Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace Tv console review – The interior decoration of a house makes or mares the house. You could have the ugliest looking structure and immortalize it with grace only with a few touches here and there. It doesn’t have to rocket science.
Certain items, sometimes vintage and useful, other times useless but artistic does the work. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is one of the useful, a mix of vintage and artistic yet useful items that sets the tone of beautiful interior decorations in a home.
It is a TV stand but it may be wrong to primarily call it a TV stand because it has other equally important uses. It is a fireplace, a shelf, and a store. It’s like using one stone to kill three birds. This is wise especially when trying to conserve space.
As much as flatscreen TV has come to stay and flatter ones are probably coming, a lot of house owners don’t want you drilling holes into their holes to install your TV especially if you are renting your apartment. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console to the rescue. You need a fireplace anyway, if not for the heat, for aesthetics.
Photo credit: Amazon
Features:
- Brand
Right on the Ameriwood website, it says ‘design your sanctuary’. It sounds almost therapeutic to be able to bring to life ideas of peace and calm spaces in your head. Pieces of furniture are one of the major ways to give life to an empty and dead abode. Ameriwood solves that problem.
Even if you are not the imaginative type, it brings images like Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console right in front of your face. Ameriwood is a subsidiary of Dorel Homes.
Dorel is divided into sections. The first is Dorel Juvenile. They deal with baby products and have the motto, “care for precious lives”. The second is Dorel Sports which deals with recreational sporting equipment like bikes. And of course, Dorel Home deals with furniture and other interior decor items. This is where Ameriwood brand cull from. Their style of items is steeped in giving value with a mix of technology and beauty.
According to them, they anticipate and can meet customers’ needs through their excellent customer care service. They claim they offer services such as guiding customers through the assembling process, shipping out spare parts as soon as possible when requested, an array of a detailed image of CGI, and a video showing step by step guide to assembling equipment.
On Facebook, they are rated 3.2/5. A reviewer commented about one of their products Farmington TV stand with an electric fireplace lasting for four years before it gave out and when he called for a replacement, it arrived within two days with one of their staff doing the instalment free of charge. Trilby Henderson does not seem as enthusiastic as the previous reviewer though.
He said that a piece of the furniture he ordered arrived damaged and Ameriwood Home said they could not replace it because it was the last piece and he needed it urgently.
He advises you to try another brand. The third reviewer seems to be even angrier. Apparently, Ameriwood does not offer refunds. Elizabeth Law claims their products are made of plywood and hers tore apart after hours of working on it. She wanted a refund and they offered to replace the torn one. Since she mentioned plywood, perhaps it was the particular furniture she bought and not necessarily all their products.
Another reviewer said his packaged arrived broken and he sends their customer care complaint with pictures as proof. He is handicapped so it was a big deal for him putting in work to assemble to but the customer care agent closed his case with a basic reply with no apology or solution whatsoever. Half of the reviewers that gave positive reviews were sent free samples to make honest reviews while the other half seem genuinely pleased.
I could list out all the reviews but I think you already get the drift. None of these reviews, however, is for Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console. They are all for other products by the same company. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console seems to have a better review.
According to a survey done by expert reviewers, out of 7 of the equipment in the same category as Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console, Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console ranked first.
Reviewers liked that it is chic, its LED light can last up to 50000 hours and it is affordable but did not like that the wood is too soft, it takes long to couple majorly because the doors, screws, and holes are not properly aligned. Also, they have liked it better if it had a remote.
- Construction materials
Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is made of laminated particleboard and MDF. Particleboard is also called a low-density fiberboard. It is waste wood products like shavings, chips, sawdust, and a wide range of wood byproducts gotten while milling meshed together with adhesive into a board. It is the cheapest product that can be used for furniture manufacturing and as a result very cheap.
It is cheaper than plywood or Medium Density Fiberboards (MDF). Due to its makeup, it is light to carry and easy to transport. The downside of this is that light woods usually means they can damage easily. The denser and heavier a wood, the stronger it is. It is suitable for making furniture because of its good screw holding capacity which makes assembly easy.
It is also noteworthy that it has thermo-coustic insulation properties. What this does is to filter sound pollution and regulate heat transmission. This makes perfect sense considering that the TV stand is also a fireplace. Particleboard used in Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is laminated which means a smoother and finer finish.
