The shelf itself is good looking. There were a few scratches on some pieces out of the box but fortunately nothing apparent after assembly. The real struggle was understanding the assembly instructions which, though complete, lacked important details regarding the orientation of some elements. Basically, I had to figure it out from logic involving which sides had a finished trim or not. Also, the drawer is kind of tough to open and close (needs a firm push at the end) even though I verified twice and the slider parts are correctly aligned.