Review on Distressed Oak Homestyles Kitchen Island by Mark Jefferson

Where to start? First, in October 2018, I purchased and assembled this Americana White & Distressed Oak Kitchen from Home Styles. It's May 2019 and it still looks beautiful and its functionality is fantastic. I have a very small and narrow kitchen but in front is an open space/breakfast area where this fits perfectly. Any more and it won't work. Any less and it won't look right. I was worried it wouldn't be big enough, but it ended up being a bit bigger than I thought it would be, so it worked out really well. However, it is definitely not a small island and nowhere near the view of the islands. /Carriage with moving wheels. It's heavy and SOLID. While I struggled to put it together myself (as a woman who can use basic tools), it wasn't because it was confusing or difficult. That was simply because some parts of it were too heavy to do alone without help, namely the top part, which is assembled last. My eldest son (strong teenager) helped me get this part started. Be ready to get help with this no matter how comfortable you feel and also note that when shipping this will come in several large and VERY heavy boxes. This isn't your run-of-the-mill kind of cheap DIY furniture. . It is solid wood and of a much higher quality than most you will find in stores of this type and size. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality, detail, and thickness of everything, right down to the tip. It's beautiful and amazingly functional and with the expansion it really has a lot of space to do whatever you need to do with cooking etc. My youngest son loves the extension to sit and work on his homework on this island like a desk while I cook dinner and there is plenty of room for everything. We've all enjoyed using it every day, multiple times a day since we've had it. It works fine for 6-7 months. Although scratches can occur, they are difficult to see on this product as the finish does not peel off easily at all. My son is always either doing homework with sharp pencils, drawing things or otherwise using them for crafts and such, and although you can look closely and see the tiniest indentations of anything, they are almost invisible because there are no chips or anything that goes over them out the top panel to make it obvious. Obviously, this isn't a chopping board, so you couldn't, for example, beat a piece of meat and start slicing with the bare top without a chopping board. But it holds up surprisingly well under heavy use, is easy to clean, and doesn't seem to break, chip, scratch, etc. very easily. The only thing I would add is to make sure that you consider the dimensions of this item, including the extension . When I ordered this I looked at the measurements and for some reason left out that extra extension. Luckily it still fits our space perfectly, but someone with less leeway might be unpleasantly surprised to find that it's larger than expected once assembled. MAKE SURE you include this extra expansion in your calculations as this is a tank and you don't want to return it. You don't have to be at all on the fence. You will love it! The price is more than fair in my opinion, especially considering the quality of the goods. Shelves, drawers and interior fittings add more spaciousness, and small side shelves on the outside come in handy for storing even more items. All in all this is one of my favorite purchases and I am pleased that it performs so well, looks so good and is holding up like a champ after 6-7 months of heavy use. My cabinets are a little off-white, which goes so well with the colors on this island that you have to look very closely to see the difference in hue. A clear VICTORY in all categories!