My advice is to follow the description precisely it matters This is a well engineered product. l.

Wood is MUCH darker than expected and what it looks like in the photos. Not much contrast to the black as it shows in the pictures. We will likely return as we it has a much different look in person.

I got this as a way to hide my messier craft stuff while still being able to see my yarn stash on the upper shelves. This is the perfect size for that. It has about 10,000 million pieces, which is to be expected, and I ended up paying someone to put it together. They said the instructions weren't bad.

I chose this bookcase/filing cabinet because of its size. I have managed to acquire a large number of books, along with knickknacks and files, all of which were in cardboard filing boxes or small metal bookcases. I decided to stay in my current apartment and it was time to upgrade my temporary storage. This large unit seemed spacious enough to hold my files, knickknacks, photos, and books. Perfect, I thought. The bookcase arrives in two large, heavy boxes, and the directions are long — it's a multi-step process. As soon as I started building, I realized it was going to be excruciatingly slow going. The screw holes were not pre-drilled, and if you don't align the screw at exactly a 90-degree angle, the wood splinters and tears (see attached photos). This forced me to work at a much slower pace to avoid chipping the surface. Toward the end, I was tempted to just finish the job with the chipped pieces and be done with it, but I stayed the course. It took me over 12 hours to put the whole thing together — though that may partly be because I was overly cautious about splintering the wood. There are many pieces and a lot of screws. Since most need to go in at that precise 90-degree angle, I didn't trust myself to use a drill without going off-angle, so I did it all by hand. Combined with the sheer number of screws, this left me with blisters on my fingers (see attached photos). The instructions recommend assembling it on top of cardboard or carpet, and I'm glad I followed that advice. I built it on top of one of the boxes it shipped in, which made it much easier to turn and flip as needed. I'd highly recommend doing the same. Once assembled, it felt pretty flimsy and unstable, like it could tip over fairly easily. I made sure to follow the instructions and secure it to the wall — I have a senior dog who is going blind and deaf, and I didn't want to risk him bumping into it. Once anchored to the wall, it does feel considerably more secure. Put together, it looks quite lovely, and I've gotten compliments on it. But I took off two stars for: the time it took, how easily the pieces chipped, the blisters from assembling it without a drill, and the overall flimsiness. I do love how it looks in my home, but I don't think it's made of great-quality material, it takes far too long to assemble, and it's a bit flimsy. So I'm giving it 3 stars instead of 5 — it's a good-looking piece, just not a sturdy one, and honestly more of a hassle to assemble than it should have been.

This unit is easy to assemble and comes with better tools than most of these. I would definitely use a screw gun though. The pieces fit tightly and everything lines up well. The drawer slide are already on which is a big plus in my book. It arrived on time and we love it!