Yakibest Basics 4-Shelf Adjustable, Heavy Duty Storage Shelving Unit (350 lbs loading capacity per shelf), Steel Organizer Wire Rack, Black (36L x 14W x 54H)

I may have an addiction to these ‘amazon basics’ shelving units, i just bought my 6th one! I started with the butcher’s block/microwave cart unit and was thrilled with it. Then i discovered the tall 5-shelf unit and bought one. I liked that so much i bought 2 more of the tall ones. Then i bought this short 3-shelf unit on prime day and got so excited about it that i went back and ordered a second before the sale was over.

So let’s get the assembly ‘controversy’ out of the way. I won’t attempt detailed directions here, but i hope you’ll trust me when i say these really are incredibly easy to assemble. And they’re perfectly stable and sturdy once assembled. Any review that says these are crazy difficult, or ‘won’t stay together’ or that they ‘wobble’ etc have all assembled them incorrectly. Please consider that i have bought six of these now, i’m a pro. I can assemble these small ones in about 8-10 minutes leisurely, and the tall 5-shelf ones in about 15 minutes each – and that includes time for me to ponder ideal shelf placement! That’s at a relaxed pace and there is zero frustration. Now, i will admit that i was initially perplexed on my very first unit for a few minutes as i fumbled around with the black connectors trying to make sense of them. I too thought ‘this thing is junk’ until i realized i was not realizing how they work. Once i understood the simplicity of it, the rest all flew together with ease and are actually fun to assemble. I could quite literally assemble these with my eyes closed at this point.

Watch the videos which should help. But generally: the connectors come in 2 halves that fit together around the pole. Be sure to look for the arrow pointing up so you have them upright. Also look inside for the little ridge lines, this is super helpful. Those lines line up with the single lines on the chrome pole. I actually place them just above the chrome pole line and slide them down until i hear/feel them click into place. The two halves fit together but with a slight gap. Meaning that they do not close together entirely. They stay in place but will look slightly separated – this is normal! Do not try to force them to fit together tightly, they aren’t intended to. When you push the shelf (lightly, there’s no need to force it) down over the black connectors, it wedges them closed a bit more. This is by design so that the shelves aren’t loose and popping up; they stay in place nicely.

Also keep in mind that the black coin-like caps in the box are packing scrap and can be tossed out or repurposed but are not parts for the unit. Lastly, the edging on the shelf goes down. They are not lips to hold things on the shelf. You might be able to make it work that way, but it’s not meant to be that way. Just know that if you’re having a hard time with any part of putting these together, you’re doing it wrong. I can assure you, i live alone and have no one around to give me a hand, so i would never buy six of these units unless they were super easy to assemble, because i am not a very patient person.

These are stable, strong, hold a ton of weight and are extremely versatile, which is why i love them so much. They go with just about any decor style. I have two of the tall units as pantry shelving and a third tall unit in my art studio. I came up with a creative way to use these small 3-shelf ones by putting a 6 foot x 18′ piece of plywood over two of them (one at each end with a space in the center) which serves as a sideboard/counter and/or deskpace area in my rustic kitchen where i can roll out bread dough or sit down to pull up recipes on my laptop, etc with baking supplies on the shelves underneath. The leveling feet are handy too. My only complaint is that the prices on these fluctuates dramatically, so i tend to wait and snag one when i see them on sale. I’m considering getting one for the bathroom (towels etc) and maybe even one for off-season clothes storage. They look so classy and nice and the storage and organization they offer is fantastic. These units are some of the best things i’ve ever purchased on amazon actually.

