I just purchased this item recently. A friend assembled it for me a few days ago. It was difficult to assemble and is very heavy. It took about 5 hours to assemble. So far I love it! I have used the granite counter to make bread and chop vegetables. I have used it to place hot cookie sheets on directly from the oven. My kitchen is very small and not highly functional for a person like me who loves to cook. This kitchen cart added quite a bit of storage space as well as additional counter space. The piece is beautiful, too.