Monarch Specialties Dark Taupe Reclaimed-Look/Silver Metal Office Desk, 60-Inch

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.

I've read the reviews here (and did so prior to my purchase), but was not really worried when I placed my order. I purchased this desk, as well as the Monarch Specialties White/Grey Hollow-Core Bookcase, and a small ottoman. I liked the look of the white furniture, and thought that it would work well in my home office. Packaging - The desk arrived in typical flat-pack fashion, with a light cardboard box, Styrofoam sheets lining the interior of the box on all sides, and the occasional piece of foam sheeting on the inside to protect individual panels. There is a plastic and cardboard tray of hardware. The Styrofoam takes a decent amount of abuse in shipping (from Quebec, I think), and so it's a little bit of a mess as you unbox the pieces. Everything was intact, but there was a tiny bit of surface finish damage to a corner of the desktop (only noticeable if you are looking for it). Assembly - Quick assembly is easy to achieve if you lay out the parts in advance (which is easy to do when inspecting the pieces for damage), and have sufficient space to both stage and assemble everything. Due to the lack of strength of most flat-pack furniture, I think it's always best to assemble the item wherever it's going to be long-term. The process of assembly went pretty quickly. All holes were indexed properly, and all of the hardware was sufficient to the task. It took me about 45 minutes to put together... while you may be able to save some time by using a power screwdriver, I really don't think it's worth the risk (regardless of the clutch options on the device). Do not skip (or skimp) on the glue... I coworker got the same desk, and the assembly results were not as favorable without the use of the glue. I assembled the desk per the instructions, and I have absolutely no racking from side to side or front-to-back. Appearance/Quality - It's good to keep your expectations realistic here, as this is not a $2000 piece of Steelcase or Herman Miller furniture. That said, I find the desk to be of a level of quality that I would expect from a desk costing twice as much. Judging from pictures, it's hard to tell what materials are used where, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect with the leg assemblies and the riser pieces (between the drawer boxes and desktop). I was happy to find that they were painted metal, rather than some lesser material. The color is somewhere between bright aluminum and gunmetal. The drawer pulls are painted plastic, and are substantially brighter than the metal pieces. The drawer assemblies aren't as bad as others have noted, but the action of the slides isn't very refined. It can be rectified with some lubricating grease if it really matters to you (it's smoothes the motion and dampens some of the plasticky noises). The depth of the slide on the hanging file drawer is not ideal if you use legal-size file folders (I'm using it on letter, so it's not an issue for me). Value - I wanted a simple desk with some mod-type style, and this fit the bill at a modest price. For the quality, I would have been willing to spend more.

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.

