Lots of anecdotal experience in this thread about how bad Chromecast is so I'd like to offer my opposite:

Chromecast has been one of the nicest additions per dollar for my home. It has been working well for me for a year or so. I even used it today (for the first time in a week or more) while cooking and it worked like a charm first try.

The only real problems I've had with it, I switched hardware, but used the same SSID and it was confused as all heck. To its credit, though, so was my "Smart" TV. I gave up and just used a new SSID and everything worked again without all of the weird-ass problems.