As for the workbench- totally awesome. Extremely sturdy and super easy for one person to put together in a short time frame. All pieces lined up nicely and I had no issues. However, the play screws and bolts are terrible. After first play we broke two screws to the point beyond repair and they broke off inside one of the nut blocks so all four pieces were ruined. The screws are wood and terrible terrible terrible to thread. Not easy for little ones to manipulate. The good thing is that I purchased the Hape Master kit and tool box sets to go with the workbench as others said they were compatible. They are compatible however the Hape kits are much more durable, sturdy, and easy to manipulate. The pieces are mostly wood but the screws and bolts are super chunky plastic which are a LOT easier to build with. No broken pieces from these and it makes me very tempted to just toss the M&D screws. Still extremely happy with the workbench. I will be buying more Hape tool kits to go with these and forgo any further M&D tool accessories.

I bought this for my 3 year old daughter as she is always wanting to help daddy with the projects that I'm working on and thought that this would be perfect for her to learn with. I really liked that it is made from wood and would last. Overall the bench is well constructed and sturdy, and will take some abuse. The instructions for assembly were easy to follow and detailed with diagrams. She will definitely enjoy playing with this was my initial thought.

I also purchased another building set at the same time so that she had a few more pieces to play with and assemble for her little projects. I am very disappointed that these sets are NOT interchangeable with each other even though they are made by the same company. The nuts, bolts, boards, and blocks are not the same THREAD size. The pieces that come with the work bench are ever so slightly smaller and will not accept the pieces from the other building set even though the head size of the bolt and nut size are exactly the same. She will not be able to differentiate between the two and will probably get frustrated because they done go together as they should.

I'm not sure how this was overlooked as I can't imagine that I'm the first person to purchase multiple sets and use the parts and pieces interchangeably. This is something that should be fixed going forward.

Overall great product with minor disappointments.

Melissa & Doug Wooden Construction Building Set in a Box (48 pcs)

I couldn't be happier with this bench. My 2 year old son loves it. The little wooden "erector set" pieces are too advanced for him for now, so I put them away. I bought him the little $13 tool box and tool set as well, and for now he's just playing with those on the bench. The table top of the bench is getting pretty banged up already, but that's to be expected with a 2 year old swinging a hammer at it. Directions for assembling the bench are pretty poor. You have to look at the picures carefully and keep the bench in a consistent orientation as you assemble at it goes together pretty easily. My only other gripe is this... the little wooden nuts and bolts for the bench don't match the nuts and bolts for the tool box set. Not worth removing a star. Really nice set. Solid construction. I recommend it for any little boy or girl who likes tools.

I was so excited about this...until putting it together and having parts not fit together the way they needed to. Sooo maddening. I took it apart several times making sure I hadn't done anything wrong trying to assume my own error but the pieces simply weren't cut correctly. Huge disappointment and pretty out of character for M&D stuff.

This was for my 2 1/2 year old son. He loves it and it is very sturdy. He loves to use the tools and play with the bolts. My only complaint came when my husband and I put it together. The predrilled holes on one of the boards did not match up with the one it was meant to connect to. My husband had to drill new holes and use some new bolts to get the leg stabilized.