Monarch Specialties White Hollow-Core/Silver Metal Office Desk, 60-Inch

Summary: It's a nice desk for the price, and I like the style. Assembly: The assembly instructions for this desk are very compact, meaning each step in the included booklet could be easily expanded into 3-5 steps. Because of this, mistakes might be easy if you don't plan ahead, e.g., by organizing the parts into bowls and labeling them as other reviewers recommend. It also helps to stare at a single instruction step for a minute to orient yourself spatially to the many pieces before proceeding with the step. I can understand others' frustration with the instructions because of this. Compounding the assembly difficulty is that the instructions require gluing pegs (a bit unusual in DIY assembly these days), implying a kind of unforgiving nature to the process. Overall, the process took about 3 hours for me to assemble the desk on my own -- a good time to catch up on some podcasts :) It's not terribly difficult if you do some prep work to get your mise en place. Quality: Meh. It's laminated particle wood, but at this price point, it is what is expected. Other than that, it's hard to comment on the quality at this point as I've only just finished putting it together. But, I've noticed no glaring build quality defects at this point.

It came early and packaged well. A few bolts were missing but it turns out I didn’t need them. The instructions need to be updated. Some of the illustrations regarding the drawer sliding rails need to be updated but I figured it out. Pay attention to the illustrations and don’t commit to a tightening unless you’re sure it’s right. I split up the assembly into a few nights - one hour one night just to unbox and organize all the parts. Then the next day I was able to put everything together in about 2 hours. I got the reclaimed wood color with black trim and it looks just like the picture. It’s pretty sturdy and the drawers slide smoothly. I put it together myself and I’m not that handy or big. But it wasn’t too heavy once the parts were assembled. It fits my space perfectly and I love the modern look! I work from home a few days and there is plenty of room for two monitors and anything else I need.

Delivery was as promised and all parts were inspected before mounting, all was good at that point. The desk looks very nice and works for what I need. However here are the negatives: The instructions are not clear and it took us (hubby and me) several hours to put together. When the bottom part was assembled and we tried to move it in place to set up the desktop, the middle piece broke on the left side, which we didn’t understand because it was set up correctly per instructions. When lifted to move it fell apart on us. The right side was perfectly fine. The top drawer on the left does not close flush like the other two drawers but again I decided to keep anyway. The top desk piece is hollow, which is not listed on the product description. This it why I gave it low scores. It works for my needs and since it was half way mounted I decided to keep it. I wish it was better constructed but at this point it would have been a hassle to return so I kept it. But if you are looking for high quality and sturdiness this might not be the right purchase for you.

Must admit I was very worried about it being damaged when it arrived late at night and with quite a few punch holes on the top edge of the box and one side open. We carefully opened the box, and saw that it was really well packaged with lots of padding material., and nothing was damaged. We are used to putting together furniture etc, and are very organised. Did think one pack of screws were missing, but it was the screws for the drawer handles and their bag was not marked. Just work methodically and once you work out the manufacturers assembly plans it went easy. Though it did take us a good 2 hours to get it all assembled. The trickiest part was trying to see which holes to use on the drawer rails, not really too clear on the directions, but we went with logical thinking and it worked out. I like that the drawer rails are angled down at the back, so that the drawers stay closed. Not an expensive desk or high quality, but I wanted something modern looking as I was fed up of the wood desk I had. Looks really good. Now waiting for the larger L shaped matching desk to arrive for hubby.