The thing nobody tells you about modern storage pieces, the boxes and baskets with the clean lines and the metal legs, is that the sharp corners and open weave that look so good in a living room are exactly what catches a toddler's knee or a shin in the dark. I learned this hopping around swearing at a perfectly nice walnut crate at eleven at night. Still, once you've lived with the alternative, a sagging fabric bin going soft and gray in the corner of a room, you don't go back easily.
It's not the right choice everywhere. If you need something to live in a closet or under a bed, out of sight and doing dumb honest labor, buy the cheap canvas version and don't feel bad about it. Modern storage is for rooms people actually look at, a living room, an entryway, somewhere it has to double as a piece of furniture and not just a container. Put it somewhere nobody sees it and you've paid extra for a shape.
The difference between the good ones and the bad ones shows up slowly. A cheap metal frame gets a wobble in the welds within a year, and the fabric liner, if there is one, starts to bag out at the bottom under real weight. A good one holds its shape because the frame is actually one piece or properly joined, and the wood or rattan ages instead of just wearing out, picking up a bit of color and character the way a cutting board does. Wipe wood down with a barely damp cloth, never soak it, and give rattan or seagrass a vacuum with the brush attachment every so often so dust doesn't grind into the weave. Don't put it in direct sun for years unless you like a two toned fade line, which, to be fair, some people do.
In the shop, run your hand along every seam and joint before you look at the price tag. Check the bottom for felt pads or at least a flat edge that won't scratch your floor, and check that handles are actually attached to something structural, not just the fabric liner, because that's the first thing to rip. On delivery day, open the box and check the corners aren't crushed, since compressed cardboard travels badly and a dented leg won't pop back out.
Before anything else, measure the space with a lid or hinged top in mind, open position and all, not just closed.
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