I was a little concerned after reading some reviews but this was very easy to put together by myself. I’m an older (ahem) woman and it took very little effort or time. Here’s what i did:
– i took each bottom pole and screwed in the feet. I also put non slip cushions on them to protect my wood floor.
– i stacked all of the shelves together on their side and threaded the poles through the holes, which got the poles into the correct position.
– i placed the two halves of the plastic clips around the poles near the bottom and slid them into place. There’s an arrow pointing to the top so you can make sure you are orienting them the right way. They click and snap together in a very satisfying way. Once in place they stay on the pole so you can slide the shelf down onto it. If the clips have a space between them or won’t stay on the pole, you have to slide them into place.
– once i had the bottom shelf in place i picked up the whole thing, the shelves and bottom poles, and set it upright. I slid the loose shelves off and started placing the clips around the poles to adjust each shelf position. The nice thing about the poles is that there are a few double rings spaced between the single rings. It makes it easier to count and place the clips correctly. I pushed down a bit on each shelf to seat it securely on the clips.
– once i had two or three shelves placed on the bottom poles i screwed in the top poles and placed the rest of the shelves.
The shelf comes with a kit to attach a strap to the wall so it won’t tip over, but it seems very stable so i think it should be okay without it, for my purpose. I placed heavier boxes on the lower shelves to give it more stability.
I’m very pleased and feel it was well worth the reasonable price.

I’m leaving this review through my mother’s account, but i purchased this myself for my room 🙂

i work at a pet store, and i was apparently luckier than most of the other reviewers of this product because my job left me with prior knowledge of how to actually assemble this thing. Because of this, i generally had a pretty easy time putting it together! (note: i did have help from a friend, i am short and there are a lot of larger pieces that i probably wouldn’t have been able to get on there without assistance)

first off, i noticed a lot of reviewers were having trouble with the plastic bits, saying they wont click together. I’m gonna save you some trouble and let you know right now that they aren’t supposed to. The instructions dont make this fact clear (in fact, they dont really make anything clear. I already know how to assemble this thing and i was still left confused by the instruction manual for a solid 10 minutes), but they’re not supposed to meet because once the tube part of the shelf slides over it, that’s when the two pieces are supposed to connect to each other. So basically, don’t worry if the two halves of the stupid plastic thingies aren’t completely in contact with one another, just make sure they both click into place on the bar.

Another complaint i saw in the reviews is that the shelves aren’t sturdy/are kinda loose. Again, an easy fix that the instructions never tell you how to do, because amazon wants us all to suffer. Luckily, my coworker explained to me how to fix this when we set one up in the store. Basically once you’ve got your shelf where you want it on top of the plastic bits, you’re gonna wanna grab the nearest hammer and smack those shelf corners until they fit snugly on top of those stupid little plastic inconveniences. By then, hopefully, your shelf should be snug and sturdy, and your plastic things should be in contact with each other and holding your shelf in place.

It’s only been a few hours, but i’m incredibly happy with this thing! I can keep all of my gecko supplies in one area, and now neither of my tanks are on the floor, and i was able to upgrade my youngest gecko into her new 20 gallon now that i had enough room for it 🙂 i stress-tested the shelf prior by sitting on it and standing on it and it didn’t even bend :d and obviously, the ones we use at work are just as sturdy, and are what encouraged me to buy this for myself! Overall, this product is pretty great once you figure out all the stuff that the manual conveniently leaves out.

Tldr: this thing is great if you already know how to assemble it, but if this is your first time building it then read some reviews of how other people did it because the manual is very vague lol

(and for any gecko care nerds out there: i know the red lights suck, im switching off of them soon. I promise my babies are spoiled. And the unlit 10 gallon on the bottom right doesn’t have a gecko in it lol, that’s an empty one that my youngest just moved out of)

This is by far the best shelf system i have purchased in price and quality. I recently purchased 2 others from another vendor that had a critical missing closure piece but turned out to be the reason why i stumbled on this one. I’m almost feel compelled to reach out and thank them for that mistake. The shelf is very easy to install as long as you properly snap in place the plastic pieces. I have placed buckets of paint (not all full) on second to last shelf and they are still holding weeks later without any signs of sliding or distress. So trust me they are durable and able to hold a lot of weight.
My garage has been in need of a purge and these shelves are the best thing going. I will be ordering more soon!

The shelf was pretty easy to put together. Don’t overthink the instructions, just follow them and it goes together pretty quick. Pay attention to the direction of the clips (don’t get them upside down).

You can assemble it by yourself but it’s probably just a little easier if you have a helper that can hold one end of the shelf to keep it somewhat level as you put each shelf on the four supports. But again, one person can also do it. I tapped the shelves lightly with a rubber mallet to fit snugly on top of the clips. You could also use a folded up towel and regular hammer.

