homestylesAmericana Black Kitchen Island

Where to begin? First off, I bought and assembled this Americana White & Distressed Oak Kitchen Island by Home Styles in October, 2018. It is now May of 2019, and it still looks beautiful and its functionality is fantastic. I have a super small and narrow kitchen, but there’s an open space/breakfast area in front of it where this fits perfectly. Any bigger, and it wouldn’t work. Any smaller, and it wouldn’t look right. I was worried it wouldn’t be large enough, but it ended up being a little larger than I was thinking, so it really worked out well.That said, this is definitely not a small island, nor anywhere close to the kinds of islands/carts with wheels that you can move around. It’s heavy, and SOLID. While I struggled to put this together myself (as a woman who can use basic tools), it was not because it was confusing or that difficult, per se. It was simply because some parts of it were too heavy for me to handle on my own without help, namely the top portion, which is installed last. I had my oldest son (strong teenager) help me launch that part on. Be prepared to have help with this, no matter how handy you may be, and also be aware that this comes in multiple large and VERY heavy boxes upon delivery.This isn’t your run-of-the-mill type of DIY cheap furniture. This is solid wood throughout, and much higher quality than most of what you’ll find in box stores in this genre and size. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality, detail and thickness of all of it, all the way to the top of it. It’s beautiful and wonderfully functional, and with the extension out, it really provides a decent amount of space to do whatever you need while prepping food, etc. My youngest son loves the extension out to sit at this island like a table to work on his homework while I’m making dinner, and there’s plenty of space for it all. We’ve all enjoyed using this each and every day, several times a day, since we’ve had it. So far in 6-7 months, it has functioned flawlessly. While scratches can happen, they’re hard to see on this piece, as the finish doesn’t come off easily at all. My son is either always doing his homework with pointy pencils, drawing something, or otherwise using it for crafts and whathaveyou, and while you can look closely and see the tiniest of indentations from all that, they’re practically invisible because there’s no chips or anything going beyond the top finish to make it obvious. It’s obviously not butcher block, so you couldn’t, say, slap down a piece of meat and start chopping away on the bare top without a cutting board...but it holds up surprisingly well under heavy use, cleans up easily, and doesn’t appear to crack, chip, scratch, etc very easily.The only thing I will add is to make sure you factor in the dimensions of this thing, including the extension piece. When I ordered this, I looked at the dimensions and for some reason, wasn’t factoring in that extra extension. Luckily for me, it still fit our space perfectly, but someone with less wiggle room might be unpleasantly surprised to find that it is bigger than anticipated once assembled. Make SURE you include that extra extension in your calculations, because this thing is a tank, and you don’t want to have to return it.Overall, this is super sturdy and very high quality for an island this size, and if you’re on the fence at all about this one, you needn’t be. You’ll love it! The price point is more than fair, in my book, especially considering the quality of the item. The shelves, drawers, and interior add roomy storage, and the little side shelves on the outside are very practical for storing even more items. All in all, this is one of my favorite purchases, and I’m thrilled that it’s working out so well, looks so good, and holding up like a champ after 6-7 months of heavy use. My cabinets are a slight off-white, which matches the colors on this island so close that you have to really look hard to see a difference in the shade. Definite WIN in all categories!

Awesome !!!!

We have had this island in our kitchen for five years. We recommend it! When it arrived in a flat box, we wondered if it was a piece of junk. It takes two people to fit the parts together, and they are held in position with little haft-turn plastic thingys. But the more pieces that fit in place, the more solid it became. When finished, it is rock solid!It has two doors to storage underneath with a shelf. One side has two drawers on top, the other side of the top is folded down and flips up to add more work space. The top itself is solid wood with beautifu, clear, waterproof finish. We take care of the top, meaning we don’t slide metal pots and pans across it, but everything else goes on it, from cutting boards to plastic mixing bowls. No scratches after five years. THIS WAS A WORTHWHILE PURCHASE !

The Box had two large puncture wounds that went right through the styrofoam, but luckily that did not affect the Finish or any unfixable damage. What they did show was that the box was quite manhandled and is probably the reason why the runner for the one drawer was broken off and the right side door doesn't line up unless you lift the door as you close it. Luckily my husband is quite handy and was able to repair both issues. Overall it's beautiful and solid and has fantastic deep shelves. The only other disappointment was that the doors are kind of narrow so, although many items can be put into the shelves, if it's a little bit wide, like my Dutch oven which I hope to put in there, it's not going to fit in the door

Kept my eye on this for months and finally got a great price for it during Amazon Prime Day. It replaces a kitchen island I've had for 30 years. Ships in 3 big boxes containing well packed components that are sticker coded to aid identification when assembling. Design look and layout is superbly executed. All materials are top quality and durable - no cheapo pressed fiber board garbage. Instructions are easy to follow and assembly is simple with minimal tools necessary - best to get help fitting the heavy top and leg pillars, though. Especially like the beautiful eggshell finish and mahogany countertop with its drop leaf option for food layout during holiday gathering. Sturdy pins for adjusting inside & outside shelves make for versatile storage choices when setting up this island to contain your kitchenware & handy cooking items. Drawers are ample and deep for your utensils & trays and have full length, slide-out trollys. I added a separately bought, matching towel rack to one end for convenience. I'm certain this was only a one-off issue with my particular order, but one of the imbedded lugs in a brace that holds the bolts for the table top twisted out of its housing so I couldn't tighten that particular corner down all the way. Other minor, fixable things were: 1) had to refit and modify one of the door hinges because it was a bit off kilter and wouldn't let the door shut properly; 2) pronounced 3“ paint drip blemish and rough finish texture on the base stand, but not obviously noticeable since it is on the bottom of the stand.; and, 3) drawer glides needed to be adjusted down because the drawer facias bumped the table top when closing. These easily preventable quality control issues means I would give the island shipped to me a 4.5 rating. However, if these small invonveniences didn't exist, this Homestyle American Kitchen Island model definitely rates a 5+ IMO.