Zelmar Kitchen Designs & More

We highly recommend Zelmar Kitchen Designs & More to anyone in need of a home kitchen/bathroom renovation project. Zelmar is a family-owned business – Zeljko and his two sons, Milan and Aleks – and it showed in every aspect of the project. From our first design session with Zeljko through completion of the renovation, our home project was treated as if it were their own homes. That is a differentiator with the competition and a rarity! We could not be more pleased with our new kitchen, bathroom, and 1st floor tile flooring. The trade professionals (artisans) who worked on our project were at Zelmar’s referral and were outstanding. The quality of workmanship was excellent, on time and within budget. Communication was never an issue. Overall, a very low-stress and organized project! The entire experience with Zelmar exceeded our expectations. So much so, that we are already in design sessions to renovate our two upstairs full bathrooms. We cannot give any higher recommendation for Zelmar than our repeat business!

It went well. Very satisfied with the results.

I called the Zelmar store ahead of going there to make sure that they were able to make a custom vanity with custom drawer sizes. Alex took my call and told me they only have a 10 mile service area. It is not a radial service area of 10 miles....he means only if they can drive there in 10 miles. I had already called many design companies father away and they ALL wanted my business so I was not expecting this answer.I have a well known contractor in Windermere doing the job and asked if he could pick up and install (to avoid the distance issue) but Alex felt they would need to measure and I was too far. I told him I am able to supply 3-d drawings and professional measurements from my contractor for the single rectangular space. (It's not a kitchen, just one bathroom vanity) Following this he asked in an irritated tone what was my budget but before I could reply he continued that "it would not be $1000! He could tell me that right now!" Before I even got to answer he interrupted and kept talking about reasons why it would be $2k or more. This was within my budget.....but apparently not according to him.As soon as he finally stopped talking I told him he did a good job at talking me out of using his company. I tried but could not even explain why before he talked on top of me (again) and hung up on me! I pay for quality and customer service above all. They get a big F for customer service. Alex immediately made me feel that I could not afford them. How does he know what I can afford? Following this I called another company who was farther away and that company was very polite in telling me they are inclined not to take the job due to distance. The other company actually said it in a professional manner that was not insulting. Imagine that!

Let me first say that I put this project off for over three years because I was dreading it so much. I'm still not quite sure how my daughter managed to get me to commit to this. She did all the research...spent weeks doing it...and the end result was that Zelmar Kitchen Designs was the way to go, if we could afford them. First, they worked so hard to get me everything I wanted and to keep it within my budget. They succeeded spectacularly! I am more than thrilled with my kitchen. My cabinets and counter tops are beautiful and the design and lay-out that Zeljko made for me is perfect. My kitchen is so easy to work in now and I'm actually enjoying cooking in it again. Everyone, from Zeljko and his wonderful family, to all the men and women who work with them, were absolutely wonderful. The workers were professional and really a joy to have in my home. Everything was on time, if not early, and it all was completed with no bumps in the road. I am already recommending Zelmar's to everyone who will listen. I won't hesitate to go back to them when I do my bathrooms!

The family is great to work with...super nice yet firm when your idea is the wrong idea for the project Love my new kitchen!!!!

Zelmar and his team did a great job for us! They were extremely professional, reliable and a joy to work with. Our new kitchen and laundry room look great and generate great comments from all who visit our home. Zelmar guided us through every step of the process and enabled us to have a custom designed kitchen at a very reasonable cost. We would highly recommend the company to anyone based on our experience!

Excellent experience! A kitchen remodel is bound to have some challenges for a homeowner, but the family team at Zelmar made my convenience and comfort a priority. Zelmar works with an experienced group of subcontractors who take pride in their work. They worked with me to make my kitchen functional and presentable by a target deadline, coming out to my house several times during the process to be sure everything was going smoothly. With all of the trades, minor difficulties were easily resolved with grace and good humor. I am very happy with the service and the result.