Once it’s put together it’s sturdy but still lightweight enough to lift and move around with ease. I put mine together in my bedroom then easily carried it outside to the back deck. I did not use the casters.

My deck is covered, but does receive a small amount of sunlight and is exposed to the elements. I’ve been putting gardening stuff on the shelves. So far no rust, no sign of wear. No shelves sagging or bending.
I would highly recommend this shelving system.

I have many of these throughout our store. I just ordered some more and looked at the reviews which prompted me to write one. These are a 8 out of 10 in quality but they are also half the cost of higher end 10/10 shelves. If you have a small amount of common sense and have built boxed furniture before these will be easy and take approximately 15 minutes to build. Looking at all the people that gave one star reviews with pictures you can see that is not the case for them and they should have bought the assembly service. I would recommend these to any one and if you can’t figure out how to put it together with the instructions it is not the fault of the product. Then the people that complained about it wasn’t the size they thought it would be did not read the dimensions off the listing. They come in the exact size stated for each model. Damage to items in shipping does happen from time to time and amazon sends out a new one very quickly, it is not poor manufacturing.

I bought these shelves for a storage building to hold some canning jars that are still in boxes. The depth of the shelves is perfect, and the width will hold 2 boxes. There is enough room between shelves to hold 2 boxes stacked, so i can store 4 boxes of a dozen jars on each shelf for a total of 144 half-pint and pint jars on this one small stand. I’m happy with that, and i’m ordering another one to hold quart-sized jars.

When the box arrived, it was well-packaged, and all the parts were included. I’m a 71 year old female with a bad back, and i was easily able to put it together with no tools in about 15 minutes, maybe less.

Regarding installation, the half-round clips that are provided do not fit tightly together when you place them around a leg. There’s actually a small gap between them. But once you slide the shelf down on top of the clips, all the pieces work interactively to hold everything in place nicely.

This is an excellent value shelf, especially since it ships with amazon prime.

For our specific use case, it works excellently, but this shelf has low depth (thin) and could represent a tipping hazard. Does have an good anti tip anchor included in a separate easy to identify yellow wrapper.

It does indeed hold the weight specified under static loading with even distribution. The feet have up to 2 inches of adjustability for uneven floors.

Previously purchased several years ago, and quality has remained consistent.

It is straightforward to disassemble the shelf, however it is relatively lightweight and easy to carry if needed.

Perfect… This was easy to assemble… I did it by myself. It’s most definitely a space saver. My better half attached it to the wall so it does not fall over if the kids crawl on it. It says that each shelf can hold up to 350 lb. We know for sure each shelf can hold at least 200lb. I was in the garage.. Something ran across my foot… I immediately hopped on the shelf and it didn’t budge…… Side note what i did is not recommended. For your safety please don’t stand or sit on the shelves if you choose to purchase this unit.

My son was skeptical about this unit after reading the mixed reviews since he recently moved several states away and wouldn’t be here to assemble it for me. There was no reason to worry. It was so easy to assemble! It took me less than 20 minutes and i wasn’t in a hurry. It’s wonderfully sturdy and is so useful since i had unused space and a tiny kitchen. Don’t pay attention to the doom and gloomers – you’ll be fine. There are dozens of reviews giving step by step – pay attention to them and you’ve got this.

