First, this gate is more sturdy than I expected. It's mostly aluminum with a few plastic parts. More on that in a moment. The gate comes with all of the parts you need to install it without any tools of your own. It also has a little pet door that a small dog or a typical cat can fit through so if you have pets and toddlers, you can leave the pet door open and the main gate closed. The gate also has a plastic mechanism that allows you to open the gate in one direction or the other, or to open it in either direction. The gate installs easily in about 5 minutes, but you have to pay attention to a couple of key things in the installation instructions (and be aware of a couple of things not in the installation instructions). 1) Not in the installation instructions: The gate comes with an extension in case your doorway is more than 32.5" wide. If your doorway is close to that width, try inserting the extension and and THEN the "spindle rods" and check to see whether the BOTTOM of the gate will fit in your doorway (the top will not fit at this point - this is by design, and it will fit when you're done). This is important to check because if your doorway is 33" wide or more, you need to use the extension because the spindle rods need to be extended no more than 2.5" on either side when you tighten them. My doorway was 32" exactly, and that means that the spindle rods are extended 2.25" on each side of the gate, and the extension is just a bit too wide to fit my doorway. 2) Included in the Instructions - When you install the gate, you have to tighten the bottom spindle rods first, but not quite all the way. Do not try to tighten the top spindle rods first. I installed the bottom horizontal frame of the gate flush with my floor, however, you need to be aware that when you tighten the top spindles, the gate will pull up slightly on the side where the gate latch is, which means that the bottom spindle rod will also pull up slightly and the base of the frame will not be perfectly flush with your floor. You can also install the gate so the bottom frame is up to 2-3" above your floor if you prefer. 3) Included in the Instructions - When you tighten the top spindle rods, it's going to look like the top of the gate frame is too wide for your doorway and that the gap where the latch is will look like it's too wide. When you tighten the top spindle rods, particularly the one on the side where the latch is, the gap will close. This is by design. You just need to tighten the top spindle rods to make sure that the latch closes securely, but not too much. It's easy to adjust. The gate also comes with four plastic "wall cups" that you can screw into the door frame and the spindle rods sit in those wall cups for a little added stability. I was installing the gate as a pet gate, so I don't need the wall cups and skipped them. However, if you are using the gate as a baby gate, you should follow the instructions to install them (which entails drawing a circle around the base of each spindle rod, loosening the spindle rods and removing the gate, and then installing the wall cups with the screws provided - in which case you will need a philips screwdriver). The only reason I give the gate a 4 star rating for "sturdiness" instead of 5 stars is because of the way the top spindle rods tighten and hold the top of the gate in place. Unlike the bottom of the gate which has a single horizontal frame piece (after you screw the two end frame pieces together at the beginning of the installation), the top is a little less sturdy because it has to have the hinge and the latch to open the gate. The spindle rod on the hinge side of the gate is therefore a little bit looser than the rest of the spindle rods. You can't tighten it too much because then you won't be able to open the latch. Again, for a pet gate, this is fine, but for a baby gate, it's super important that you install the wall cups to ensure that the top spindle rod can't slip out of the frame. It would take some pulling or pushing at the top of the gate to do that, but it's definitely possible if you don't install the wall cups. Overall, this was a good value for the money. I have used different baby gates in the past. This one is far more sturdy than the plastic or wood pressure gates, and it's a good value for the price.