As others have indicated in their reviews, the stand came with the top damaged.  It wasn't that bad so I didn't bother to call for a replacement part.  This thing looks great once it is assembled, but again as other views have suggested, it does take 2-3 hours to build.  The instructions aren't always totally clear and there are just a lot of parts.  I also found it odd that it required gluing all of the wooden pegs into place. All-in-all, it is very nice looking and heavy when it's assembled, but set aside some time for that process.