Lea Furniture Elite Classics Full over Full Bunk Bed

Review

The Lea Elite Classics bunk beds feature a clean, conventional design with some influences from Louis Philippe era such as heavy moldings and bases with broad pilasters. The finish is medium brown cherry color and the custom designed hardware knobs are in soft silver with golden overtones. The traditional style of the Elite Classics collection makes it a good match to a broad range of environments -- boys room, girls room, guest room, 2nd bedroom, even a smaller master bedroom is not out of the question -- and helps in blending with the furniture that may already be there.

The Lea Elite family of furniture actually consists of five different collections; in addition to Elite Classics, there are also the Elite Expressions, Elite Crossover, Elite Reflections and Elite Rhapsody (not all of them feature bunk beds). So why are they called "Elite"? Is there really something special about them? According to Lea, there is. Quality. The following are a few excerpts from the Lea Elite Classics catalog.

The Lea Elite Collections use higher quality materials, combined with designs that feature pattern veneers, inlays and matched veneer drawer fronts. These extra features create a step-up design usually associated with more expensive, heirloom quality furniture.

A multiple step finish process featuring hand selected veneers with as many as 7 different spray applications and as many as 8 additional hand applications are combined to create a high luster finish that accentuates the wood veneers and is generally found only on the very best furniture.

All beds feature metal connectors for strength and lasting durability and to prevent unintentional rail detachment.

Bunk bed ladders and guardrails are attached with metal screws and metal-to-metal fasteners to provide strength and security.

Slat roll mattress support systems providing mattress support without the need for a box spring or a bunkie board, come standard with bunk beds, loft beds and platform beds. Each slat fastens with a screw providing additional strength and structural integrity to the beds.

Most twin and full size bunkbeds feature two rail heights that will accommodate multiple underbed storage options that offer deep under bed storage drawers or dual function trundle/storage capability that take advantage of unused space under the beds.

Drawers feature full extension guides with steel ball bearings that provide easy one-handed smooth operation and greater stability than standard center mounted drawer guides. Drawers also feature automatic stops to prevent them from falling out of the case.

This all sounds very nice and even more than that, you might think, but do the products live up to the promotion? What do the actual users say? The data on this bed is not what we'd call very comprehensive, but from what's available it would appear that the Elite collections really do have much to offer, especially with regard to their moderate pricing.

Although the number of reviews concerning the Elite collections is not, as mentioned, as high as is the case with some of the more popular items such as the Deer Run collection, it is very encouraging that the high percentage of those are five-star reviews. Two things get praised above all: quality of build and appearance. Well made; top quality; heavy and sturdy; solid construction; very high quality; beautifully crafted; good quality durable wood -- these phrases (or some variations) are repeated all the time with regard to the perceived quality of the received product. In the looks department, "beautiful" is the most reiterated word: beautiful rich furniture; wood is simply beautiful; beautifully crafted; beautiful bed; finish is beautiful -- but some synonyms do crop up now and then also, such as: gorgeous piece of furniture; very attractive bed.

A large percentage of reviewers singles out quality for the price as the one thing that best defines the Elite collections; often times this is expressed with a degree of surprise and an admission they have expected less. One user in particular revealed he had expected to see mostly pressboard, and was pleasantly surprised to discover the material was all solid wood. More technically savvy users also praise the smaller details of the workmanship, such as the use of screws in fastening almost everything -- instead of staples that seem to be so common these days. Finally, it should be mentioned that quite a few buyers were impressed with their Elite products sufficiently to make a prediction that they were going to hold up for a very long time.

With smaller number of reviews also comes a smaller number of complaints. Or perhaps it's the quality that does it... In any case, the only repeated objection we've been able to find had to do with the slats -- they could be a little stronger, as one user put it. Another one was far more explicit about it and labeled them as NOT STRONG and VERY flexible like springs. Yet another called them horrible, cheap and weak. Cracking sounds very also mentioned. In all cases it was advised to add some support in this area.