HOME DEPOT INC

Though I could be wrong, I'm fairly sure that two things in my house were big reasons why a lot of people didn't buy it before I did - one of the old bathrooms was so small that it was functionally a half bath even though it counted as a full bath and the kitchen was a flat depressing gray color with ancient wood-on-wood cabinets, a tiny oven that a cookie sheet wouldn't fit in, and appeared smaller than it was because of a floor-to-ceiling cabinet that bisected the room. I tackled the kitchen first. My budget was somewhat limited, so I went to Home Depot to pick out cabinets that would suit my tastes without breaking the bank. The selection of cabinet styles and finishes was diverse enough that I was able to find something that I liked within my budget, and the personnel present at the time were helpful. I had wanted to use corian for my new countertops, but Home Depot said that they had no one available to install corian. As an alternative, I selected Silestone. Home Depot had a limited number of colors available in Silestone - there are many more options available. I selected a fairly standard sink and a new stove since the existing oven in my home was undersized. The salesperson who was assisting me worked hard to find multiple sales and discount offers that could apply to my purchases. The problems with using Home Depot became apparent during the tear out and installation process. The people that they contracted with to do the installation, though they were very courteous, did not work well with the personnel at Home Depot nor did the personnel at Home Depot work well with their contractors. I'm not sure where the lines of communication broke down. Either measurements were not made properly for the cabinets or spacer bars were not planned for correctly. Regardless, installation of cabinet units would be delayed for days because the installers would have to wait for additional matching spacers to be ordered. Spacers are not terribly expensive, should just be ordered in excess, and then the extras returned rather than having a kitchen in disorder for longer periods of time to save a few bucks. Another example of poor communication between Home Depot and its contractors - the existing flooring in my kitchen is slate tile that had been put down after the old cabinets were built in place years and years ago, so it is about 2 inches higher than the original floor. It had been made clear that the floor under the new cabinets would need to be built up with a couple of layers of ply wood before cabinet installation. The contractors started to install the new cabinets without building up the floor first. I had to argue with them, get them to call Home Depot, and then pull out the new cabinets (only one unit fortunately), and do what they were supposed to do. Had things been communicated properly in the first place, I would not have had to argue with them. They did build up the floor properly. They did set the cabinets properly. The pulls were all hung beautifully (I bought those on line). I had to make them come back to redo some of the toe kicks - they thought they were done, but in reality, the staple gun had run out part way through. A little electrical work had to be done to make the outlets in the kitchen up to code and to add a little under-cabinet lighting. The electrician that was brought in ran the wiring well enough, but he managed to gouge a hole through my kitchen wall that went all the wall through into the other room. No, it did not get fixed. I have something hanging in a strategic place to hide the crudely patched hole in the other room. One thing that many people do not anticipate is the long wait between the cabinets all being set in place and the countertop being installed. They have to do the final measurement for the countertop after the cabinets are finally in place. The people who installed the countertop for Home Depot operate out of Shreveport. They did a good job with the installation and told me what they were doing throughout the entire process. The cabinets, in the end, were set in place properly, but Home Depot does not provide finish work. Any gaps left between your cabinets and ceiling or walls because the cabinets are of a slightly different size or configuration than your previous cabinets are left for you to deal with. They also do not have anyone come to your home to make sure that the work was done correctly. Home Depot does not include the electrical work in the estimate that they provide. You pay extra for that. Even though your dishwasher is pulled out when the old cabinets are removed, you are held responsible for the cost of hooking it back up. And you also have to pay a plumber to install the sink and faucet fixtures. I also had to pay the plumber to hook up the gas line to the new gas stove. Home Depot is not very good at informing you of these additional expenses. I'm sure it is all somewhere in the fine print of the contract that you sign.