Recommendations for pet- and child-proof hi-fi cabinet

I'm currently re-installing and upgrading my home cinema kit and, rather
than a shelf unit, I'd prefer to have some kind of cabinet within which
I can store all the items.

The reasons for the cabinet are two-fold. One is the prospect of our
baby crawling around and playing with the kit... The other is one of our
cats, with an expensive deathwish for chewing any exposed cabling he can
get his teeth around!

I've found nothing suitable, short of custom-made items which will cost
at least two randomly selected limbs.

Any recommendations would be very welcome. I'll worry about look, size,
and colours when I've got somewhere to start looking.

Thanks,

Ian

Ian Richardson wrote:


Ian
IKEA?

"Ian Richardson" wrote in message
...
I'm currently re-installing and upgrading my home cinema kit and, rather
than a shelf unit, I'd prefer to have some kind of cabinet within which I
can store all the items.

The reasons for the cabinet are two-fold. One is the prospect of our baby
crawling around and playing with the kit... The other is one of our cats,
with an expensive deathwish for chewing any exposed cabling he can get his
teeth around!

We decided early on that the only things that we would make childproof
were things that were downright dangerous, such as mains sockets and
cupboards containing bleach, etc.

For the rest, a sternly spoken "NOooo", initially repeated quite frequently,
but less often as time went on, proved quite adequate. This approach
meant that the potential offenders could be taken elsewhere without
worrying about the consequences.

Having learned right from wrong at an early age has meant that today,
at the ages of 23 and 19, they have both grown into responsible adults
who have been remarkable untroublesome, even during the teenage
years.

Cats can be trained too, but perhaps not quite so effectively.

Derek wrote on Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:44:59 +0000:

Ian Richardson wrote:

Ian
IKEA?

That's what I was going to suggest. I've got one of the Benno TV units with
the glass sliding doors on the front, plenty of room for my receiver, Sky+,
dvd player, cd player, cassette deck (not that it's seen any use in a few
years), and still a bit more room to allow air around everything, and so far
it's held up great considering I've used it to stand on (putting up a knife
display plaque on the wall, couldn't get the ladder in), a glass door being
dropped (I tripped over while putting the unit together and dropped one,
luckily they're hefty safety glass and there wasn't any damage at all except
to my pride), and my 2 year old (who has a few times kicked the doors in
screaming fits when he wasn't allowed to watch cartoons late in the
evening). The doors also have a lock, so there's no sneaking food into the
DVD player tray for the little 'uns either ...

Dan

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:44:59 +0000, Derek Turner
wrote:

Ian Richardson wrote:


Ian
IKEA?

A lot of IKEA stuff looks great in the pictures, but crappy when you
see it in the flesh. For that reason, I'm surprised they don't do mail
order, since they must get lots of people who drive over to collect
something and then don't bother when they see it. Anyhow, dismayed by
Ikea, we ended up getting some stuff from www.dwell.co.uk.
www.habitat.co.uk has some decent stuff too.

Ed Chilada wrote:
On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:44:59 +0000, Derek Turner
wrote:

Ian Richardson wrote:


Ian
IKEA?

A lot of IKEA stuff looks great in the pictures, but crappy when you
see it in the flesh.

Pictures can be misleading for any product, not just those from IKEA. My
experience is that they do have some tacky products, but they also have many
excellent ones at very good prices. I've recently added 2 more "Benno"
CD/DVD storage units to my collection (part of the ever-splendid "Billy"
range - do you see what they did there?).

Besides, if they did mail order you would miss out on the whole IKEA
experience. Couldn't allow that.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:34:22 -0000, Pyriform wrote:

Besides, if they did mail order you would miss out on the whole IKEA
experience. Couldn't allow that.

"IKEA experience" would that be the meatballs?

In the paper today it said that ikea was going to start trialing home
delivery.

Steve

Steve wrote on Tue, 28 Nov 2006 12:17:40 GMT:

On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:34:22 -0000, Pyriform wrote:

Besides, if they did mail order you would miss out on the whole IKEA
experience. Couldn't allow that.

"IKEA experience" would that be the meatballs?

In the paper today it said that ikea was going to start trialing home
delivery.

Really? That would help me, it's a 50 mile round trip to the Wednesbury
store and my car doesn't have folding rear seats or a hatchback making it a
PITA to bring anything large back - luckily I got my Billy bookcase units
when I still had my POS Rover 214GSi, I'd have no chance getting them home
now.

Dan

Steve wrote:
[snuips]

In the paper today it said that ikea was going to start trialing home
delivery.

Steve

There's a company next door to IKEA that does door-to-door. You give them
the list of stuff, they pick it and ship it. It's not cheap but when it's a
lot of stuff and very heavy we considered it worth it.

--
Ed.

Steve wrote:
On Sun, 26 Nov 2006 10:34:22 -0000, Pyriform wrote:

Besides, if they did mail order you would miss out on the whole IKEA
experience. Couldn't allow that.

"IKEA experience" would that be the meatballs?

Well, it includes the meatballs, naturally. And the arrows, guiding you past
the displays in a rigidly ordered sequence.

I like IKEA. As well as the additions to my Billy collection, I've just
bought some Trettieon (sp?) blue LED strips. Stuck to the back of my TV and
my front speakers, and linked to a remote control mains socket, they bathe
the entire wall in a subtle blue backlight for night time TV viewing. Much
more stylish than the small halogen uplighters I was previously using for
the purpose, and only 3 watts power consumption.