Particularly for the $225 sale price, this island far exceeded my expectations. Putting it together was actually quite fun, but I grew up building Legos, so I'm an "expert" at following picture directions. The top definitely needs to be oiled before you should use it. Feel free to consult the rest of the Internet for more detailed instructions, but it's not too cumbersome. 

I took a picture from the side to show how the back and front are mirror images of each other, and it's functional from both sides. The product description doesn't say anything about this.