Not difficult to assemble if you read the instructions carefully. Perfect for our use and we have received many compliments on this item. We purchased two of these bookcases to join with a third that did not have a cabinet but was all shelving. The three units together made a full wall unit. However, it was very difficult to get the three units to align with each other due to the fact that all three units were not perfectly square. The units do come with a clip to join them. But we had to use bolts at the tops and bottoms to keep them aligned. Once we achieved that the result was excellent and the unit looks great, is stable and holds many items.