Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand Review

We purchased the Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand so our expert reviewer could thoroughly test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

When you go looking for a TV stand, what you’re really looking for is a centerpiece that will be the focal point of your living room, den, game room, or wherever it is that you watch television. Some television mounts and stands are built to fade into the background, and others, like the Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand, stand out. This TV stand has an attractive modern design, but it’s also highly functional, with plenty of room for all your home theater gear, game consoles, and even storage space for extra cables and other components and equipment.

We recently built an Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand and tested it with a couple different televisions. We looked at how well it works with the advertised range of television sizes, how sturdy and durable it is, how it handles cable management, and more.

Design: Attractive modern style with both open and closed storage

The Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand features an attractive modern design, with your choice of wood-like finishes and metal support posts. The unit we tested came with what they call an espresso wood finish, but it’s also available in other finishes, like flat black, a two-tone cherry and black, and a much lighter Sonoma oak finish.

The stand features both open shelving and closed storage, which is a nice touch. The center of the unit is open, with an adjustable shelf. The sides are closed off by cabinet doors that stay shut with the help of magnets.

The top of the stand, which is designed to support a television, is separated from the main body of the stand by a number of metal support posts. This creates an open area where you can place additional home theater equipment, game consoles, or anything you like.

Setup Process: Easier with two people, but doable with one

The setup process for this stand is more or less in line with other flat packed furniture that require buyer assembly. The legs and support tubes screw in place, and the rest of the unit secures together using a cam and lock system that we like a lot more than the traditional method of just driving screws into the particleboard.

The whole assembly took less than an hour with just one person. The manufacturer recommends two, due to the size of some of the components, and it would definitely go together more quickly with an extra set of hands.

The most difficult part of the construction is installing the doors, as reaching the screws to attach the hinges is a little awkward. If the hinges don’t work right away, adjusting them is also a little complicated and time-consuming. The cabinet doors use high-quality hinges that are built to last, and the handles are metal.

Construction: Solid particleboard with a wood-grain laminate

The boards you use to build the Carson TV stand are made out of solid particleboard, which is also referred to as low-density fiberboard. This isn’t an ideal material, limiting the amount of weight the stand can safely hold, but it’s exactly what we’d expect to see in a piece of furniture at this price point. The feet and support posts are made of powder coated metal, which provides a nice visual flair.

Compatibility: Works with most televisions up to 50 inches

The Ameriwood Home Carson is almost the perfect length to accommodate a 50-inch television. Smaller televisions will also work fine, and most 40-inch TVs will probably have enough space on either side to accommodate speakers. If you set a larger television on this stand, it will hang over the sides, so we don’t recommend using anything larger than 55 inches at most.

If your television weighs more than 60 pounds, then you may want to step up to a larger TV stand. Since this stand is made from low-density fiberboard, and Ameriwood recommends a maximum load of 60 lbs, the stand is likely to sag if you set anything heavier on it.

Usability: Excellent utility with both open shelves and closed cabinets

We found this stand to provide excellent usability in day to day use. The height is decent, and the size is perfect for a 50-inch television. The open space under the television and the shelves in the center of the unit, provide plenty of room for home theater gear, game consoles, and more. The cabinets open and close smoothly if the hinges are properly adjusted, and they provide a nice bit of hidden storage for extra cables or anything else you want to hide away.

Stability: Rock solid on hard flooring and carpet

The Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand provides a sturdy base for your television and home theater gear. The base is large enough that it’s rock solid on both carpet and hard flooring like tile and vinyl, and the six support posts offer great stability in every direction.

Cable Management and Storage: Includes decent cable management and closed storage

This stand doesn’t feature any advanced cable management features, but it does have large slots cut in the back that make it easy to pass cables through. If you want to keep everything looking as neat as possible, an easy solution would be to zip tie the television power cord and input cables to the center support, hiding them from view.

Storage is excellent, with a large space below the television for home theater equipment, two large open shelves in the middle, and closed cabinets on both sides for DVDs, extra cables, and anything else you want to keep close at hand.

Price: Competitive pricing for what you get

The Ameriwood Home Carson TV Stand is typically priced around $90, and it represents a solid deal at that price. Competitors like the Convenience Concepts Designs2GO TV Stand are also typically priced similarly, while anything that’s capable of supporting larger televisions usually sells for a lot more. You can find less expensive options for smaller sizes, but if you need a stand that’s capable of supporting a 60-pound, 50-inch television, the Ameriwood Home Carson is a good deal.

Competition: You’ll have to pay more if you want anything better

The Convenience Concepts Designs2GO TV Stand mentioned in the previous section is the Carson’s closest competitor. They’re both designed for televisions up to 50 inches in size, and they’re typically available at similar price points. The Ameriwood stand is the better option overall, as it uses wood cabinet doors, while the Convenience Concepts uses plastic doors.

When compared to a competitor like the Devaise 3-in-1 TV Stand, the Ameriwood unit comes out on top there as well. These stands also have a similar price point, but the Ameriwood stand is sturdier, and has both closed and open storage, while the Devaise unit is entirely open.

Other competitors, like the Walker Edison TV Stand, offer more durable medium density fiberboard construction, but they tend to be more expensive. The Walker Edison is typically priced around $150.