I was looking for storage units to create a pantry but everything i found was not the right size or if it was, the shelves were not adjustable. I found this unit and i loved the amount of weight each shelf held but i wanted the shelves to be closer together and i needed 8-10 shelves total. I searched all over the web to see if i can get extra shelves for this unit but didn’t find any, so i decided to get 2 units and use whatever shelves i needed for one unit. I figured that most likely i would’ve paid more than $50 for 3-5 extra shelves, so for $100 i ended up making one awesome pantry. I used just 8 shelves and stored away 2 shelves and remaining poles. (note: each leg is made out of 2 poles that gets screwed on top of each other so you can actually create 2 shorter units out of one unit)
the unit is pretty sturdy but it’s a pain in the but to put together by one person. The shelves are held up in place by some plastic pieces that you have to connect and snap together in each corner and then lower the shelf from above on these pieces. The plastic pieces are marked with an arrow and the word top. Each pole has markings/indentations 1 inch apart all the way down. You hold 2 plastic piece together and place them around a pole, arrows pointing up, holding them together above the line on the pole where you want the shelf to end up. Holding the 2 pieces together and by sliding them down they end up in the indention on the pole at the level you want them to be. When they end up on the indention you’ll hear a click and that’s how you’ll know they are locked together in the right place. Count to see on which indention you are on that pole and place the other pieces at the same level on the other 3 poles. Now, 2 things you have to know about these plastic pieces:
1. They would not close together fully, meaning you might see a bit of a space between them.
2. They stay put but when you lower the shelf you will have to hold each one in place and guide each corner of shelf’s hole over them because if you don’t do that and you hit one of pieces with the shelf they would snap open and you’ll have to remove the shelf and connect the piece that disconnected from the pole. It would’ve been better if the plastic pieces were open only in one side and closing fully when snapped together. What i ended up doing was placing a piece of tape on one side of the plastic pieces (making one side like a door hinge) which made it easier for me to put the shelves over them. If i was hitting one corner by mistake the pieces would not snap off and fall down completely but stay on the pole giving me a chance to close them pretty quickly without having to remove the shelf anymore. At first i put tape all the way around the pieces but the tape was adding thickness to the pieces and they wouldn’t fit in the shelves’ holes. So, i tried tape only on one side and that worked. After all shelf’s corners are places over the pieces, you will have to push down on the shelf, at the same time on all 4 corners to lock the shelf in place evenly.
So, with all that said, the units are pretty nice. The plastic pieces need some design improvement. If they were designed better this unit would’ve been a breeze to put together.
One thing i have to mention. I had room for a 46′ or 48′ w unit but that size unit was too deep for my space (i needed 12′-14’d unit and the 48’w they sell on amazon is 18′-20’d). So i ended up buy this 36′ w unit even though i was not using 10-12 inches of my space where i was planning to place the pantry. I made plans how to arrange baskets on each shelf based on the listed measurements. A lot of planning went into this since i had to consider how many baskets i needed and how much that would cost, finding the right size baskets etc, etc. Only after i ensemble the entire unit i found out that the 3 baskets i initially wanted to place side by side on each shelf would not fit and i was baffled not knowing why that would be…. Well, the unit is 36′ w, meaning the shelves are 36′ w but because the ploles are designed to be part of the shelves they take up about 3′ of the shelf. From one pole to the other you have 33′ width and because of that i couldn’t use the baskets i needed to use and had to rethink the entire pantry, cost, sizes of items etc. Because of this unforeseen issue i lost a bit of space in the spot where i placed the unit (keep in mind that i could’ve used a much wider shelving unit to begin with) and i’m bumped about not using the space to the max as initially intended. I wish i knew about these details about the measurements before i made my decision to purchase this unit. The measurements were a very important part of my decision to purchase these units and they were not an easy item to ensemble and dissemble to send back to amazon. Although my pantry turn up nice, i had a lot of headaches rearrange everything just because of the unknown measurements.
After founding out that the shelves were not as wide as i expected them to be, i couldn’t find baskets to fit so i ended up using flat rate shipping boxes from usps (which are free, you can order them online or pick them up at a local usps location) that i had to cut to size and covered in shelf/drawer lining. Not fun at all 🙁
i would recommend this unit for it’s sturdiness and price but buyer beware: you will have to spend some time putting it together if you don’t have a 2nd person to help you. And, i hope you read my review if you’re planning to use the the unit in a specific way where the exact measurements are a must to know before hand.
I finished my pantry by covering the back and sides with a stiff plastic shower curtain, and with a fabric shower curtain for the front part.
Another thing i need to mention is that if you need to slide something on the shelf back and forth (like i wanted, a box to be pulled out and put back) the shelf’s front is a bit higher and the item on the shelf will sit a bit lower and the edge will have a bit of a ‘lip’ so you’ll have to lift the item up a little at the edge to get the item over the ‘lip’. I didn’t like that, so in order to make the shelf smooth front to back, i came up with the idea to put cardboard on the shelf but a bit smaller than the shelf so the thickness of the cardboard when sitting on the shelf away from ‘lip’ will come up at the same height with the lip, thus making the shelf same level from front to back. I needed 8 cardboard pieces long enough and very inexpensive. I bought 2 moving boxes 18’x18’x16′ from menards ( about $5 with tax for both) and cut them lengthwise in 8 pieces. They were the perfect fit. To make sure the cardboard didn’t move when pulling my boxes out, i taped the cardboard in each corner from underneath. Problem solved and it came out nice. I hope all this info might help someone who wants to use this unit for a pantry.
Pictures:
1. How the unit looks with the cardboard on each shelf
2. Work in progress, how the flat rate boxes look after i cut them to the size i needed to be
3. How the unit looks from the back with the plastic shower curtain covering the back and sides
4. How everything looks and how the unit looks like with 8 shelves on it
5. I ended up finding some baskets that were perfect fit and blended well with the flat rate boxes. I didn’t like the baskets’ colors much but i had no choice, i made them work 🙂
6. How the flat rate boxes looked like after covering them in shelf/drawer lining i got at dollar tree store and label them too 🙂 also, on the shelf with the 2 green baskets, in the back of the shelf i used a lazy susan i had before to be able to easily access my tomato paste cans.
7. Final product. Front covered with fabric shower curtain that’s easy to pull up to one side (see picture #4 to see how it seats on left upper corner). On top of the unit i places 3 foldable rectangular boxes (from menards $6 ea) that i’ll use for very light items (toilet paper, paper towels, napkins etc). To make sure all weight is distributed ok and unit stays in place first i made sure feet were leveled properly (the unit had screws at the bottom of each foot so you screw and unscrew each feet to level it properly to an uneven floor). Second, i secured the unit with velcro and plastic cable ties to the railing thats on the back of the unit (the unit comes with ties to secure it to walls but i used my own ties)
third, i placed my heavy items on the lower shelves (cans, sugar, flour, oil etc). And lastly, i placed my light items (mixed in with some light weight ones) on the upper shelves and the top one.
8. I needed more light so i found this light that has a magnet on the bottom and a hook to hang anywhere. I can move it on any shelf, (standing up, sideways, etc) and have my hands free when i pull out a box/basket etc. It’s awesome. I know, too much info, sorry 🙂