This makes it easy to clean and affords minimal maintenance. The low-density feature of particle boards makes them soft and prone to break easily. It cannot support heavy loads and a lot of damage can happen during shipping if not properly handled. The direction on how to use Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console say to clean with a dry cloth and damp cloth only occasionally. T
his is because moisture expands particle boards and causes it to warp. Sometimes, discoloration happens. The major real advantage of particle board for furniture manufacturing is that it affords mass production due to its affordability. It costs less than half the price of plywood or solid wood. The laminate on the particleboard could be plastic or wood veneer.
This adds strength and beauty to the furniture. The ability of machines to shape particle boards into the needed dimensions means manual carpentry work is not necessarily needed. A piece of furniture made of particleboard is expected to have a shelf life of 2 to 3 years unless it is not heavily used, then perhaps it can last as long as 6 years.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is not made with only particleboard. It is combined with medium-density fiberboard which has more strength than particleboard. It is made from chips, sawdust, and other waste materials too but it undergoes more processing to make it stronger. These waste products are dehydrated and mixed with resins and wax into panels.
These panels undergo high heat and pressure to compress them into a hard piece which is sawed into a smooth surface and desired perfection. MDF is pliant and easy to construct with. It readily accepts paint and laminates like plastic or veneer. MDF furniture ensures a dust-free, particle, and hassle-free installation process. It is resistant to termites.
The downsides are that it is heavy and the edges can easily crack and smooth surfaces scratched during transportation and it is intolerant of water except treated. The screws can loosen with time and trying to fix it can cause cracks and splits on the edges of the furniture.
Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console manufacturers claim it is capable of holding a 50″ flat-panel TV with a maximum weight of 70lbs. I would be careful not to put more than that amount of load on this piece of furniture because MDF furniture cannot hold excess weight. The drawers in particular do not hold too much weight.
Photo credit: Grain and Frame
To crown, the appearance of this piece of furniture, finishes of espresso, black, weathered oak, or cherry were added for variety. Espresso is gotten from the espresso coffee which is dark with a fine of creamy tones that seem to be in waves. The finish is between black and brown. You can’t exactly call it either of both. It is dark brown and not deeply black.
Most furniture sold as black is espresso. How it appears depends on the lighting in the room. For Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console and because it is in the living room where they may be warm streams of light, it is expected that the furniture may have reddish hues emanating from it.
Other colours include weathered oak colour which gives a natural outlook, cherry which is reddish-brown, rustic grey and of course the rare black.
Photo credit: Amazon
- Storage
Ameriwood home prides itself on the ability to utilize space. It is on their website that they make designs with small spaces in mind but without sacrificing comfort or design. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console has a divided top compartment which can serve as a platform for a Blu-ray player and a cable box. Below this compartment, by the right are two-step divided spaces behind a glass door.
Some Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console have wooden shelf doors in place of glass doors. The choice of which door suits your living room is yours to make. The left side of the furniture also has that exact setting. Four down compartments for you to store anything you seem fit. They can serve as shelves for books or DVDs.
So instead of having another piece of furniture occupying space in your living room, you get to utilize Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console. Books do not weigh so much so it is adequate. Other things that can use these compartments as homes include flower vases and trophies. According to the manufacturers, the top shelf can hold a weight of 30lbs while the four shelves behind glass doors can hold 20lbs each.
These weights should be put into consideration when deciding what you want to use Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console to store. Under too much weight, there is no question as to what will happen considering that the wood material is not built for heavy loads.
Photo credit: Amazon
- Fireplace
The first-ever fireplaces are built with bricks or metal boxes, then connected to chimneys for the escape of exhaust. It has the hassle of consistently putting logs of wood or coal to keep the flame burning. We have long evolved from that age to an electric fireplace.
Ameriwood Home Chicago TV Console has a fireplace which I can’t exactly call a bonus because, in as much as it can be basically for aesthetics, it also solves an important need for warmth. It mimics real fire. The fireplace in this piece of furniture is situated right in the middle of the TV stand.
The insert plugs into a 120V outlet and can heat a room of 400 sq. ft. A smaller room would have a warmer effect and a bigger room less warm effect. Electric fireplaces work in 3 different ways.
