I somehow missed that assembly was required, but that was a huge mistake on my part. I should have realized since this is the same price that an IKEA dresser is. However, the quality is great. Really beautiful. It took me 2 hours to build the drawers and set up the sides. I think it should only take another 30 minutes to actually piece together the whole thing and throw the drawers in. Directions are very clear once you sort through all the pieces and start to get the hang of it.