I did quite a bit of research before I bought the Bellini Isabella crib. What persuaded me to buy it was that the Baby Bargains book rated it highly and also The Consumer Guide gave it a #1 rating. Despite one or two minor shortcomings I'm really glad I bought the Isabella by Bellini.
Although I bought the Bellini Isabella I very nearly chose a Pali crib instead. Baby Bargains rated it a little higher than the Bellini, but I preferred the styling of the Isabella, so it won out in the end. We decorated the nursery about 4 months before our baby was born; neutral colors as we didn't know whether it would be a boy or girl. I wanted a modern looking crib with simple styling as that is pretty much how our home is styled. I chose the Isabella in natural beech.
I'm glad we did out the nursery well before hand as we had to wait 10 weeks for the Bellini crib to arrive! The store where we bought it said that this was pretty much the norm as it's such a popular baby bed. We also bought the mattress to match; it's sold separately.
Anyhow, assembling it was straightforward as the instructions were easy to follow; my husband put it together in about 15 minutes - and he's no DIY expert. It looks perfect in the nursery. I love the slightly rounded headboard and footboard and I particularly like the round legs. The 'roundiness' is offset by the simple flat slats on all four sides.
The crib feels sturdy and solid but the four castor wheels make moving it about easy. You can remove the castors and you can also lock two of them to stop it from moving. Having a storage drawer underneath is useful too. There are four mattress height settings that are easily adjusted.
But what really impresses me about the Bellini Isabella crib is that you have two drop-down sides, which are easily released using one hand; it has a safe two-step mechanism to prevent accidental release.
The drop-down sides are the best feature of the Isabella but its worst has to be the storage drawer. The construction of the overall crib feels strong but the drawer isn't. My husband put it perfectly when he said that it was made of cardboard. Perhaps that is a little too harsh, but the draw really does feel delicate and I wonder if it will stand the test of time.
My only other criticism isn't really a fair one. The Isabella crib cost a lot of money but it's not a convertible baby crib. With hindsight, I should perhaps have bought a convertible one from Bellini. In a few years we'll be buying a replacement bed.
All in all, I'm very happy with our purchase of the Bellini Isabella crib. Our daughter - called Agatha - looks very beautiful when she's sleeping in it and I think it'll stand up to her when she's awake and clambering all over it.
Follow the links for the Bellini crib as well as other baby cribs like the Bassett crib.
Source: www.articlesbase.com