One way is by heating metal coils which in turn dissipates heat by a fan blowing the metal coil. The second way could be by direct infrared heat and the third is by a refractor reflecting heat from a LED bulb to create flames and flickers.
Sometimes the crackling sound of logs in a traditional fireplace is installed technologically. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console uses the method of heating coils to heat a room. It saves you money for wood or gas and the electricity consumed costs way less than the traditional method.
During summer or spring when you don’t necessarily need heat, you can still use the fireplace without the heat turned on, just for aesthetics and the beautiful glow it casts on the atmosphere. Surely it would be nice to have a fireplace lighting up the room with red and yellow flames with cuts of blue and black blazing through the fire when you are having a romantic dinner with your spouse or just for relaxation while you are tucked in a couch under a thick blanket.
The fireplaces do not have a remote and the product specification does not say if it can be regulated any other way because it would be a shame if you can’t reduce or increase the amount of heat it is exuding. There ought to be a way to reduce the intensity of the flames too but it is not stated.
It takes no extra effort to install. It only requires an electric outlet to plug it in and you have a fireplace up and running. It is safe to use compared to a traditional fireplace that releases poisonous substances like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into the atmosphere.
Photo credit: Amazon
- Shipping and assembling
The most delicate part of owning an Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console may be the shipping part. Half of the negative reviews against Ameriwood products are built on scratches and broken pieces which is likely to have occurred during shipping.
Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is made of particleboard and medium-dense fibreboard which are soft and less heavy wood compared to solid wood and plywood.
One of the people who do not recommend said they use mere plywood which was why her furniture broke during installation. I am certain she did not know that plywood is even a stronger form of wood. I suspect the furniture is made from particleboard but to be fair, most mass-produced furniture is made from particleboard because of its affordability.
It just means that extra care has to be taken during shipping and the manufacturers of the products may want to consider extra cushioning while packaging to protect the furniture from mechanical damage. They say they ship right to your doorstep so they should be able to oversee the entire process until it reaches the front of your door.
The second delicate part is assembling the parts which may include screwing and perhaps even hammering. Ameriwood recommends two people for installation. Care has to be taken at this point too to avoid exerting too much or unnecessary pressure on the TV stand. Expert reviewers say installation takes time but with proper care, you should be able to install the TV stand into one piece without hassles.
They provide video step by step guidelines on how to install and if you need someone to talk you through it, they say they are available for that. In the case of shipping out extra parts as requested by customers, they claim they do it quickly on their website, but a reviewer said she was disappointed when a part is broken before it got to her and she ordered for replacement only to be told the furniture she ordered was the last remaining furniture and so do not have spare parts.
- Affordability
You would think Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is cheap but when compared with other TV stands with fireplaces and stronger wood quality, they all in the same price range. I think the cost depends on the finish and shelves having glass doors or not. The price ranges from $365 to $700. Out of 20 other types of TV stands with fireplace we checked on Amazon, only Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console is in stock.
- Maintenance
It is recommended that Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console be cleaned with a dry cloth. This is because the particleboard and MDF do not do well when subjected to moisture. Discoloration and decay start to occur with consistent moisture except there is lamination with a moisture-proof material. Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console has a smooth laminate over the particleboard and MDF which makes occasional cleaning when absolutely necessary with damp cloth possible.
- Product warranty
Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console has a one-year warranty during which you can get a replacement or repair of damaged parts. Refunds are not included in the warranty. If the product is out of stock, you have to wait till it is available or you order a similar product. The warranty does not cover damage done as a result of rough usage or improper installation. Installation is not part of their service to you.
Your license to warranty is the original receipt you bought Ameriwood Home Chicago Electric Fireplace TV Console with. You may not be able to get a replacement for the damaged part in the absence of this receipt. The warranty period of the replaced part is the remainder of the original warranty period of the TV stand. According to Ameriwood Home, replacement arrives within 7 to 14 days.
- Dimensions:
The dimensions of the product include a height of 31.77″, a width of 47.24″, depth of 15.87″, and weight of 94.2 lbs.
The Carton dimensions include a length of 51.57″, a width of 20.28″, a height of 13.39″, and a weight of 110.7 lbs.
Photo credit: Amazon
- Retail shops
It can be bought from Amazon, Walmart, Target, Overstock, Wayfair, Ashley, and BigLots.