I looked at so many islands and read a lot of reviews before deciding on this one and it paid off. This was the perfect piece of furniture for my moms new apartment. It is well made and all of the pieces fit together without any hassle. Allow some time and this is one of those that says it takes two people. I assembled it myself but there was one step where I had to have another person help. I used a cordless drill, there are a lot of screws and fasteners- that helped a lot.
It arrived in three very large boxes. Inside, each piece is totally surrounded by foam and/or cardboard. There is a lot of packaging to dispose of but it kept the wood safe and we didn't have a scratch from shipping.
Mom has a small one bedroom apartment in a senior living facility. The kitchen is very small, like you would find in a hotel, with just an apartment refrigerator and microwave above the counter. There were no drawers and only one cabinet. This unit gave her storage and makes the kitchen look substantial without taking up a lot of room. Everyone remarks that it is a beautiful addition to the room.
The top folds down easily but she leaves it up, the stools take up the same amount of room with it up or down. But it does make it easier to clean the floor when you can push in the support arms.

Just received this beautiful piece last week; my husband put it together in about 4.5 hours. I was a little hesitant to purchase such a large furniture item over the internet, sight unseen, but this is a gorgeous piece of quality furniture that I am going to enjoy for years to come! So much additional space for organizing my kitchenware, so versatile and practical too. My husband is not a carpenter, but is very handy & had no problem with assembly per the enclosed directions. Most pieces fit together perfectly, and the 2-3 that were slightly off were easily adjusted to fit nicely. The drop leaf is super smooth on fold out, supported by the slide out legs! There were a 3-4 minor flaws in the wood & 2-3 light scratches in the granite; I am sure this occurred during shipping. Although the pieces were packaged well, they obviously received some rough handling during transport. I can live with it, since it's really just looks like normal use, wear & tear if you are inspecting the piece closely. FYI: We visited Menard's prior to ordering this item, and priced a custom "pieced" island with granite top, created from joining 2 cabinets. The cost for the piece (which would still require assembly) was equivalent to the price of the Aspen, plus additional cost for hardware & other items to complete construction. WE DEFINITELY MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE ORDERING THE ASPEN! It is a stunning addition to our kitchen/dining area, and I would highly recommend it if you are looking to enlarge your work surfaces, storage area & increase your dining accommodations. Very happy with this item.

Have had this island for just over a year and it's holding up well. The granite portion does have water stains from daily use, but it is a solid piece.
Never again will I buy a main piece of furniture I need to assemble (some of the holes did not match and therefore we had to drill a bit) and my husband and I fought like crazy while assembling, but I'm overall happy with it. Be forewarned that you may have damage to pieces while intransit, but I contacted customer service and they quickly shipped the replacement pieces.

Very nice island, caution: it is very heavy. It arrives in three boxes and has to be put together. All screws are packaged according to size and includes an extra of each. Instructions for putting together are easy to follow. It took me about three hours to put it together but I was taking my time, that includes the chairs which arrive in their own boxes packaged separately.

We were not going for a match to our cabinets but it turned out that it matches pretty good. They are builder grade cabinets. There is plenty of extra storage. My only issues that I had was one of the feet was broken from shipping and the right drawer above the cabinet door is very hard to open, further investigation shows that the left glide is off just a little putting pressure on it; I might break out the drill later to fix it but for now that particular drawer is semi-operational.

I would definitely recommend this product to my friends and family.

I hesitated to buy this with so many reviews that had trouble with missing or damaged parts and assembly problems. In the end I'm glad we got it. We got the wood top with the chairs. Everything arrived quickly (5 or 6 days from when I ordered it) and undamaged. The only thing missing was the instructions which were emailed to me promptly when I called about them. Assembly was fairly quick and easy considering the size of this thing. With 2 people it took us about 2 hours. All the drawers fit correctly and slide nicely. One of the top drawers was sticking a little. We swapped them and now both slide just fine. The wood is solid and sturdy and is finished inside and out. Overall it looks as good as more expensive islands I looked at and I am happy with it. The only downside I have, as other reviewers have stated, is that if you plan to use it as a work surface in your kitchen you will need to somehow protect the top.