Sauder Barrister Lane Executive Desk, Salt Oak finish

After reading the reviews, I was a bit hesitant to order this desk. But to my surprise, it went together beautifully. All the pieces were there (though some were not so clearly marked as others), all the holes lined up, and the result was beautiful. Yes, it was time consuming (took around 7 hours); but the result was completely worth the effort. It looks like it was much more expensive than it was, has plenty of storage space, and fits beautifully into my home office. Let me add that I am not, by any means, a carpenter. And still I could follow the instructions and complete construction of this desk. A Phillips head screwdriver, a power driver, and a pocket knife were all I needed. I am very happy with the quality and the construction process. One complaint is that it scratches easily. Put it together on a covered surface. Great value for the price, however. Highly recommend for a home office.

I just love my new desk. Its unbelievably sturdy, compact but still huge, very modern looking and fantastic value for the money. Only con is the time it takes to put it together. It's a bear and make sure you stock up on beer, pizza, drinks, water or whatever you like before you begin :) I kept saying this to myself I will get through this. I am more than happy on what it turned out to be, once the desk is ready to use. I have gotten several compliments from my friends, relatives on my new office set up and the desk stands apart!

This desk is very pretty and just what I was looking for. I put it together myself, which probably took about 5 1/2 hours total. I worked on it about three hours one day and then quit (for my sanity) and picked it up the next day and finished it. I would say the instruction manual is fair. Would've been nice if every piece was marked and the instruction manual had more close-ups. There are 22 pages of instructions, FYI. That being said, I was able to figure it out, a few times just doing it on common sense rather than what the manual didn't show or wasn't clear. For the small drawer pull, the screws were too long so I had to add 4 washers to make that tight. Overall I had some frustrating times putting it together, but I absolutely love the finished product. There are no holes in the back for any computer cords, which was fine for me because I didn't need them. It seems to be a very sturdy desk and fits my office decor perfectly.

This desk is a great deal for the money. I don't understand all the negative reviews about being difficult to assemble, missing part, confusion etc. You have written instructions AND AN EXCELLENT video provided by the company which SHOWS you in detail how to assemble the desk step by step. The only thing you need is some time to assemble it. But everything fit perfectly and as described. All pieces are clearly labeled, down to every little screw. Speaking of screws, its hard to screw it up, if you just follow the instructions, the video and take your time. Kudos to the company for an excellent product, and especially the video to make this assembly very doable. Note, I have no affiliation with the company nor have I received any promotion or compensation for this review. Congrats Sauder.

Where to begin with this POS? * Multiple pieces were missing. Others were included, but were the completely wrong shape, leaving unfinished wood exposed (looks great, let me tell you). * The instructions are less than useless. Multiple steps were skipped. Screws magically appeared in the drawers at one point without the instructions ever having told me to put them there. Oh, and want to know how a piece should be oriented during assembly? Too bad. The instructions won't tell you. * The quality is garbage. The company can't be bothered to measure and drill their holes properly so that everything lines up, so they expect YOU to adjust the pieces until they do. Except, they still don't. No amount of adjustment can make them. Take the drawer on the right: I moved it up as it could go, and it still ended up bumping into the divider beneath it, making it IMPOSSIBLE TO CLOSE. * Several of the "joints" aren't held together by nails or screws or anything at all; they're just two-centimeter thick ridges of plywood fitting into two-centimeter grooves. Which makes for some SUPERB durability, let me tell you. Wasted three hours putting this POS together. Now I have to figure out how I'm supposed to return it without wasting another 3 hours taking it apart. What a shame, because if it weren't for the exposed wood, mismatching parts, non-aligned corners, and non-functioning drawers, it would have looked great next to the IKEA bookshelves I have next to it, which (coincidentally) are of INFINITELY SUPERIOR QUALITY. Learn from my suffering. Don't buy this garbage.

This desk is perfect for our space. Timely to put together but worth it! Very sturdy, pleasant to look at, and we get our use out of it. Worth the money.

Reading the mixed reviews and having purchased sauder furniture before I thought this would be a nice piece and a few others just had bad luck or didn’t follow all Instructions. Well the same thing happened to me with none of the drawers or doors centered or fitting. Very disappointed. We’re stepping away and will look at it again tomorrow. Now that it’s put together I can’t imagine taking it apart to return. Disappointed in the look based on the price.

Hi, I’m the daughter who bought it. so in this review i am being as informative as I can. It’s worth the money but not the labor. Most people would have to pay someone to make it for them. My dad who was a construction worker put it together for me. I could not. So there were two boxes in the mail. There was no indication on Amazon of the second box. So I had to call sauder to learn about the second box and it had the missing pieces not with the first box. The second box came two days later. So we opened The boxes and it came with a lot of pieces. My dad said to follow the directions. According to directions we were supposed to use One of their tools manually and not a drill. To prevent over tightening pieces. I know. The directions as we followed them brought you through the steps. Follow each step. Some of the steps he had difficulty with though. But we made it and it is big and heavy. I don’t know if you can send it back. But Still I would not be able to make it on my own. It took nine hours To make and over two days. It’s beautiful and has well made wood. It had no scratches and the top is beautiful. Once we put it together the only problem I had was a gap here and there from panels not well put in and that was his fault. Directions relied more on pictures which were very difficult to follow. If we were in the category of defects, It’s commercially made and I doubt sauder has track of all defects because We didn’t take it apart and send it back. Who’d send it back? All in all it’s worth the product but does not include the labor. It’s as good as the person who made it. I will not buy from them again. This was the most difficult product I have ever bought and had made. I hope that helps.