Designer Catbox Litter Box Enclosure in Espresso

This product has been in use at my house for two newly adopted kittens for five days. So far I really like it. EDIT: 01/27/2013: after 1 1/2 months I still have no complaints other than the minor ones listed below. The extra space where the cats walk in and out does a GOOD job of containing the litter. Very little litter gets tracked onto our carpets now.EDIT: 04/09/2013: still no additional complaints or problems with the box. I am ordering a second one so that we have one on each level of the houseEDIT: 07/16/2015: Two box enclosures are still in daily use at our house. As the cats grew to full size, I removed the inside panel that created the entryway and installed litter boxes that fill most of the inside. These enclosures have had zero problems. PLEASE NOTE: I still highly recommend taping trash bags to the bottom and sides of the inside, as well as putting down puppy pads. One time recently I lifted a litter box out to totally clean it, and while I had the box outside hosing it out, one of my cats urinated on the inside of the enclosure! Without a plastic bag to catch it, I think the bottom panel would have been ruined.MATERIAL PACKING: five stars: all pieces were securely surrounded by inch thick Styrofoam pieces...sides, top, and bottomMATERIAL QUALITY: four stars:1. Finish: There were some little scratches and dings on some of the surfaces, including the lid. I will have to buy a furniture marking pen to hide the dings. Otherwise the staining was uniform, looks good, and no pieces were warped2. Hardware:A. Separated in clearly marked bags, and one extra piece was included in most bags. One screw was defective in that the phillips screw grooves were not fully machined - too shallow. But I was able to make it sink with a straight head screwdriver.B. Another concern I have is that the locking mechanisms (cam locks and screw bolts) for holding the pieces together felt really flimsy. You don't get a nice solid locking feel at all when you rotate the cam locks. It feels like they could eventually work themselves loose, but only time will tell if this is a problem.C. The safety spring hinge for the lid is very well done. You can leave the lid open at any angle just shy of full vertical, at the default spring adjustment.3. Instructions: not the best pictures in the world, but they did include enough notes to help you identify which pieces to use for which step. If the pictures were slightly larger/crisper they would be just about perfect.DESIGN: five stars: Time will tell if the box is too shallow for full grown cats, as some other reviewers have mentioned. But for kittens it is more than tall enough. The offset chamber entrance works fine to make the cat step down the 'short hall' to get back out of the box. I placed a puppy moisture pad in that entrance chamber, as well as under the cat box itself. In addition, I taped a plastic garbage back on the inside walls of the box chamber in case a cat ever sprays over the lip of the litter box. I was able to fit an 18.5" x 15.0" inch litter box with no room to spare on the 18.5" depth, and just a little room on the 15" width.I also installed a small motion sensor LED light to help the cats see, since it is dark when the lid is down.USAGE: five stars: the cats don't seem to have a problem with using it. I find it challenging to scoop the box compared to just having the litter box on the floor by itself. It's a little awkward to reach into the confined space, but I'll get used to it.OVERALL IMPRESSION: four stars due to quality issues versus price. I think for the price the quality and materials should have been slightly better. But I think as long as I keep the interior 'water proofed' with bags and puppy pads, then the unit should last a long time.

