I love this storage bench! It lets me sit on it with ease, and it's a great  place to help my son put his shoes on right as we walk out the door every morning. I may have to consider buying another couple of these in the future for purposes other than shoe storage benches (could be a great one for winter stuff, school stuff, clothes planning......I can see the versatility!). Very sturdy too, I'm 256 lbs and it supports me just fine. I also put this particular piece together on my own without my neighbor, and it was easy to do and fairly quick too!