While this project started well, and my kitchen looks wonderful, there are several aspects of my interaction with Zelmar that leave a lot to be desired. Zelco, their designer, came to my house to do the initial measurements. I visited his office a couple of times (at least twice, if not three times before the project began) to go over the drawings. The designs included my French door refrigerator up against a dining room wall. He left approximately 2 inches of space between the refrigerator and the wall. On one or more of my visits, I asked Zelco if that space was going to be enough space for my refrigerator door to open. As a matter of fact, I had a friend with me that asked the same question on one of my visits. Zelco was clear when he stated there would be no problem. Everything with the remodel went along fine, and as I said, it looks beautiful. The contractors showed up when expected and did very nice work. However, upon completion of the cabinet installation, when I opened the refrigerator door, I stated to the contractors, "I don't think this is going to work." Of course, they referred me to Zelmar. The right side door of my refrigerator would not even open up to a 90 degree angle. In addition, every time I did open it, my hand hit the wall, or the handle hit the wall. I contacted Zelco to discuss the changes that would need to be made so that the door would move freely. He told me he’d come take a look to see what could be done. When Zelco and his son arrived at my house, they told me how stunning my kitchen looked, and when I showed them the problem with my door, he stated that he tried to maximize my space and that I had signed the papers with the drawings. Yes, I counted on him to make sure everything fit properly, and there would not be any issues. I also told him that I specifically asked him if the refrigerator was going to be okay, (as indicated on my copy of my notes, and he said it would.) I told him I wasn't happy and wanted me to be a satisfied customer. He said his contractor was going to be on vacation for a month or so (I think.) and that when he got back he would take a look. When Zelco and his son left my house, they thanked me for being such a patient, kind customer, who never interfered and worked well with the contractors. In turn, I commended the contractors that he used. He even hugged me when he left. When Stan finally came to my house, he looked at the wall and stated to me that Zelco absolutely didn't take into consideration the refrigerator opening. I suggested (as there was no other option) that perhaps we could cut the wall back. The cabinets, the back splash, and the countertops were already in, certainly they weren't going to be able to remodel at that point. We never discussed price, I had assumed that since this was error on their part they would cover the expense. Zelco told me “Let’s see how much it costs and we’ll go from there.” When I told Zelco how much it would be he told me not to worry because they wanted to make me happy. While he never implied he would pay for it, he did stress that they wanted me to be happy with everything. After the estimate was submitted to Zelmar, they told me they would cover less than half of the cost. I was not happy about this and after some negotiation they agreed to pay for half, which I agreed to because I didn’t have any other option. The wall was cut back and the fridge door was able to freely open. This is all well and good except for now that the wall was cut back, there is exposed concrete that needs to be covered with tile. I spoke to the person who installed the tile back splash during the remodel and he told me that he could add the new piece for me, I waited quite a few weeks for him to contact me and set a time to lay the tile. On my third conversation with him, he finally told me that he was too busy and I would need to find someone else. I contacted Zelmar and they recommended another tile person that they use and he told me he could install the tile for $75-100 over the phone, sight unseen. I told him that I did not plan on paying another cent for any work to be done because of the faulty measurements done by Zelco. He lowered his price to $35 thinking that would sway me but I reiterated that Zelmar needed to pay him. He told me he wanted to get the work done for me and asked for my address so he could come over and actually look at the area to be tiled. I did not give him my address because I did not want anyone to come expecting to be paid for their time. Somehow he got my address and showed up at my house unannounced. Once he looked at the space needing tiling his price rose to $200 because of additional pieces of wood and grout that would be needed to make it look right. Again, I advised him that I expected Zelmar to pay and would not be spending any more money on this project. I have tried several times to contact Zelco to discuss his measurements and the refusal of his company to take responsibility and make the adjustments needed at their expense, but he will not take my calls or return them. I am told repeatedly that he is “in a meeting.” I finally spoke to his son about everything and after a heated conversation where he spent most of the call talking over me telling me that they would not pay for the changes and I had to raise my voice to try to be heard, he hung up on me. I received an email from him stating that I had agreed to leave the wall the way it was in the original design and I declined suggestions to move the wall in advance which is absolutely false. He also threatened me with legal action if I posted any reviews online and would sue to “defamation of character” and extortion. I have replied to his email, and have since received two additional emails, both threatening from his sons. One of those emails came after my post to Angie's List.

We paid a $65 fee to have our kitchen measured and a preliminary design done of the space. The representatives were professional and punctual when they were in my home and I feel that they accurately measured the space. However, the designer was very opinionated and unwilling to entertaining ideas from us, the homeowners. At first, we chalked this up to his expertise in design and thought we would wait and see what he designed for our space. We met with the designer again at the Zelmar store for a sit down and review of the design. There were many elements that were unacceptable to us in the design. For instance, we did not want our trash located directly beside of the stove and we wanted our stove centered with our kitchen island. We offered suggestions and ideas but all of them were rejected including very simple choices that we wanted like glass fronted cabinet doors on some of our cabinetry. The designer refused to try and understand how we function in our kitchen and what were very important elements for us in the space. Basically, we were treated as our opinions about our own kitchen were not valid. The attitude of the designer was obnoxious, overbearing, and dogmatic. This is a family business and we did feel that the son understood some of our concerns but the father, who is the designer, was unable to budge. We feel that he felt offended that we had any questions or concerns about his design. It was a really bad experience with the designer. We feel that at Zelmar they have one way of looking at kitchen design and if you have other needs or wants, they are treated as invalid. We have found a kitchen designer that has been able to work with all of our needs and desires and have a beautiful kitchen plan in the works. For reference, our cabinet cost at Zelmar was going to be $16,000 plus labor to install. Our overall kitchen budget for the entire project is $50,000.

Zelco and the entire Zelmar team were fantastic to deal with from start to finish! They were extremely professional, trustworthy and collaborative throughout the entire project. This was very important to us since this is our vacation home and we were not able to be on site for a large portion of the project. We felt comfortable having the team in our home while we were not there knowing that we were only a phone call away and that we could deal with all the important decisions through periodic visits throughout the 10 week renovation. The team completed the project on time and on budget and all were patient with our questions and our choices. All of the tradesmen that made up the team where experts in their field and offered great advice to help us make appropriate budget friendly choices. I would highly recommend Zelco and his team to complete any renovation project big or small!

Remodeled kitchen

We hired Zelmar Kitchen Designs to remodel our master and guest bathrooms. We're very pleased with the results. The bathrooms are beautiful! Zelco and his team are very professional, organized, and a pleasure to work with. Everyone was on time, courteous, and did a wonderful job. They co-ordinated their efforts to work well as a team. We wouldn't hesitate to hire them again, should we have further renovation plans, and we highly recommend them.

It was excellent. I could not have enough nice things to say about them. They started in May and I had hired him a couple months before, but we were on a waiting list for him to start. I think he was worth every penny I paid.

Zelmar Kitchen Designs and More was very punctual. They were very consistent, dependable and very trustworthy.