I used this to cover a Purina Breeze cat litter system. I *refuse* to give up my Breeze, but the odd shape of that litter systems means it's nearly impossible to find a "washroom" for the box, and this one *does* fit - but only without the middle divider. (If I really wanted to, I could probably glue the divider in a different place in there to make it fit though.)For the cost, I'm kinda conflicted here. The assembly instructions were confusing, since they didn't bother to put stickers on any of the boards so you have to guess which boards are what and which direction (up v down) they belong. The hardware is well packaged and clearly labeled though.I've assembled literally hundreds of pieces of furniture in my lifetime, and a little extra effort would have gone a long way here.The screws were pretty soft, so I had to use 3 different sized screwdriver heads to avoid stripping them - which was fine I guess, since I had those different sizes, but it really took a lot longer than it should have. I eventually just ditched the instructions and eyeballed it and referring to the instructions just for which screws to use - it's not exactly rocket surgery.Some folks have complained about the materials. It does seem to be some sort of vinyl/plastic coating over pressboard, but frankly I'm okay with that. I wouldn't want real wood, since wood is porous, and, well, this thing could end up with cat pee on it.The hydraulic lid is a nice touch, although honestly probably not necessary. In retrospect, I should have gotten the other cat washroom that has the side doors instead of the top door, since I keep my cat's food on top of the litter box, but that's my fault for not paying attention to the product description, not theirs. It's not too bad - we just have to move the cat food before cleaning the box.They also added an insert that said they'd give me a $5 starbucks gift card if I left them a 5-star Amazon review, which I find a little gross. It's tempting to dock them a star just for trying to manipulate the ratings here, but I decided not to.So, while I think it's overpriced, I'm overall reasonably happy with it. I added a battery operated motion sensor nightlight on the lid to give my kitty a little extra light while she's doing her business and it seems to be working out well.

Pros:- When assembled, it is solid.- Looks nice.- Had extra parts.Cons:- Surprisingly small. The image is a little deceptive. The cat in the image must be 5 or 6 lbs because it's too small and my cat and he's ~7.5 lbs (recent vet trip). Double check your measurements!- Instructions are a bit unclear because not all parts are labeled. The instructions actually over explain and I spent 5 minutes looking for parts that were already assembled.-There is not enough room for my cat to easily maneuver around the inside door. I had to remove it.The litterbox needs to be extremely small and low just for them to get in it. The litterbox walls block the inside door. Even without it, my cat had some trouble because the ceiling of the lid is so low. I even bought a tray to fit inside it!- The screws are soft and will strip very easily. They didn't even get half way in before the screwdriver started jumping. Bring your plyers.-The lubricant bottle burst inside the packaging. Why did they give us 100ml of oil if I only need 6 drops? I mean, thanks, but now my new box is all greasy.After all that effort, way too expensive. Actually pretty mad at myself. One shouldn't have to remove a feature that contributes to the primary function to make something actually functional.Still easier than some IKEA furniture.One last warning, Make sure you line it with a mat.

Absolutely perfect piece of furniture we put off buying for years because of the price. We would "build our own from an existing piece of furniture". Having said that...by the time you find the appropriate piece of furniture and convert it you would pay close to the same price as buying this. Also, there is no way we could have built it ourselves from scratch, saved money and had the quality, eye catching piece. Plus, the work to build anything near this piece would have been time consuming. So, in the end it was worth paying for the finished piece and assembling a couple of panels and a few screws. We live in a condo and have 2 cats and this box cut down on the smell and the plastic scratching noises. Not one guest at first seeing it knew it was a litter box and one person even said "nice bench". Easy to access the litter pan and clean inside the box as well. Should have bought it years ago!!

This box services three cats, one of whom is 22 years old. They are all able to easily navigate the interior and enter the plastic litter box within the catbox.Although a fair amount of litter still follows them once they've concluded their business, a good deal remains within the catbox, especially since I have begun lining the floor of the catbox with old towels. Certainly, the catbox is far more attractive than a litter box itself and it does help minimize the odour. Every visitor has noticed it, liked it very much and had no idea it contained a litter box.

I purchased this item since I wanted to hide the litterbox. I love this item... it looks like a piece of furniture. I have a fairly big cat, and he still manages to fit this. I would have given this five stars if only it had liners that you could purchase or if they were built in... so that way the cleanup would be easier if you have a disgusting cat! Also, it would be nice if they sold the actually litterbox that would go inside, as it was hard to find one that fit perfectly... make sure you measure before you buy the litterbox insert.

It's a lot lighter in weight than the black version and more expensive. The texture on this is glued on and was cracking in one spot and had to use super glue to fix it. So I'm not certain this expresso version will hold up as good as the black version. I ordered black one by accident so had a chance to compare the 2.