So what's the question?

| I've been looking at some modular desk. wood finish would be cherry.

One thing to be aware of when you're buying
things like desktops and tables:

Unless you're paying a lot for good furniture,
"cherry" is taking poetic license. It's probably
particle board with a vaguely cherry-ish veneer
that could be printed, or even plastic laminate.
(Some very expensive furniture is just junk
particle board with plastic laminate made to
show a fairly convincing wood grain.)

Particle board furniture can have a hidden
cost, especially with desks and bookshelves:
It has low shear strength (don't sit on it) and if
it breaks or cracks there's nothing to fix
because there was no real structure in the
first place. I used to get a lot of calls from
people with Scandinavian Design furniture and
had to explain that their fashionable "teak"
pieces were junk. Ikea is the new Scandinavian
Design.

I was just at a job yesterday in a very "exclusive"
condo development. The customer had cabinets
from a well marketed company called Poggenpohl,
with a store on the high fashion street in Boston.
Someone had glued mirrors to the cabinet doors.
There was nothing I could to to remove them and
restore the doors. It's wood grain plastic laminate
over junk particle board.