Is Melissa & Doug worth the price, or are cheaper wooden toys just as good?

On r/toddlers, the dominant view is that Melissa & Doug toys are 'damn near indestructible' and worth it for the staples (blocks, bead maze, sorting barn), but the brand is 'hit and miss' on themed playsets, where paint chipping and durability complaints show up on the brand's own product pages. For core wooden toys, reviewers say it's worth the modest premium; for novelty playsets, less so.