I would visit a high-end baby store or boutique. Most are glad to assemble for you. Another option is to order from North Carolina (Boyle's, Rose, FLS) - they will also assemble. Don't know how much time you have, though. NC stores can take over 12 weeks (but then again, so can many local stores if you are doing a special order). Maybe you could do a bassinet while you wait? Oh, Ethan Allen would be another option. They will put it together and there is no delivery fee.

Hello, good post, as I am also in the market for baby furniture, specifically, a crib. Does anyone recomend any great crib makers. So far, I've liked what I've seen from Stanley and from Bonavita. Does anyone have any experience with them. I believe they both require assembly, but I believe they're still made in the USA, and a lot of the materials are still solid wood.

Brendog, our crib is a Pali crib and it is really nice. It looks as good as the day we bought it and it's finishing up its' fourth year w/ child #2.

We are ordering child #2's first bedroom set from Boyles in NC - it is all Stanley. I can't comment yet because it hasn't arrived, but a salesperson at Rose told me he LOOOVES Stanley Young America because the company is fabulous to work with, the furniture is an excellent value (because you can get a great discount through NC furniture stores), it almost always arrives in perfect condition with no hassles. He said he sells Stanley Young America more than any other furniture line and sells a piece almost every day he works. So I am sold, obviously!!!

Thanks for the information, which model did you end up going with? Good luck with the purchase and let me know how it works out when you receive it.

Some other nice brands of baby furniture are AP industries and Morigue lepine. Dont order from Ethan Allen. I had horible experience with their nursery furniture (extremely late deliveries, quality issues, etc)

I bought my daughter's "big girl" furniture from Ethan Allen's youth line. I am quite impressed - it's actually substantially nicer than my Room and Board bedroom furniture. Admittedly, the delivery was quite slow. We needed her crib for a new baby so this was a definite hassle.

Congratulations to you and your husband! Looking for baby furniture is one of my best memories. There is a large baby/children's furniture store on Long Island that carries several brands; they have a web site with good pictures of the furniture. I've included the web site here. If you see something you like, you might contact the manufacturer to see who carries their line near you. Most baby furniture stores on Long Island include the set up as part of the delivery. Bellini is a very high-end furniture store also located in Chicago that will do set up.
Best of luck to you!

Here is a link that might be useful: Behrs Furniture

I'm not sure about who delivers assembled or assembles on site but I wanted to toss out a suggestion if you're looking at cribs too. I highly recommend a stationary sided crib,... when I had my other two children many years ago the only option I ever saw was the drop-down side and the cribs would sometimes make rickety noises and it was hard to get the side down etc. The stationary side crib feels solid solid solid, it doesn't budge at all and we haven't had a problem height-wise leaning into the crib now that our one year old's mattress is at the lowest setting. Even my daughters that until recently were under 5' tall could lean over enough to get him in and out.

We ordered a convertible type crib by Da Vinci in a white finish..I've been very happy with it and he'll be able to use it as a toddler bed. (around $350)

Have fun shopping, I hope you find the perfect set!

Thanks for all the great responses! My husband and I compromised in a way. We got a crib from a quality manufacturer, Pali, and it is assembled, however it's "recycled" as we are the second owners.

Our orignal crib, which prompted me to post my desire for non-RTA, was from Storkcraft. It arrived dissassembled and every single major piece was gouged, missing stain, or had rails that did not match each other. After reading several reviews on this company, I decided to look for a new crib rather than fight their customer service for replacement parts.

Thanks again!
K.

Stanley is fabulous. And they have just come out with cribs that can adapt to beds as the child grows. I bought all of my children's furniture from Rose Furniture and had nothing but a wonderful experience ... they had the best prices and the service has been first rate!

My DH and I recently bought our crib from Bellini in Dallas. It was delivered and assembled for us in our home. It is excellent quality and we are extremely pleased with it.

What happened to the Stanley Quality in 2007 since these posts in 2006 seem to indicate it once was quality?

I carried Stanley for a short time about 5 years ago. It wasn't quality at that time, not be my standards. I'm not impressed by dovetail drawers.

Things I didn't like
- veneered tops - will eventually be ruined by liquid spills or condensation. Impossible to avoid in a kids room.

- veneered back corners - when you move, and slide the chest off the back of the truck, even with a blanket underneath you're going to get damage.

- wood center rail drawer slides - perfect for getting little fingers jammed stuck when closing a drawer. I would never buy such furniture for a child's room for this reason alone. And I'm someone who didn't child-proof my house either.

Brands like AP, Huppe, Zocalo, will be much better for a similar and possibly lower price. AP and Huppe are made in Canada. Vermont Precision Woodworks will cost more but last for generations. Made in USA also.

In Chicagoland I would go to Lazars (Lincolnwood) or Lil Deb N Heir (Naperville). Both carry Morigeau Lepine, and when you pay for delivery it includes set-up in your home. Congratulations!

If you want something assembled, have you thought of Craigslist? They have so many cribs and some are really high end and in like new condition. I just bought two for my one year old twin grandchildren to use for napping at our house. You could sterilize it and buy a new mattress if you wanted to. You can get fantastic buys in the baby/kids section of Craigslist when you live in a metropolitan area. Just a thought, but I know many people like to have everything brand new.

It's nice to see that two and 1/2 years later, this tread is still helping others!

To update you, we did end up buying a used Pali crib and changing table through Craig's List. We paid about $400 combined, which is a good deal here in the Chicago burbs. The crib is extremely sturdy and we are using it for our SECOND baby now.

K.

Thanks for sharing these websites, I was also searching for some popular crib makers where I can buy crib for my baby and I found this post. This is a very useful topic for someone like me.

I was just browsing for furniture ideas here and stopped on this title only because of the conversation I had with my sister yesterday. She is due in a few months and I just learned something that I thought I might share since Virginia suggested a stationary side crib. She has twin 3 yo's and in due with baby #3 in a few months. I told her to sell her 2nd crib and she told me that drop side cribs were banned and nobody would buy it! I had no idea! You may want to check out this msnbc news link for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: new crib ban