Monarch Specialties 48" Computer Desk with File Cabinet - Black & Grey Top - Left or Right Setup - Home Office & Study Desk for Work & Gaming

I wanted to get away from my big computer desk and find something smaller. I ordered this desk and it is just the right size and has more room than I was expecting, very happy with it.When the desk was delivered some parts were broken from delivery. With email I communicated with them. They were very helpful and quickly sent me replacements. Using the desk now and quite happy with it and their service.Offers great storage, large desktop for work space, sturdy, and perfect for my son's industrial style bedroom.This desk is quite lovely. The instructions are a bit daunting (step one) at first, but if you lay out the pieces exactly as shown, study them closely at first, then roll up your sleeves, you'll get it. It took me, alone, about three hours to put it together. I'm a perfectionist and double check everything, so it usually takes me bit longer to do things. I'm guessing about 2 1/2 hours for those who are less paranoid. Ha! For being compressed wood, it's quite strong, very sturdy and looks professional. I appreciate that it's affordable and beautiful at the same time. A solid wood version would be entirely too expensive and heavy for me to justify. My only complaint is that the bottom drawer is slightly crooked, but you have to be on your hands and knees, looking close to see it. I don't think it can be fixed, as everything is pre drilled...ah! Thin shims under the drawer, between it and the roller frame will do the trick. Well, my perfectionist self is going to address that now. Good day!I needed this desk to be placed next to the bigger one from this brand. Sadly the height of this one is off by half an inch. Enough to make it look weird next to the other desk. Putting this together was okay although time consuming. One side of the desk is super heavy while the other side is super light making this desk easy to tilt.Assembling this desk was a nightmare. I've assembled a lot of my own furniture over the years, and this was the worst experience I've had. The instructions were downright awful. It was just pictures, and they were printed so small that it was extremely difficult to see what pieces went where. I honestly wished I had a magnifying glass... Or that they had literally spent the extra 10 cents on a few extra pages so that the pictures could be bigger, or so that they could break the steps down better. There was no link or qr code for an assembly video or anything else, so the horrible, nearly impossible to read instructions were all you got. Also, it didn't even tell you what tools you needed, not in the instructions or on the product page, but fyi you need a phillips head screw driver. Of course we didn't have accessible since we just moved, so we had to order one and wait for that to arrive. I'm so used to assemble your own furniture coming with the tools you need, what would that have cost them $1-2 dollars to send a small phillips head with it? Or at least tell us somewhere that we need one. Once we got our screwdriver it took the two of us 5-6 hours to assemble the desk. Any other furniture I've assembled has taken maybe 2-3 hours MAX. Around hour 5, on one of the last side pieces of one of the drawers, we noticed one of the pieces of particle board with split and when we tried to put the screw into it, it split further, we ended up screwing it in a different part on the board so that it didn't break all the way. But honestly the fact that this entire desk is poor quality particle board, and not a single piece of actual wood for $260 is pretty ridiculous. I could have gotten another lame particle board desk for $100, or probably less. So needless to say I am not happy with the purchase. But after spending that much time assembling it, there was no way we were going to spend a couple more hours to disassemble it and send it back, then try to find another and have to assemble that. Maybe that's what these companies bank on, that the hassle is so significant it outweighs your dissatisfaction. So I guess it will suffice for now, and we'll know to never buy from this company again.Fully agree with most of the reviews that the installation manual is tiny to read and really difficult to figure out. I was able to assemble most of it but needed some help from my husband towards the end. I missed one key step to put the back of the cabinet on and after glueing a few pieces together couldn’t go back. It’s not as sturdy for that reason, but looks great and fits my small space well. Overall happy with it but instructions need to be updated to make it more clear!This desk looks great. The assembly was straight-forward(just take your time reading and studying the illustrations). The desk top is very modern looking, it is a hollow-core slab with a veneer. For those who are expecting solid wood this is not the case. Overall, I am very pleased with this desk and would recommend it to others.This desk's delivery time got delayed by a week and a half, so when we got it, we were really excited to finally put it together. Unfortunately, we noticed that the packaging was damaged, and once we opened it, there was actual damage to the desk parts as well (pictured).Considering this desk was not cheap at all, I am really upset with how it came, and the quality of it. It looks cheap, the wood is not great, looks like plastic. Instructions were extremely confusing as well. If it didn't take 3 hours to put together, I would disassemble and return it immediately. Please do not waste your money (and time) on this desk.So, let me say that I have absolutely 0 experience building desks, so would expect the manual to make things easy, right?Well, you're wrong, the instructions is very very confusing, as it's mainly pictures that have the pieces so small you'll have to take a guess with what goes where. Like step 1 had like 50 things you had to do which was overwhelming. Took about 1.5 hours just to finish step 1, and a total of 4 hours to complete the entire desk. Also I somehow missed 1 little backpanel and was too lazy to take apart to finish it, I didn't even realize they put it in a step, I didn't see it at all, very hard to tell what you're trying to do at times with the instructionsOverall, it is a very very beautiful desk. There's nothing I could complain about besides instructions. For the most part everything is aligned well, minus few very slight misalignment, but not noticeable unless you're looking specifically at it, and close upLove the modern design and the taupe reclaimed-wood finish combined with black metal. There aren't that many nice desks in this smaller size, so I put up with some aggravations. It took me hours and more sweaty hours to construct this, using one of those annoying instruction books filled with pictures, numbers and arrows. The drawers all catch a little because they are slightly unaligned. The desktop, however, is thick and sturdy. The file cabinet is roomy, and can be customized to hold letter or legal size hanging folders.Love my new desk! So perfect, small enough for the space but holds my laptop, and another monitor, with room to write in my notebook. The big drawer even holds hanging file folders, it's perfect! Only thing I would add would be a hole for cords, but not completely necessary.Don’t like that it’s described as reclaimed wood, yet on the box it says faux wood. Totally misleading. Too many parts to put together. But looks okay.