When reviews indicate an item is hard to put together, I usually ignore them because my contractor husband is so good at that stuff. However, he agreed that the average person would have trouble with this. It took him an hour and 10 minutes and he had to make some adjustments to the directions. Once the desk is together, it's really nice. Sturdy, heavy and modern. The crack in the desk top is supposed to be there. We ordered two other pieces from this collection and they all have it. At first there was a terrible smell which gave me a headache. It took about a week to go away with windows wide open and now it's fine. I decorated around it with a taupe theme and am very happy with my purchase.