We've been in our new home for about a year, and I found the current lighting fixtures unsuitable. We used it to replace one of these very dated fixtures over the table in our kitchen. I was hesitant about purchasing a chandelier online for many reasons, one being that we could not tell the amount of light it would emit. But the location is in front of a bay window and therefore naturally very well lit already. Based on what would could see from the pictures, it was just what we were looking for.This chandelier arrived as 1 piece. It's made to suspend from the ceiling and the wires are adjustable to different lengths. (we weren't sure about this) It was easy to mount. We took it out of the box, connected 3 wires and three screws to secure the light to the mounting piece. It was not heavy, but because it was suspended, I helped my husband support it while he connected the wires and screwed on the base. It took 5 minutes to install. It is the same color that appears on the ad, brushed silver.The chandelier gives off a VERY bright, white light, not yellow. It's dimmable, but we most likely won't use that feature much. We will probably purchase a similiar one to replace the other light in our kitchen.