This desk is simple, solid wood and very easy to put together. The package arrives with the entire top piece already assembled, you merely have to attach the legs, total is 8 screws. I have read the other reviewers comment who gave this desk 1 star. My response to that would be, you paid 175 dollars for a solid wood writing desk that has a simple, but decent finish. As for the chip, that sounds like a problem with your specific desk, and I would suggest contacting the merchant and get it replaced. Mine is fine, I have no issues with the drawer, it again a simple wood on wood pull out (no rollers), the wood is all aligned. Ikea furniture is lower quality than this, otherwise I would have happily bought from IKEA. There are pieces from the Winsome's LISO collection i have had issues with.
I bought the printer stand and ladder book shelf. I also bought a small entertainment console (I started buying this brand of furniture after first acquiring the entertainment console, due to its reasonable quality, being solid wood, high quality hardware and of course, its very low cost). The finish for each is fine, the furniture feels well assembled (though these other pieces you assemble yourself entirely), I have had some alignment issues, mildly with the book shelf, more with the printer, but just enough to annoy, nothing more. The wood is dark, they do not have functional impact on the function of any of these three piece, and they slight alignment problems are not noticeable to the eye, you will not know they are there unless you were the assembler. I give the desk 5 stars, because it's great, the console 4, book shelf 4 and printer 3. Happy buying.