KITCHEN DISCOUNTERS OF AMERICA INC

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When Devin left our home after two hours of talking up his company, he set up a date for me to come out to their showroom in Lake Zurich. He said he would have a rendering ready for me to see on paper and on a screen in 3 dimensions. I was impressed and looked forward to seeing what he would come up with. As he left, he said he'd better write this date down as soon as he got into his vehicle so he wouldn't forget. I thought - WOW! This could be a $35, 000 job and he might forget! This was very unprofessional to say the least. But I reminded him as he walked out the front door, "Don't forget to write down the date." It was like talking to my kids when they were younger. At any rate, I drove about a half hour to the showroom on the appointed day and time. Even with my GPS, I had trouble locating the showroom, so I called from about 5 minutes away (as it turned out) to ask for directions. Devin answered the phone and was completely stunned when I told him who I was and why I was calling. He didn't seem to know who I was. When I explained that we had set this time for my visit, he stammered and said it was scheduled for the following day. I knew that was impossible, because I wrote it down while he was still in my kitchen and I couldn't make it the next day because I had something important scheduled. His response was, "Am I bad!" I asked if I could come by the showroom anyway as I was just minutes away. Devin shouted into the phone, "No! I"m not prepared." He wanted to set up another date, but at that point I realized that this wasn't the man or company I wanted to do business with, so I told him I just wanted to get off the phone. He never called me at a later date to apologize or reschedule. I know I made the right decision, as there are many fine professional, reliable contractors out there from which to choose. I later found out that another customer of theirs found Devin's forgetfulness and incompetence to be an issue as well. He also said there were additional cost that he didn't expect. I would hope anyone reading this would reconsider choosing Kitchen Discounters of America.

I had Jeff, work out a design for my kitchen and I bought my cabinets through them but I originally had another contractor set up to do the work, however, when my contractor had and quot;disappearedand quot; right before my cabinets were to be delivered, I contacted Jeff and asked if he would be available to give me an estimate. Jeff was very gracious and came out right away and I signed with him to have the remodeling done. I met with Jeff to go over the design and he was very open and responsive to any suggestions or questions I had in regards to the design, and I was very satisfied with the outcome of the design. The work started on the day they said they would and they were always punctual, or, would call or text me if they were late or wouldn't be able to make a day, which didn't happen much. They were always courteous, and would discuss what work they were doing for the day. The work in general was very good, but there were some bloopers which I'm sure happens when you've got a complete gut job, and in almost all situations they were fixed to my satisfaction. There are some issues with the placement of the LED light transformers and electrical outlets, and the new vent and outlet for built in microwave, that I wished were done differently. I have holes in the back of three cabinets to accomodate the transformers/outlets/microwave vent and I would have preferred that they would have all been installed in one cabinet, or at the very least one cabinet for microwave vent/outlet and the top shelf of the other cabinet (since I wouldn't use that shelf as much) instead of the middle shelf for the lighting transformers and wires especially since there were so many wires laying on the shelf. I did ask about those things but was told they weren't able to put the them all in one cabinet, and since the cabinets were already cut to accomodate the outlets, etc. I didn't have them redo it, but I did think this was a bit careless I asked them to put a type of box/cover for all the wires so that I wouldn't get my glasses, etc. tangled in the wires. Again, they did fix it as I asked and really that's my only complaint.

Jeff, the owner, was pleasant to deal from the inital planning to execution. Really great experience. He actually came back about a month after and offerred to retouch and other things free of charge.

I worked with Ron J. (who left KD to re-open his own company after the job was finished.), so I cannot accurately assess Kitchen Distributors as to how they perform now. Most of the issues we experienced were to the poor quality of the mid-range cabinets(Wellborn Forest)--mismatched doors(color,graining,etc), and poor construction. Many of the cabinet doors had to be re-ordered,and then the hinges were not in the same place, which required re-drilling in order to use the replacement doors. I was not using their installer, but they did send one of their employees out to fix the problems that were directly related to the poor quality of the cabinets, and measurement mistakes. Other times, I had to go to their storefront to pick up parts, etc. I feel that Ron did his best to take care of problems,re-ordered parts with no question, but I felt that those problems should not have been there to begin with. The floors are wonderful, we did have approx. 600 sq ft of hardwood installed by their recommended flooring subs. The countertop was ordered and installed in a timely manner. This was perhaps an unusual situation, since I had(and used) my own installer,electrician, and plumber.

The design process may take longer than you expect but the end product is good.

Very prompt to provide a bid; a little longer to get going. I also asked for a quote on Marmoleum flooring which Devin said he had never heard of. Also requested a quote on replacing the window over the kitchen sink 3 times but never got a quote. For the most part the kitchen looks great and we are pleased with the end result. But there were many shortcuts taken that disappointed us. For instance, instead of removing a 4" piece of baseboard to reface the area behind it, the sub contractor simply trimmed around it, which looks unprofessional once you notice it. We asked for this and a few other minor points to be taken care of before paying the final $400 of the bill. That was 6 weeks ago, but we've heard nothing since. Also, the subcontractor failed to provide a "high loop" in the hose from the dishwasher to the garbage disposal resulting in water backing up from the garbage disposal to the dishwasher and all over the new floor. Could have been worse, but was not great.