Hehe, cheap usually equates to poor construction and quality. ANYTHING made of MDF is NOT quality wooden furniture, I don't care how much you paid, or who made it. Obviously, if your just out of school or in your first place, I can certainly understand buying cheap, but if your looking at furnishing your current place with stuff you want to last for 8 years or more, then your better off buying some quality furniture. That said, $1200 for a nice sized, wood dining room table and four chairs, isn't bad at all. I bought a simple bar table with three chairs for about $800, which I thought was a great deal, especially since I bought the table locally and it has a lifetime replacement guarantee. Also, the style of furniture that you prefer can have a profound impact on the cost of your furniture. I prefer modern, which tends to cost more just because it's become so popular in past years. My advice is go one room at a time and buy quality pieces as you can. And you can buy a couple of nice pieces and supplement with less expensive accessories with the same results. I've furnished my living room, kitchen, dining room and home office and it's cost me about $6000, including the entertainment system. My bedroom will likely be the most expensive room in the house, but the advantage of doing one room at a time over time is that it gives you plenty of time to look for good deals on quality pieces. Also, if your in a metropolitan area, you can always find young artists who will make some nice pieces of furniture at decent prices.