Sauder Shoal Creek Executive Desk in Jamocha Wood Finish - Modern Home Office Desk for Professionals & Remote Work

Overall this desk is a good value, it is stylish and good size. Several places the finish was rubbed off but one would expect that for an item shipped half way around the world and delivered by a freight company who clearly didn’t really care about rough handling of the box.The product was damaged. It appears to have occurred during the delivery process. (Florklift or pallet jack) The package is very heavy. There is no styrofoam or protection between the box and the product to prevent punctures. The product is pretty typical for the price. It looks nice. Directions are good. Assembly is not difficult for one person. I would buy this product again. I contacted the company to replace the damaged piece, it appears they will send it right away. I will follow up when it arrives.Overall a good piece of furniture for the price. 2 person job for about a 2.5 hour assembly. Good directions. Use a Carpenter Square to square your work when tightening parts. Drawer slides are smooth. Desk is sturdy when fully assembled. The Vernier is thin and can scratch easily. Recommend using a 1.5mm plastic or glass covering for the top.Just too bigMost of the negative remarks are about the weight (200+ lbs) or the instruction to put it together so I will address that first. This is my first Sauder product. I am a self proclaimed expert at putting together things especially ikea products and I have many of them.The desk is heavy which is a GOOD THING otherwise people will say it is flimsy.I will agree that the instructions to put it together do need some work. It took me 2+ hours to put it togetherCurrently you have to work on 1 item put it aside and start to work on second and then third, all separate items. It would be better if you have 1 piece as a base then start to build on it so you don't have to constantly move from piece to piece individually and then put them together.Now let's move on to real issues (my reason for 3 stars). I have to say their customer service (Family owned company) is awesome and they tried to assist in the best way possible (I had shipping damage related issues).The workmanship on the edges as a whole is very poor OR it is a process defect that Sauder needs to address.I "assume" Sauder uses a VERY thin veneer which peels off at the edges especially when the edge is not smoothed over. In my opinion it will be better if the edges were to be sanded down to a tapered or rounded edge. (See Pic 1) notice the lines on the beveled edge? these are razor sharp and will give you a "paper cut" if you are not careful. Also (see Pic 2) which is of the Table top itself with the edges already showing.Secondly, some of the pre-drilled holes are too big for the screw head and if you are not careful (DO NOT USE DRILL) the screw will go right inside it. (see pic 2) ALSO, notice the rough part around the edge? that is how it comes to you.I should mention that Sauder is sending me some Color Markers so that I can color in/on the edges, but I am not sure how well that is going to look.The drawer rails hardware although is of finer quality, but again once you put in the drawer itself the rails do not work as well.All in all, it is a nice looking desk for the money.Very difficult to assemble. Took me and my wife about 10 hours to assemble. Aligning the fasteners was impossible. Directions were ok, except the parts were not all marked had to refer to diagrams to figure which part they were referring too. The drawers went together nicely, but had to rework them to align them after they were installed in the desk. Finely got them to work. Desk looks good, plenty of storage. If you don't have a lot of time and patience don't buy it. If you can work through it, it is worth it. Have fun.The desk is being put in my libraryMost of those who wrote the hours it took to assemble were spot on and the sheer weight of the unit made it difficult to work. One assembled you love the weight. I have assembled many pressed wood products and most all felt flimsy and not long for the world. Not so with this desk. It feels like it's built to last. Granted moving it several times would be a challenge but for my purposes it will be where it is for years and I have full confidence it will last it. The desk is beautiful to see and both the file drawers will replace to file cabinets I had. I have on the desk two laptops a monitor and an Ion turntable and it's deep enough for me to still write on and not look cluttered. My only suggestion is to replace the two top drawers that have the false front appearing to be four drawers with actually four drawers to have more storage space. Overall this is the most pleasing Sauder product I've purchased.