Sandy - That is correct that the rods are placed verticle to the horizontal shelves. They are not glued or cemented in place. They are free standing and after I cut the rods to the size required I placed a self-sticking piece of felt on the ends. This keeps the rods from falling and adds a padding between the rod and the glass. The trick is to measure the distance with the shelves empty so the true measurement is taken. You them put the rod in place and load the shelves. The neat thing is that after the shelves are loaded you can try and remove a rod. If it is harder to remove then when the shelves were empty, the shelf is bowing. If it is still the same as when the shelves were empty, then the shelf is fine. This sort of gives you piece of mind. This principal is the way skyscrapers are built. The bottom supports the top so you must start at the bottom and work up. Also, this principal does not rely on gluing horizontal supports to the back and front center supports because what do you glue to when you have a mirrored back and a solid glass front door with horizontal supports?