For it being particleboard, the black laminate is really nice and looks very contemporary. Indistinguishable from stained real wood.Took me, by myself, about 2 hours to assemble. You assemble the stand first and then the fireplace second. Took me longer bc I'm very precise in doing it right the first time. I don't do rush hack jobs.After assembly, the stand is much sturdier than I expected. It's SOLID, it's sound. I'm 220lbs and I'd have no issue sitting on this thing (not recommended btw) but saying this bc it feels very solid.LED fireplace was easy to put into place if you slow down and follow instructions to a T.I chose to drill holes into the wood mounting brackets (unseen part of the stand meant to hold fireplace in place) and tap in plastic screw anchors. I could have just screwed the screws in but took the extra effort to insert screw anchors (provided) for solid assembly.Putting glass face on is a very tight fit but after tapping it in the whole unit is a perfect tight fit into the stand. I read a couple of review where it didn't fit and/or they had to custom mod something. Bonk.... it's a tight fit and you have to work with it to get it to drop in just right. I fussed for like 10 minutes. Just enough space at like 1mm to get it to drop in place. Highly highly recommend laying the stand FACE UP to do this procedure.LED choices on color to illuminate rocks and the flames are two separate choices on the remote. A ton of color combos to choice from. A guess is like 15 color choices on rock color, 15 flame choices including flames that are multicolored (like orange with bkue tips). Impressive. Enough to chose your favorite Team colors (lol) or not the mood of the room.Realistic.... visitors swear it's REAL flames and ask how I'm not burning up the TV and stand (lol).Overall, it's a great purchase. I had mild expectations going in. Now I'm blown away on the quality. Looks like a $2000 setup that I hired professionals to custom build for me.Probably my best Amazon purchase of 2024