The Tower Bookshelf at West Elm finds its way somewhere between a standard tower and a ladder bookshelf, with ladder-type shelves which diminish in depth as they go up, but a full four post base instead of relying on physics for stability.

It comes in both a wide and narrow version, and while we reviewed the narrow version, the only obvious difference is the wide version is… well, wider, and this will likely add to some sturdiness.

They both have 4 shelves if we include the top of the drawer at the bottom, and then of course both include a good sized drawer which offers a nice, deep storage space. The drawer is on a slider and opens and closes well.

Style-wise, we really love it. It’s a great looking piece and would work well in a variety of decor scenarios. The curved edges on the wooden shelves offer a great soft contrast to the more angular (and more in line with the mid-century line items) and boxy feel of the drawer, and the bar handle on the drawer suits it perfectly. Additionally, the tower has another unique-to-the-line design appeal in the lower support frame which sits beneath the drawer and has beautiful bowed sides and a humped front.

Construction is sound but nothing amazing — a mix of hardwood and engineered wood, and in the Acorn stain you get wood veneer on the drawer. All of this biscuit jointed together should mean you don’t run into any real issues with single part breakage barring a topple.

That being said, due to the narrow’s height and lack of width, a strong bump high enough up could definitely cause movement and perhaps disaster for any fragile items on higher shelves. For this reason we’d recommend keeping some heavier items (books or maybe lead weights.. kidding) in the drawer at the bottom.

While you’re liable to wind up with some similar scratching issues as the rest of the mid-century line, and the drawer’s cornered frame front could chip if hit with a hard object, we’re otherwise very excited about this piece of furniture. At $599 for the narrow or $699 for the wide it’s not cheap for what it is, but it has enough going for it that it’s worth purchasing even at the full price if it’s in your budget. It does go on sale and we’ve seen it as low as $480 and $560 respectively.

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