Impossible to Assemble

The directions aren't great but more important, the important screws attaching the top of the stool to the rest do not go in very far. Other screws did not work that well and you will end up with a bruised thumb from having to push so hard on the Allen wrench or hex key. We are returning this.

Quality Control

Received 2 of 3 stools ordered. Started putting together first stool and it was missing center screw hole to attach one of the legs to the seat. Had to pack it all up and initiate return process. Haven't opened up the 2nd box yet, and the 3rd box didn't arrive with the others. May add/update review depending on outcome of the others.

Junk. do NOT waste your money!

If I could leave a negative star rating, I would. I bought 5 of these against my better judgment in a different color. I should've spent a little more money at a furniture store. Do NOT waste your time or money as these quickly become loose and wobble. The wood used is garbage. once loose, it is nearly impossible to tighten the wobble up/add better screws to tighten the wobble.

GREAT BREAKFAST BAR STOOL

I am very impressed with this stool! I purchased two for my breakfast bar and I am thrilled with them! The walnut is not a dark as I expected but a very pretty colour. Easy to assemble and took me about 30min each stool alone. Just follow the directions to get the direction of each piece correct. It is a comfortable stool though I haven't used for an extended time. Just sitting having coffee etc... I highly recommend. FOUR STARS because I was missing one washer in one of the boxes. I made due.

Sturdy, pretty stool, but difficult to assemble

Beautiful dark mahogany color I was looking for! Great height for a high bar counter. Assembly was a little bit difficult and worked better with two people working on it and holding the pieces together so the cross bars wouldn't twist as you screwed them in. I also had problems with a couple of the screws stripping out, but there was one extra screw, so I was able to substitute that for the one screw that was so stripped out it was unusable. All in all, this stool is perfect for what I wanted, just a bit hard to assemble.

Saddle Stool Purchase

I have purchased many items that are put together with an allen key and have never had any problems... even put together and taken apart many times -- like my headboard... that is until now. Because the holes weren't made straight, the screw went in crooked... when I tried to fix it, the screw became useless so that the key no longer fit in properly. This is a first for me... I now have a stool that is not stable because the screws are shredded... short of trying to bring it back... I am stuck... so disappointed in my purchase...

Impossible to assemble!

This is a nice stool IF it is already assembled, BUT the screw heads stripped out and could not be screwed all the way in. The little tool is tedious and hard to hold. Why use a screw with a star-shaped slot? Just give me a good old Phillips head any day. I wouldn't dare try to sit on this thing! I have relegated it to the porch as a plant stand. Wasted my money!

Worst stools

I had high hopes for these stools. I purchased 4 of them and so far the screws don't stay tightened. I have to retighten the screws just about every other day. One of the stools is very wobbly and the screws wont tighten. If I could go back, I wouldn't have ever purchased these. very poor quality. Ikea would ave been much better.

Difficult to Assemble, Easily Breakable

I bought three of these barstools and I love the look, but the support bars on the legs do not screw into place and easily get broken! We've had these for less than a week and one support bar is already hanging out. We followed the instructions and used the provided tools, even had 3 people involved at one point to hold everything steady while tightening the screws, and it's still falling apart. I think a similar-looking barstool is available elsewhere. If these were less fragile I'd be giving a 5 because they were so perfect for what we needed, but they were a pain to assemble and do not hold up.

I am pleased with the bar stools except for the assembly using wood screws with a hex head requiring a hex wrench provided in the box. The pilot holes were not drilled uniformly so it was difficult to screw in the screws deep enough to secure the cross braces. This caused a problem of wearing down the screw head hex insert. Some screws were drilled deep enough but others were not. I was unable to insert the the black plugs over most of the screws leaving a gold screw head visible. Disappointing!

Cheap

*** Major Dislike *** The Screws used in this product are very cheaply made and strip very easily while tightening and before getting fully seated. I only used the wrench provided by the manufacturer of the product and the heads of 2 screws stripped. Also, avoid buying the warranty as it only instructs you to contact the manufacturer when filing a claim for this item(Winsome Wood Satori Saddle Seat Bar Stool). Since the item is mostly assembled ( with 2 legs not tightly screwed yet unable to unscrew due to stripped heads) seems like it's going be a hassle to ship it back. I may try to return it to the store.

Great product

Bought two of these for seating at my counter. They are beautiful, solid and the perfect height. Exactly what I was anticipating. Very good instructions come with them and everything is labelled well so it’s easy to figure out what pieces go where when assembling the stools. There are even pictures so you know which direction the pegs for the side braces go into the holes on the legs. I put mine together in no time because the directions were so great. Hardest part is just tightening with the Allen key but even that was really not that difficult. I’m very happy with my purchase.

Poor Quality Screws

I wasn't really expecting mortise and tenon joints and amazing quality for $40 but, seriously, the screws were terrible! The metal is either too soft or the hex is the wrong size. I stripped out two screws on this thing. One of them when the screw was half way in so I had to drill it out. Apparently, they know just how bad the screws are because they give you a spare. If you do buy this I recommend using a wordworker's trick - put a little bar soap on the the screw threads. This will lubricate them and require less force. These are one of the cheapest stools I could find so it does seem like a pretty good value. I neither recommend for or against. If you want low cost, this is it. But make sure you lubricate the screw threads.

Be prepared with a drill to bore all the holes

This is a cool looking little stool once you put it together. It was not easy to put together though! If I didn't know a little something about woodworking I think I would have trashed it or it would be too wobbly to sit on all these months later! It's necessary when putting this stool together to use your drill to bore the holes out and make them very slightly larger (but not Too large) or it won't go together - leaving you with a worthless wobbly stool. Take your time....expect this to take you at least half a day unless you are VERY expert with woodwork. The instructions are good, you just have to do extra work. I've had this stool for months, mine is sturdy and fine - but I put a ton of work into it. Work that shouldn't have been necessary if the factory in China or wherever had done their part!

Disappointed

Assembling this chair is too much work and really cannot be done with one set of hands. I followed the instructions to assemble, which did not work. Then I assembled the entire body and tried to attach it to seat, it didn't work. It still sitting on the floor in pieces due to the biggest problem. The screws are all too big for every single hole. They barely go it and if forced, would strip the screws. Drilling out the holes to accommodate the screws will be the end solution from what I was told from a friend of mine. Until I get help with redrilling the holes and getting help, it's useless to me. This is not a easy project as indicated and not worth the hassle. I world never buy again!!! I bought 2 and the other still sitting in the box. A huge disappointment.

Great stools for a great price!

I love these stools. When I started looking around for bar stools for in my new house I was surprised at how much they cost ($50+) at some stores. My parents have a similar stool that they got at a consignment store years ago and I've always liked them (nice color, sturdy and simple design) so I was hoping to find something very similar. When I saw the price on these (about $35 a piece when I bought them) I was a little worried that the quality would be poor, but they had mostly good reviews so I took a chance on them and am so glad I did. I'm a single female and not handy at all. I was able to put 3 of these together by myself without too much trouble. They do require a bit of elbow grease to get all the screws tightened, but assembly wasn't difficult and after you do the first one, the others are a breeze. I made the mistake of putting the first one together on my epoxied garage floor and some of the varnish or whatever it's called chipped off the seat. It's not really noticeable though and for the next two I made sure to assemble them on my living room carpet instead. My parents saw them after they were assembled and commented on how much like theirs they looked and seemed impressed.