Pretty straightforward install, but takes up a little space. Took me about an hour and a half, start to finish. Not sure if it's common, but I'll get reimbursed for the cost because I live in third world America and the lead content of my water is high.
I thought about going with a counter top one, but I've heard they're real slow to filter, not sure if that's been your experience. This has a pretty sizeable reservoir it draws from, which is nice.
This is like a 5 chamber thing, so the changing of filters varies. Manual says around 12 months for municipal water and 6 for well is the most frequent.