Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have used all three of these. I first bought the Elfa (Container Store) for one bedroom. It was extremely expensive. Spent 5 times more than the others for something very simple. Everything is cut for you once you have the measurements. It is very sturdy and very well made, of course. It is probably over kill for a closet organizer. They have a lot of nice accessories for it and can be dressed up to look nicer than the others. Biggest negative which really surprises me since Closetmaid and Rubbermaid doesn't have this problem is you can't slide a hanger all the way across. My next project was using Rubbermaid. I liked the idea it was adjustable. It was very easy to install. I bought the delux 8 feet kit. One problem is you will sometimes have left over parts and in my case I also had to buy one extra part since the way I wanted it was a little different that what options you had with their kit. After installing it I found I just didn't need to change it, so the adjustability probaly was not a plus for me but some people may want to make changes after using it for awhile. Biggest negative which really isn't a negative is that it is flimsy compared to the Elfa which is like a tank. That is because it is adjustable but it is sturdy enough. I have no problems with that. Another possible negative is it only comes with 12 inch shelves for closets. If you really need something bigger you can go into their garage sections which has 16 inches shelves. My last project was Closetmaid. I used Closetmaid for my wife's closet since she wanted 16 inch shelves and I didn't feel it needed to be adjustable. Now if you don't want to be doing your own cutting which can be a chore without the right tools then go with Rubbermaid. But I have the right tools so cutting was not a problem. I bought mine at Lowe's. If you have all your measurements you can do the cutting their. They have a bolt cutter that cuts right through it. I did all my cutting at home since I have bolt cutters and metal saws. I like Closetmaid since it was sturdier than Rubbermaid and I just buy what I need. It also has a nice selection of accessories from wire drawers to shoe organizers. What I really liked is their clothes hamper. It pulls out on a slide then pushes in after you throw your dirty clothes in. Now the surprise is the vertical hangers for all three companies all have the same slot design. How the verticals hang on the wall is differnt but once you have the vertical hangers secured you can interchange most accessories. I can install shelf supports for any company on any one of the vertical hangers. So I used the Closetmaid clothes hamper in my Rubbermaid closet. Closetmaid shelf supports and shelves will fit on the Rubbermaid or Elfa vertical hangers and vice versa. If money is not a concern then buy the Elfa, built like a tank will last forever and looks better than the others with the right accessories. Rubbermaid is the least sturdy of the three but does the job. It is very easy to put up so if your not handy around the house then buy this one. You also can easily make changes to how you want the shelves organized much more so that the other two. If you want 16 inch shelves then look at their garage organizers, the system is the same. I like Closetmaid but it does require more work to put up since you have to do all the cuttings. It is much sturdier than Rubbermaid since it is meant to be permanent once you put it in. Shelves snap in place which took some effort and would be difficult to remove. Rubbermaid has a simple slide to lock shelves in so you can makes changes easily but then again you give up some sturdiness. Update 12/12/2011 After having used all three systems for almost three years I can say all of them hold up well. I haven't had any problems so my original feeling that Rubbermaid tend to be flimsy is still not a problem. I don't think you can go wrong with Rubbermaid and it is very easy to put up and being adjustable gives you room to customize the way you want it. Having parts left over is more of a mental problem because the cost of the kit is still probably cheaper than buying each part by itself even with the left over parts or you can try using all of it. Also as I said before you can use Closetmaid accessories with Rubbermaid and although I like my Closetmaid clothes hamper it did fall apart which was replaced by Lowe's at no cost. I recently did my daughters closet using Rubbermaid but these were not adjustable. You buy what you need and cut to fit (Home Depot). These being not adjustable felt much sturdier. I did find putting in the shelves to be easier than Closetmaid. Closetmaid shelves snap in and are very tight. The Rubbermaid ones were just easier in that it has a slide that locks the shelves in place but Rubbermaid is more expensive than Closetmaid so you pay for this one feature.