These stools look great with my new kitchen island.  Before purchasing I read the other reviews and have to agree that the assembly wasnt very much fun.  My husband and I made a game of it to see if we can beat one of the raters times of 45 minutes each!   The assembly did take about 45 minutes each.  Would have preferred that the large holes that you use to place the rungs would have had some type of covering after assembly...looks a little cheap.
 The stools look fantastic but frankly, I am very careful with them as they are not as strong as Id like, but for the price, very much worth it.