I put off opening the box thinking it would take forever to put together, memories of those shoe racks that are so hard to keep together, WRONG! This came out of the box almost totally pre-assembled all I had to do was put the rods into the holders. I am using it as a magazine rack and it works like a charm. The rods are sturdy and the rack is much taller than I anticipated. Glad I bought it - might even use it to dry long pieces of pasta one day!