Very nice quality.  After reading many reviews about this stool, the same comment about assembly came up in almost all of the comments.  I found the assembly to be not as difficult as expected but can see why people commented about it.  It does take a little bit to screw all the screws in.  All in all about a half hour to assemble.  I absolutely love this stool and am extremely happy with my purchase.  It is beautiful.  It functions well, and it fits my counter height kitchen well.