First - I knew it was gray before I purchased thanks to the reviews. I also anticipated the drawers to be more shallow than they could be. This piece does take a while to put together but it’s not a headache (maybe 2-3 hours but we have a baby so moments of distraction were lumped in). What surprised us the most was the printed labels on the hardware packs, it made it feel real organized. We had no issues with misaligned holes and everything fit together very nicely. The drawer rails were pre installed and that helped with how quickly it went together. Read the directions or you may be doubling back to flip pieces, oops. It’s SO sturdy, it feels well made and heavy. If I didn’t have kids then I would feel fine not anchoring it.