My personal opinion is that you can find manufacturers of furniture made in the US for close to the same prices. Everything C&B, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware make is made in Asia. Even some Stickley stuff is being made in Vietnam. Check out Chatham Furniture Inc. All solid Cherry made in Massachussetts. It might not be your style, but you can get the idea of some really good craftsmanship. I bought an end table for $649 and it's hand made solid cherry. I would pay $100 less for one that's not solid hardwood, made in Asia. The difference to me is that when I die, that tables going to still be around and someone's going to want it.

I have the Madison extension dining table and 5 (used to be 6) Madison chairs. The table is okay; the extensions slide out well but the top is veneer--not a good choice for us. It's about four years old and the veneer top has scratched/chipped. My next table will be solid oak, or at least not veneer. The Madison table is probably not for daily, regular use but that's how we use it. The chairs are HORRIBLE!!! I plan to buy restaurant quality chairs when I find my solid oak table :-) When my chairs first arrived, two were wobbly at the joints. CB had great customer service and replaced them immediately. However, after four years most of the chairs have become loose at the joints and, on the chair we no longer have, the leg snapped off completely when my SIL scooted back in it and that leg was unrepairable. My DH has reinforced most of the joints but it's not pretty. I don't care because I'm planning to replace the whole set. I think it was WAY overpriced for the lack of durability. Totally my style, though, and I've had a hard time finding a similar style in solid oak. My advice is that CB furniture is probably more for looks than durability despite how expensive it is.

I have that island. I bought it when we moved into our house and the kitchen had a french vibe and no island and little work space. I like it a lot looks-wise. The dislikes -I wish it were a little bigger. The open bottom is nice and charming and keeps the space open - I have bottles of wine lying on the shelf and a basket of dishtowels. I also have a rice cooker and other random stuff there but that's a function of my lack of storage - not what looks good there! Anyway, the dislike is that it always gets really dusty. Always. We have a dog that tracks in dirt which becomes dust that settles there. The towel bars are very slightly rusted from wet towels but I do love them - will have them on my next island as well but in something that doesn't rust. The top has stayed pretty nice even though we have not been careful at all. It's got some etching and there are big scratches from some house sitters who decided to cut on the island. : ( But I am the only one who notices all those things. I'm hoping to start our kitchen renovation in 3-6 months and probably won't have a spot for it anymore...I'll probably sell it on craigslist!

Does anyone have the pronto folding table from Crate and Barrel and could give me a hint on how to unfold it? i`m sure it should be super easy (as I`m sure I put it together myself and didn`t need anything special) but for some reason i`m not being able to unfold it now that i want to store... thanks a lot!