Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

While I'm fairly happy with the final product, and I'm ultimately happy that I avoided the cutting of racks and rails involved with ClosetMaid, I ran into some installation issues. Long story short: you may want to run to the hardware store for $10 of extra hardware before you start installing, including: - #10x2" anchors (10-12 of them, depending on how many of your uprights will go directly on top of studs) - #10x2" flat Phillips screws (maybe 4-8 extra beyond what's in the box) - A 1/8" drill bit that's at least 2" long (sounds silly, but go check your set now. Mine wasn't long enough.) First, the top rail: - The box says to install the top rail at 86.5". I'm unsure where they got that number from, but since my closet is only 88" tall, I decided to lower it so I could actually utilize the as many notches as possible in the rails. I wanted to use the extensions to make a shoe rack at the bottom, and since the extension + upright are about 73", I mounted the top rail at 80" (remember to account for any moulding along the bottom, as that will stop rails from lying flush against the wall!). I'm a little tight for vertical space with the rods, so if my closet were taller, higher would be better, but don't feel obligated to go with the 86.5". - Make sure your 1/8" drill bit is at least 2" long! I think my drill bit set is a fairly standard one, but my 1/8" bit was only 1.5" long, and so the 2" long screws would not go in until I made a trip to the hardware store for a new drill bit. The upright rails: - DO NOT assume these will naturally hang perfectly perpendicular to the top rail. In fact, mine "naturally" hung skewed by about 20 degrees, so I needed to use a level when hanging them, though the directions made no mention of it. Since I had to adjust them, I know the top isn't sitting solidly on the top rail, so I added extra screws in. It seemed very strange that the directions only tell you to attach at the bottom anyway-- shouldn't we be going for as secure as possible? - The anchors included are incredibly cheap and nonsensical (see picture). I attempted to use two of them, and when I went to drive the screw in, the anchors just pulled out of the wall-- clearly not "anchoring" anything. So, while the package does include anchors, this is why I decided to get some extra #10x2" anchors. - I used every screw in the box (16 included), even though I didn't use one of the uprights and my top rail was only extended to 6' long. While you're at the hardware store, throw in some extra #10x2" flat Philips screws. 4-8 extra should be plenty. Once the top rail and uprights were attached to the wall, attaching the brackets and shelves was a breeze. I probably reconfigured it 12 times in half an hour before deciding on an arrangement I liked, and I love that if my needs change, I can just as easily reconfigure without needing to break out the drill again.