I spent a lot of time looking at different bookshelves...My focus was finding something that had several feet of book space, could handle the weight, had the look I wanted all while staying within a reasonable price. My husband was hesitant to go with a ladder style, but it's such a subtle change in shelf width that it's not the first thing you notice. The shelves are not completely smooth as others have noted, but the texture helps with keeping our books upright without bookends, so I am happy. The set up was very simple, but your wrist will get tired if you don't have a ratcheting hex wrench. This is an excellent quality bookshelf at a very fair price.