybe I'm not a re-finishing pro, but you could tell they used different kinds of wood on the piece because the stain looked like a patchwork quilt. It was terrible to have those results after all the work of staining them.

But in their case, I think you get what you pay for. It's cheap, plain wood. The less moving parts, the better.

My impression is that they used to be a lot better.

The first furniture that I bought on my own over twenty years ago was from Gothic, and it held up until just a couple of years ago. And even a couple of years ago, we bought a bookcase and a hutch from them that were satisfactory.

This year, however, I've had nothing but problems from them with a custom-built credenza (similar to style to the chest of drawers above) and a wardrobe cabinet. The drawers were cut wrong on the credenza--I'd been extremely specific about using them to store CD's--and one of the doors on the wardrobe cabinet arrived with a big crack down the middle.

A replacement door for the wardrobe arrived with a big glob of varnish in the middle. The replacement for that one bulged out in the middle. I returned that cabinet and got another, and the shelf was on upside-down (sanded on the underside and splintery on top) and one of the hinges was loose. After a month and a half of nagging, they're sending the repair guy this week.

So I would say, they used to be good for problem-solving, but they've gone downhill even for that. Now they're good for problem-creating.

anyone know a gothic-type company who can build a shower stool out of teak? i've googled my brains out and can't find out tall enough – they insist on making them relatively short.

craptastic is the only word for it. I'd stay away, especially for anything as tricky as a dresser. I think apartment therapy's picks from craigslist today has two good looking blond danish dressers for 100 bucks each. Probably much cheaper and better than gothic.

I actually bought the night-stand that matches that dresser, to use as an end table. I bought that, my bed, a bookshelf and a cube there and love them all (It's only 2 blocks from my house). I painted the shelf and decoupaged the night-stand which saved me a lot of money. It's all sturdy and solid and I'll probably have them for years. Sometimes they are sloppy on things that you order (they messed up my bed, but I bitched and they gave me another one), so actually buy a floor sample (which are usually on sale) - they have the most at their big greenpoint store.

I had considered purchasing some bookcases from Gothic, but then I visited one of their 'showrooms' in Greenpoint BK and was very disappointed by all of the furniture. The stuff is NOT professionally built or finished; everything seems to be put together with a nailgun, and all of the nails are either exposed or covered with white fill. The construction seems to make no effort to cover its tracks and looks pretty much like a slap-together job. Models that have been 'finished' by them look even cheaper than the unfinished pieces. All in all, no go.

Also, this particular showroom had the prices on all of its pieces marked up from the website, so you're either damned with shipping charges or damned with mark-ups.

Gothic is now a low end, low quality material furniture manufacturer - different from years ago. You get what you pay for with them and any furniture manufacturer.

If you are looking for well-built modular furniture, you should look to the custom closet companies, which are cost effective because they are modular, offer many finish choices and can fit any space for best storage and appearance. I highly recommend Transform, based in New Rochelle NY. www.gotransform.com

In my looking (not all that recent), Gothic's stuff was definitely less well made than at some other unfinished furniture places. You might compare several stores and see if you find a better one.

I don't know about quality, having never ordered from them myself, but I have a friend who ordered some custom cabinets from them, and getting everything delivered became a nightmare. Not showing up, showing up at the wrong time (a four-hour delivery window is a pain, but it's even more of a pain when they don't even honor it), finally delivering only 2 out of the 3 pieces (the latter of which they "forgot" about and had to basically start the order over) and then refusing to install the stuff even though he had paid for installation (kitchen wall cabinets). He ultimately had to threaten to report them to the BBB to get the stuff he paid for.

My boyfriend recently purchased an unfinished bed from gothic (see my link for the piece) and I was relatively pleased with their service. The order was placed quickly and actually arrived an hour before the scheduled delivery time. The delivery men set up the bed quickly and, aside from a few stray wood splinters (it is unfinished after all), the bed is great. It probably wont last 20 years, but for the price it seems worth it.

Stay far, far away from Gothic Cabinet. I ordered a dresser with black wash finish. It looks awful. Very large variance in color. Right now I'm fighting it out with them to get my money back, since even after the guy came out to fix it, it still looks the same. Don't bother with this company.