After seeing all the negative reviews I was afraid to purchase this shelf, and got another metal organizer instead. Having more stuff to organize, I eventually got this one too (the grey model), because I liked the fact that it had a flat top--to put more stuff of course!When I opened the package I was apprehensive, but none of my parts were broken, damaged, or missing, and everything was held tightly in place with Styrofoam. I put the thing together in under an hour while my husband got ready for work (and I'm a pretty slow worker on this sort of thing). The parts aren't labeled, but honestly it doesn't matter because there aren't very many parts and the pictures show where they go. No tools besides a tack hammer are necessary, and mine DID NOT crack or bubble during assembly (see below for construction tips).TIPS for those who are having trouble:Don't wet the dowels to activate the glue--they fit snug enough that this isn't necessary to hold the thing together, and allows you to take it apart if you screw up, if you need to pack up the thing to move to a new house...etc.For the top: Stick the dowels into the ends of the 3 boards that are sticking up (instead of pushing them into the top first--this might lead to the cracking others experienced). Another easy trick I did (just for the top, but I could have done it elsewhere) was to tap the dowels in before placing the top on. Tap them in until you hear that they touch the bottom of the drilled out space, or until they stick up less than the width of the top piece. The top pushes on nicely from there and..Ta Da...No bubbles!Make sure to look at the pieces to make sure you have all the finished edges facing the front....I got everything right except the bottom piece...Since I didn't use glue it was a simple fix, but I could have avoided that step if I'd paid more attention...Now, that being said, know what you are getting. This is a particle board organizer. It's plenty sturdy for that and works for the intended purpose of holding papers and some miscellaneous junk on top (a plant for instance) just fine, but it is not high quality material. Nothing compares to real wood, but--and take this from someone who owns a sawmill--real wood is expensive. Even for something as simple as this you have to measure, cut, plain and sand the boards, and then finish them. The product will turn out beautiful and much higher quality, but it will take a little time and more money, even if you do the work yourself. So if you are looking for a piece of furniture that will look fancy and be passed down for generations, spend more money and hire a carpenter or buy a more expensive model. If you want something cheap and quick that looks and works decent, then this is it.P.S. I got this in the grey, which is fine but kind of plain, so I let the kids stencil, paint, and bejewel the sides--it's for their papers anyway!Update: 5 years later and still going strong--daily use and no damage yet. It's actually a pretty sturdy little unit. I'm thinking of buying another to hold more paper options. I'm so glad I went with this instead of one of the cardboard models!