Great

Last gate we got was hard to install and he and I spent 2 hours trying to get it in. It was a similar model..but the gate broke and I dreaded installing another....
This one took me 30 minutes total and looks way better than the last one. It is sturdy and stands up to my big dogs. It has a few latching fail-safes to keep it latched. Double button to open took a bit to get used to (top of handle- push with thumb and under handle-grip with fingers). It also can swing either way or you can set it with little latch at bottom end of gate so it can be locked on to open only one direction. It can be swung shut to latch itself, but doesn't swing on its own.
If you want to enter the room and then exit without unlatching again it's possible..with dogs it won't open unless they know how to grab hold of it..kids may be different story. Kind of a nice feature for us since it's dogs only and we use it for kitchen cause they surf counters lol kit I got is for large openings. What it told me for size was not what I needed for 49 inch opening...I had to drop to next setting size down...so check it before you snap it all together. If super close to 49 go down a size in what they tell you for the parts.

I got two adorable puppies. I expect them to grow pretty big based on their breeds, so when shopping for a gate I had a couple of concerns. As with any gate... 1) height/width 2) how easy is it to open 3) quality of materials.

1) Height/Width: This gate is on the taller side, which is actually perfect, since the handle will be easier to reach for you. It does have extensions to make it wider, however, this doesn't make the entrance to the gate any wider. I consider this to be a good thing and a bad thing. Extensions make the gate weaker if someone were to change at the gate.

2) How easy is it to open: The gate requires you grip the lighter gray plastic pieces of the handle to retract the locking mechanism. Small children likely won't know how to operate it, even if they are tall enough. For my puppies, they aren't physically capable of opening it even if they are hanging on the top part of the handle. In addition, the design of the gate also prevents climbing; the bars are vertical, unlike some plastic gates which have a chainlink-like design that can be used for climbing. The gate doesn't swing it's entire length or need to retract for you to open it, it is much more practical/easy to use. Since the gate sits on the ground, it is more sturdy if someone tried to hop it (it is safer)... it also means nothing can go under it.

3) quality of materials: Steel for the bars, plastic for the handle/guides/connectors. It feels nice, works well. I expect it to hold up for years.

This is, hands down, the best walk-through gate on the market. I've previously owned the Richell Wood One-touch gate and the Regalo Easy Step gate and I'd rate this gate much higher for the following reasons:

1) This Munchkin gate seems very well built and durable. It's heavy, but opens easily. I'm using it to confine 2 dogs that jump hard against it and it's not budged a bit. We've pressure mounted it and both my husband and I have pushed against it and it's staying in place. In contrast, the Regalo gate seemed flimsy and even though we mounted it tightly, it'd slide a bit on the walls every now and then. (Though to be fair, the Regalo gate is about half the price.)

2) This Munchkin gate has a wide (22") opening for the door. It is the widest door that I've ever seen on a baby gate. It can easily accomodate adults walking through with grocery bags, etc, or adults that are of a larger size that might find smaller openings, such as with the Regalo gate, uncomfortable or constricting.

3) This Munchkin gate opens easily with 1 hand and has a very fluid motion. It has a different mechanism than the Richell gate which was also very easy to operate and I liked it very much. The biggest difference I can see here is that the Richell gate can open in or out at any time, whereas this Munchkin gate needs to be set for a preferred direction. Richell's design might be slightly better here, but I still rate Munchkin higher overall. The Regalo gate is much more difficult to open.

4) This Munchkin gate is stylish. I wasn't sure that I'd like the color from the pictures, but in person, I love it. The dark grey blends in nicely with some of the modern decor in my home and looks rich and expensive. The Richell gate had a nice wooden finish, but the metal bars on either side of the gate were a painted brown. If you look at reviews on that gate, some hate it, others like it. I didn't mind it too much, but my husband despised that look. The Regalo gate I had was also a metal color, but it was a silver tone that looked cheap.

5) This Munchkin gate is tall and has a variety of widths, accomodating several different sizes. The reason I'd moved on from Richell (which I had liked) was because it's too narrow to fit the openings in my new home. With the Munchin gate, there are various width extentions, so I can use it in narrow and wide openings.

In short, this Munchkin gate, though more expensive than others, is worth it. It is strong, attractive, seems durable, has a nice wide opening, and can accomodate numerous size openings. The only downside I see is that the assembly instructions can be a tad confusing, especially if this is your first gate. They're written Ikea-style with pictures and arrows. In order to adjust the widths, you need to use plastic connectors that insert in the metal gate pieces and/or remove some of the inserts that are already present. Also, some of these fittings were rather tight, so I needed my husband to break out the hammer to bang them in for me once I knew it was the correct piece. Despite this, I still rate it 5 stars because I've already purchased 2 of these and wouldn't hesitate to purchase more if I need them at some point.

Once I put it together and installed it, it was great. Very sturdy, heavy weight. It was hard to put together though! Instructions are terrible. I was very frustrated but eventually figured it out. The plastic connector pieces fit either top or bottom so that makes things easier to know which piece goes where. The plastic wall bumpers are the worst though. Have a sticky adhesive that pulled off my paint when I repositioned it which you will do because it's so heavy and hard to get in place by yourself! Buy "Wall Nanny" bumpers for the wall and use those. They're the best, no adhesive or punching holes in your wall from the tension. After all this frustration "”- I do love this gate. It's worth the work so don't despair. It's much classier than white plastic.