Top Drawer Custom Cabinetry

Description of Work: I hired Top Drawer to design and build a custom kitchen for me in December 2010. I gave them a $25,000 deposit at that time based on their estimate of $50,000 for the job. At the time, they committed to complete my kitchen by the end of February 2011. I spent hours with the designer planning the details of my kitchen, how I wanted the drawers, the specific features I wanted and I provided cut sheets and manufacturer specifications for each and every appliance that I was including. I came back multiple times to their offices in Westchester to discuss the project. In mid-February, I was told that they hadn't yet started on my kitchen. In the beginning of March I was told that the designer had been fired and that the kitchen had to be completely designed again. I was also told that they had made a mistake on the pricing for the kitchen and to have inset cabinets was going to cost $15,000 more. I was upset about the big jump in price, but I approved it because I thought starting again with another contractor would just take too long and I was had already committed to leave my rental in the city and someone else had signed a lease for it. The two new designers assigned to the project assured me that they would do everything properly, that the prior designer just didn't know what he was doing, and told me that I was in good hands . . . They came and took field measurements again and redesigned the kitchen. This time they told me that some of the features I wanted couldn't be done. For example, I had asked them to make a thin pull out cabinet with a white board on one side and a corkboard on the other (I've seen this feature in other custom kitchens), but now they said they couldn't do it. They also made some other design adjustments (clearly designed to make cabinetry easier), but gave me no price break on any of the changes. They committed to provide my kitchen by my move in date of April 30. They didn't. Not only was the kitchen not in, but several of the cabinets didn't fit! They installed the refrigerator panel doors on my Miele refrigerator and freezer completely wrong ( I had to hire another person and pay him 600 to redo the job properly). My cabinets do not close properly. Even though my Wolf microwave is a standard size and they had all of the exact specifications, the housing for the unit was too small! They bent my microwave putting it in and there is an overly large gap (which now exists because when they enlarged the cabinet to fit the microwave - they made it too big! Worst of all they were short by 4.5 inches on one side of my rangetop for the cabinetry so an extra wall had to be built to accommodate the cabinet and all of the detailed had to be done by my carpenters -- but that whole part of my kitchen is lopsided! At every turn Top Drawer was blaming somebody. Nobody moved the wall -- it's been there since 1996! Everyone I dealt with at Top Drawer had an excuse for everything a reason for blaming another person within the firm or someone else and they were constantly demanding money in advance for everything (possibly because there work is so shoddy and their behavior so unprofessional that no one will want to pay them when their job is complete). In any event, they demanded payment in full on the day they came to install the kitchen (which actually took several days because of mismeasurements, improperly fitted glass, the building of the wall . . . ., Like an idiot, I paid them and they gave me no discount after they made all of these unbeleivable mistakes and changes. The fact that the kitchen cabinet doors don't close properly only two months later makes me crazy! I've already hired someone else to rework their mess. They were an utter and complete disaster. They also installed the tile in my bathrooms. In one of the bathrooms they actually did a nice job, but in the rest, they made a mess of much of it. I had very expensive artisinal marble tile and they installed some of it upside down, left gaps and missing pieces and never sealed everything properly. I had to hire someone else to repair their mistakes, clean all of the grout and thin set that was all over the tiles, and properly seal all the tiles. They were sloppy and unprofessional on those matters too. There at least, I was able to deduct the cost of hiring the other tile person for the work that they didn't do because my contractor did hold back some of the money because of all the mistakes they made. On the kitchen, however, I paid them directly, in advance. I have photographs of everything to document what they did. Also, one of the cabinet doors was damaged and they promised to fix it but never did. They were also supposed to build several bathroom vanities for me, but I was so concerned about timing, I canceled all but one. That was a disaster as well. I eventually received the vanity, and it actually looks and works fine, but it was twice as much as the original price they quoted me, probably because they knew I needed it. Also DO NOT BUY GRANITE FROM THEM, after they quoted me the granite prices, I researched the same stones and got them for half of the price Top Drawer quoted. In my experience, these people are incompetent, price gouging, unprofessional and rude. (Also their bookeeper is incapable of adding and subtracting. In one day, I received 12 different invoices, each with different amounts, and all with mistakes).

Description of Work: They are currently working on a project for me