Great Product, but be prepared for shipment headaches

I finally have mine assembled and it looks great and fits beautifully in the kitchen!

The good:
1. It is sturdy and solid. Looks great and not cheap looking.
2. Wood is great
3. Granite is nice, but thin (still heavy, so I wouldn't be able to lift it if it was thicker)
4. Casters are solid and easy to re-position around the kitchen
5. Assembly instructions are generally well thought out, starting with assembling the casters to the bottom and building upward

The medium:
1. The cart is divided in 3 parts. The center one is nice and big (fits my Kitchenaid stand mixer), but the two side ones are quite narrow, so not as much fits in those. I almost wish it was divided in two and I could just fit two bigger things.

The bad:
1. It is so heavy that during shipment, not much care is taken that the granite won't crack or break. My first shipment came with a crack in the granite (yes, I had two shipments) . For the second one, I was convinced it was broken before I opened the box because when lifting on one end, it bent some. Amazingly, all the wood framing was broken, cracked and splintering in many places, but the granite itself was intact!
2. The box for the granite is built around it with a bit less wood than needed. To open it, you have to break it apart, so to return it (if necessary), Amazon had to hire someone to come box it up and ship it back. This is a pain because they only give a 4 hour window to be there.
3. My granite of my first shipment came with a crack in it (I have seen other reviews like that). Not sure if it was damaged during shipment or before. One of the drawers had the screw leading hole curved and the wood cracked, so I needed a replacement.
4. I called the manufacturer and they said that they don't send out parts, so I needed to call Amazon. Amazon said that they don't send out parts, so they sent me a whole new set (two boxes). I had to go through the box looking for the parts for the drawer (nice that they have the drawer parts in a secondary smaller box inside the big box). I tried to replace just the face, but nothing lined up perfectly and the drawers would not close, so I had to assemble the drawers in their entirety from the new set, as neither drawers from the first set would close properly once I replaced the granite.

Once new granite was in and new drawers were made, I love it... but it was a pain to get here!

This island is a great size and it wasn't all that hard to put together. Got mine put together in one evening, 3-4 hours. The hardest part was putting the drawer frames together and getting them tightened, but adding the drawer bottom stiffened it making it easier to get it tight. It looks great and I am very happy with the purchase. Replaced the door handles with ones that match by kitchen cupboards, looks fantastic. The cherry countertop does need TLC as it will scratch pretty easily but we are applying a coat of poly to it for extra protection. Very happy with the look, the ease of putting together, and the doors open and close great. Also, we took the advise of a previous consumer who said the drawers will hang up on the underneath part of the countertop, so we put a small piece of felt as a cushion to the underside of the countertop before attaching it.

Overall, it's a great looking piece. I gave it 4 stars for two reasons, the instruction manual is about as basic as they come and some parts just don't fit. Would be nice to have a bit more detail regarding each part and how they are to be laid out for assembly. For example, arrows to illustrate what's up, down, whatever so I know how the next panel is to be attached. I've built quite a few of these furniture-in-a-box products, but this one made me pause to insure it was built correctly. Something the instructions could have helped with.

Second, the fit of the drawers is off. Because the drawers are preassembled with the sliding rails, there is very little to adjust. Between the two drawers is a wooden block that attaches via a wooden peg and a screw from the back of the cabinet. Directions either suggest the wrong screw or the hole for the screw is too small. In either case, fit was not what was expected. The drawers, when installed, are also crooked but straighten up once closed only to be crooked again when opened. Purely cosmetic, but that's kinda the reason for buying it. Would be great if they fixed this.

The Home Styles Create-a-cart 9200 is well designed and crafted. After assembly, which took a little over four hours, I was amazed at how attractive it was. The entire unit is constructed of real wood - not particle board. The black granite top is beautiful and adds a touch of class. All pieces fit together well and quality control was very good.

I have two caveats, detailed to assist with assembly and not to criticize. I purchased the two drawer model and prior to installing the granite top, noticed there were two support braces for affixing the top that seemed to have no place to go. Those pieces were included but are only required for assembly of the four drawer model. The granite top for the two drawer model is secured using four metal brackets that slide into grooves cut into the side panels.

After having my wife assist me with lifting the very heavy granite top in place, and then inserting the drawers, I disovered an issue that another buyer mentioned. There was insufficient clearance between the bottom of the granite top and the drawer front. It would hang up and prevent opening the drawer. It needed approximately 1/8 inch more clearance to permit the drawer to open without sticking. I solved the problem by purchasing a set of clear self-adhesive pliable furniture bumpers of appropriate size from Home Depot. They were affixed to the top surfaces of the wood edges that the granite top was designed to sit on. This gave enough clerance to enable the drawers to open perfectly.

One other caution: The unit is shipped in two very heavy boxes and I recommend having assistance lifting / moving them to avoid injury. I broke open the cartons on ground level and carried the individual parts to the assembly location. All parts are well-packed and nothing was damaged in shipping.

I would recommend this attractive cart to anyone. It has provided us with much needed storage space in our kitchen.

Product was easy to assemble and really does look nice in our kitchen. However, there are two things:
1. The top came a few days after the base so that was a bit irritating.
2. The door handles come loose fairly easily so you have to retighten them.
Other than that, the piece is quite sturdy and extremely useful.