CB2 Review

CB2 is a furniture website that offers home furnishings at an affordable price. They are a sister company of Crate and Barrel, but the style of furniture is more modern and on average, the price point is typically lower than you'll find at Crate and Barrel. They sell furniture, such as desks, beds, storage units, sofas, and chairs as well as ton of decorative accessories and kitchen items, including fun and functional glasses, plates, silverware and serving items.

Overall, I recommend CB2.com as a good place to find affordable furniture as well as bright, colorful, fun items for your home. If the thought of a bright orange credenza excites rather than appalls you, this is a good place for you to shop. I'm not a big fan of mass produced art so I tend to avoid those items, but if your design preferences lean towards the modern side, I think CB2 is a good shopping option. If I had to describe CB2 in terms of how it ranks in quality and cost compared to other furniture stores, it would be above Ikea, below Room & Board, comparable to a West Elm, and a better value for your money than Chiasso. Another plus, the furniture is typically in stock so you don't have the 8-12 week wait time that you often deal with at other furniture stores.

If you are lucky and live in one of the few cities where they have retail stores - right now, that's Chicago, New York, and San Francisco - it's definitely helpful to go in and check out the quality of the items in person after shopping online. I'm not sure I'd purchase a big ticket item from them without seeing it in person.

My recent purchases included two "Trig" desks, Trig consoles, and Trig filing cabinets as well as a credenza (yes, in orange!) and the Hancock book shelf. I liked how everything turned out, it was relatively painless to assemble, the staff was great (thanks Adam!), and I thought everything was appropriately priced. All in all, it was a very positive experience.

There's only one downside to my experience. Like Ikea, when you buy furniture, it comes flat-packed so be prepared for a fair bit of assembly being required on your part. This is not the issue. I was, however, ASTONISHED at the amount of packaging material that accompanied my purchase, including non recyclable Styrofoam. I could not believe it. See the picture I uploaded with my review - the amount of waste material definitely gave me pause. One of the main attractions of CB2 is its affordable prices, but I couldn't help but think about the hidden cost to the environment in this purchase.