"This is an absolutely horrible article. Core77 should take away your writer's card. So many of the other comments nail the issues: Plywood is real wood. They don't say, in your example, "solid" wood. They also don't say where they use it - they imply for the "structure", which I would consider the frame and legs of your example, which very likely ARE solid wood. Also, veneer is often used in high end furniture, as is plywood - and they have all the dimensional stability benefits called out by other comments. The Eames desk is all plywood. And exposed without edge banding. In MCM furniture, veneer was a GO TO method - it was designed to be affordable and mass market, and often sold through department stores. Veneer achieved that. You can also commonly find veneer on antique dressers back dating back to the 1800's - they are at estate sales all over the Midwest on any given weekend. It's just how things are done. If you are going to critique furniture, you should have some understanding of how furniture is commonly made.Your point about knock-offs is a good one - too bad you buried it in uninformed opinions. But, even to counter that, I personally like the subtle changes they made to the Joybird version - the shorter, tapered legs, and the wider drawers are more proportionally refined and pleasing to my eye. They may also capitalize on the storage footprint better - less wasted space under the cabinet. So, if it was me, I'd buy the Joybird over the DWR Juhl's piece. And, then I don't need to freak out when one of my kids sets a sweating glass on it..."