I really like the shoe rack.  It was reasonably priced and is a good size.  It sits up  against a wall in the kitchen, which is the first room that you enter when you walk into the house.  When people come into the house, they take their shoes off in the kitchen before entering the living room where I have very light carpet.  The bench on the shoe rack allows guests to sit and put on or take off their shoes and it keeps the carpet very clean.