When I unboxed this bookcase, it looked very cheap. I wasn't expecting fine furniture, but I was worried. It assembled reasonably quickly, and to my surprise, once I built it, it looked decent because the shelf and the cubby placement are unique. It's definitely not going to pass for fancy, and it would have been nice if the screw covers weren't cheap pieces of plastic. But, once I put my things onto the shelves, they blended into the background.