As Belle said....you get what you pay for so be cautious.
We bought our first wooden set when daughter was about 2. I forget who made it but we spent about $1500 on it. My yard was always full of kids and moms and I loved the interaction it brought for my daughter (only child) and me socializing with the moms! When we built where we are now, we got one from Woodlawn. She was 5 at the time. We spent more money on it $2500. It has been great. We opted for no sand box on the bottom this time and it has a little built in table with bench. There are a lot more activities with this set as well. My daughter is 12 now and she and her friends will still go hang out and talk and i also have neighbors with little ones that will come and play on occasion.
I say go for the wooden set. We got our money's worth out of both of out sets.