Just as pictured. A very elegant metal & wood shelf. The shelves are press/chipboard...I think. They're so solid & hefty that they might be actual wood; they're laminated to look like oak and they do NOT feel "cheap" at all.  My only issues with this were that two of the metal pieces were bent a bit, so that aligning them with the screws took a bit of work -- I used a hammer to put them back into shape (only took about four taps). Also, an electric screwdriver makes assembly TONS easier. The package includes a combination allen wrench/phillips screwdriver, but using it for the screws is hard on the hands -- have an actual screwdriver on hand. 

other than that, this is an awesome-looking shelf. It's very solid & well-made; it's not "cheap"-looking or -feeling at all, and after we put it up, we immediately had our cats climbing all over it. Any bookshelf that stands up to that is DURABLE, trust me.