This is a beautiful piece of furniture. It is solid wood but like others have stated, the wood is very soft and can be easily dented, scratched or split. I did split the wood in a few places when attaching the back panels. Also, some of the parts are not labeled and it was an absolute headache to put together. I had to take it apart twice because I screwed the wrong pieces together. It took several hours to build this item by myself.  I love how it looks and I am pleased with my purchase overall.