The shelves are held up on the posts by these wacky little black plastic clamp-on dudes with a micro – size little ridge inside them that is supposed to bite into the ever-so-small grooves around the posts! How do those little plastic ridges ever hold any weight? You’d think they would simply break off under any stress at all. Your finger nail could probably scrape them off.
But… They do. They actually grip the posts when you slide the shelf down on the post and that grabs the wacky plastic clamp on pieces and squeezes them together on the post so their little plastic ridges slip into those grooves.
The best description of the entire construction process is found in the reviews / comments from england. He goes into perfect detail about every step of construction, and is just as amazed as i was that those wacky little black plastic clamp on things actually will hold the shelf and its weight. Look for that. I wish i had it up and open here and could better direct you to it. Its in the comments from outside the usa section.

As part of the normal assembly, two halves of many plastic cylindrical pole clasps must be placed around the pole, then pressed together and slid down to lock into position on the pole. These clasps then become the support for the shelves that are slid down the pole and seated over the clasps.

Well, like some other reviewers, i can’t get the clasps to close. (see photo.) i even tried using large channel lock pliers to close them and they would not close. Must i hire the incredible hulk to close these clasps?

Seriously, is there a solution? Since many reviewers indicate that the shelf can be assembled with no problem, are the clasps in my product defective? Or do my poles have too large a diameter? Is there a way i can get clasps that will close around my poles?

As an aside, my package was missing three of the twelve protective caps that protect the shelves from being scratched. So, i’d guess that quality control is a problem with these shelves in general and that may be related to this problem as well.