I stared at this desk for a few months, trying to gauge how disappointed I would be with it. For the money it seemed like a great deal, but some of the reviews were scaring me off. Finally I ordered it., put it together, and am sitting at it right now. So let me tell you... it's a VERY nice desk for the money. That's not to say it's perfect, but for the price point it's a steal. Let me walk you through it. Amazon quoted me over a week for delivery, but it came much sooner than expected. The delayed shipping is likely due to it coming from the manufacturer, and because it's a big and heavy box. The box was probably a bit larger than the top piece (5 ft x 2 ft) and... I don't know... 6 inches thick. Don't under-estimate the size and weight of this. The box had thick bubble-wrap all around the outside of it. Unfortunately, it rained before I got to the box and the water penetrated some holes in the bubble wrap. The entire box was soaked and I was certain I was going to have to deal with potentially getting a new one shipped. I opened up the box, and not a drop of water was on any of the pieces! The desk pieces were surrounded by so much Styrofoam that no rain touched it. I carried the desk inside my house in pieces which was much easier to navigate than that box. For such a straightforward desk, there are a lot of pieces. I think there were something like 27 pieces of wood, and then a smaller box containing the legs and a ton of screws and nuts. The directions were... okay. There are no written directions, just diagrams. To be honest, some of the pictures were too small, or the diagrams were poorly designed. It took a lot of time to figure out and feel confident that I was about to assemble it correctly. The rails especially are hard (the longer rails are for the really big drawer, and the shorter ones for the two small drawers). You should be able to figure it out... they just didn't make it easy. Assembly probably took me 2-3 hours. DEFINITELY have a power screwdriver ready to help you with this... you don't want to hand screw this whole thing. The desk itself is excellent. It's large and it looks REALLY nice. The color is fantastic, and from a short distance it almost looks like a real solid wood desk. Unfortunately, this illusion ends quickly when you touch it. It doesn't "feel" like a solid wood desk... it feels like laminate. It's not so much the texture, which is fine... it's the solidness of the top piece. As other reviewers have noted, the top piece is not solid. I'm not even talking about a solid piece of hardwood... it's not even a solid piece of MDF. It feels like they took some thin sheets of MDF, put separators in between, and glued it all together. Again... it LOOKS really nice. And it's solid enough to put normal things on that you would on a desk... but as soon as you touch it you can feel and hear that it's hollow. It gives a bit of a hollow sound when you run your hand across it (or knock on it), and you can just feel the weight isn't there. I don't really know how to describe it, but despite the looks and high quality of the veneer, it doesn't feel high-end. All the other pieces (the drawer components and such) are solid. I am guessing they were able to drive the price down by not using or paying shipping on a solid piece on top, but it definitely effects your feelings on the desk. Now, does it feel like I am going to go right through it when working on it? No. Not at all. It feels solid enough. I've already pounded on it with my fist pretty hard and it didn't feel like I was going to go through it. Maybe if I really smashed something on it it might penetrate, but it would have to be some huge accident... normal use isn't going to break this thing. Regardless, I've been thinking about adding a piece of clear glass or acrylic to the top to add some weight and heft and protect it. I have a heavy 32" curved monitor mounted on a hydraulic arm, and I was wondering how that was going to hold on this desk top. Happily there was no issue at all and the desk is holding the arm really well. Note though that I was careful not to over-tighten when I clamped the arm down for obvious reasons. Again, I think a piece of glass or acrylic could help with this. --- PROS --- - Looks beautiful, and exactly like the picture. There is no denying how nice this desk looks and the quality of the veneer. - Nice large 5'x2' size is perfect - Top piece "appears" to be really thick, which is a nice touch - Drawers work great. Lots of space in them (especially the big one) to store stuff - Spacing is great. I and my chairs' arms fit under it well. Drawers are just the right distance on each side. - Veneer covers every side of everything. No rough edges that I can see. - The price was right! --- CONS --- - Something about the top being hollow reduces the niceness of this desk. It's not like you can see it, but somehow you kind of feel it with your hands as you work on the desk. - There is no cord hole, USB or power ports, or under-desk cord holders. Given that the desk is hollow I'm a bit worried about drilling one in. - One of the three drawers is slightly, slightly, askew. It still fits fine and doesn't rub anything, but when you look at it the alignment is just off a hair. - While the legs are really nice, something about the matching drawer handles I don't love. I think I'll likely replace them if possible.

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.

I really like this desk, it has a modern look. I have been using it for a few years 2019 and I am very happy with it. It is very strong and durable. It is easy to clean. It definitely meets my needs. The drawers work properly after such a long time of use. Easy to assemble. Fast delivery and great price for this desk!

I initially received a text that desk was delivered. But, UPS tracking showed it delivered to a warehouse and was waiting pickup. I contacted seller and next day they told me it would be delivered to my home. When I received it I started assembly and found instructions (all Pictures) very hard to follow. I wasn't sure where to put the slides on the drawers but struggled anyway to finish. Eventually I did get the assembly finished and when I finished the last drawer (the one with hanging folders) I found that I had to basically take it apart to install the "hanging folder bar". I double checked the instructions and never found anywhere that told me to install them. Luckily, I discovered this before the glue dried. So, if you order this desk be aware of that before you complete the build. I've added a picture of the first instruction page so you can see how difficult it is to read. Also, be aware that the slides do have a "CL" and "CR" stamped on them - I didn't notice till I was almost finished. When the desk was completed it looks good and seems sturdy. The instructions need work.

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.