* 7/12/2022 update

i thought about this issue and then realized that when the shelving is placed over the clasps and then tapped downward with a mallet, the clasps should become compressed, and the result should be a solid shelf mounting. Given this, i then assembled the shelving in 10 – 15 minutes. I have placed filled bins (some heavy) on the shelves, and i have seen no problems so far.

I believe that if the instructions indicated that it’s ok that

o the clasps don’t close completely (assuming this is true)
o the clasp’s inner ridge be aligned with the pole’s circular ‘indentation’
o the shelf should be tapped down until the top of the clasp is aligned with the top of the shelf’s circular ‘collar’

then buyers’ concerns would be addressed.

There is really nothing i don’t like about this product. Although, it was smaller than i thought.but that’s on me.not the product. I have it holding up three cases of water, each one has 32-16 0z bottles. Plus 8 full – 1 gallon water jugs. Two- 1 gallon jugs of vinegar and three 10 pound containers of cat littler. So it definitely holds a lot of weight. It’s sturdy, and took me about 20 minutes to a half and hour putting it together. It does what i needed it to do,and is truly worth the price.

The box had a lot of tape on it which caused me concern. Upon opening the box, it was short one pole. I contacted amazon and was sent another shelf unit. The second unit arrived and had all the poles, but two of the five shelves were bent. Really? Fortunately, a rubber mallet was able to fix that problem. I was disappointed because i have always gotten complete and ‘as advertised’ items. Yes, amazon fixed the original problem but the second unit had new problems. Since it was an easy fix and amazon did send a replacement, i didn’t mention the bent shelves. Be sure to check your box to make sure everything is included that is supposed to be included. Other than that, i am very happy with the shelves. I have at least six units in my home.

Please people look at directions at pieces and figure out how you have to put together before you start to put together because it is really easy to do if you just use common sense. I’ve done several of these and i purchased a cheaper damaged boxed one so once i got it and made sure everything was there i threw box away otherwise i probably would be returning because as i was putting the second shelf on i got scratched by a sharp edge so i looked at all the other shelves and one unit i just put together last week and noticed there was areas there was suppose to be welding done to smooth the edges and it wasn’t done. Luckily i don’t have little ones and it’s just going in the back of a huge closet in my mud room but it’s still going to be a hazard of sorts. Other than the freak sharp edge issue i recommend it

I had high hopes for this little cart, but when trying to assemble as ‘easy as pie’ shown in a demo video, i was sad to see that the little ‘clamps’ did not snap together and there was about an 1/8′ gap. So disappointed me arranged to return it. Then i looked at the one star reviews and found i was not the only one to encounter this problem. I felt better about my return. But then, i did my usual thing – look at all reviews with most recent first and as i was reading through, one in particular – included photos – and explained exactly how this thing went together. Shelf hole like a sleeve over the clamp and holding it in place. So we did that and it is now under my kitchen island holding most of my cast iron cookware. I am not sure i would put hundreds of pounds on it, but for my purpose it is perfect. Another will be joining it as well as two more on casters for where the dishwasher used to be. Happy.

I gave this to my adult daughter. She had it put together in 5-10 minutes no problem. She didn’t even read the directions. I hate to put stuff together. She made it look incredibly easy. Nice stand for a bunch of garage stuff that is off the floor and organized now

Not a bad shelf set. More narrow than my set i bought from home depot a couple years ago. Assembled easily enough. The finish isn’t super great, butt it gets the job done. There was some surface rust on parts that weren’t coated very well, but it was all in hidden areas, so i didn’t mind much.

Great for holding my kiddos moto gear.

The shelves are difficult to figure out how to assemble them as the instructions are not clear and they just show pictures. I was expecting the height to be taller, as that is what it looks like in the photo. Made in china, there are plastic pieces that you squeeze and put on all four corners to hold up the shelves. You have to have them on all four corners prior to trying to assemble it. Then, trying to get all of them equally spaced is difficult. I kept the shelf but it was way smaller than i had expected, and it was a pain to try and put it together. Took a long time. When it was all together, it does seem pretty sturdy, but i bought it for towels and wash cloths and i had to really stack them up and push them together to fit.