KITCHEN PLACE

We chose this provider because some friends are related to the owners of the business and we thought that even though it would cost a little more than other places, we expected everything would be complete, turnkey, and taken care of but we were wrong. Most importantly, the quality of the cabinets, the design quality, and the service quality were poor and well below my expectations for the cost and promises made. For your reference this was a U-shaped small kitchen less than 10' wall to wall. These cabinet boxes and hardware are not any better than the low grade of big-box store cabinets, even though I bought the medium-upper grade of Kitchen Place cabinets. Their sales people will try to get you to sign a vague, generic, non-detailed commitment, then will refer to that simple document as their "contract" and will refuse to give you any further itemized list unless you have help from a general contractor to force them to give you an itemized list. When I finally did get an itemized list and saw that I was billed for a cabinet that was never installed I asked for refund, but they would not. Probably because I had already paid in full, and their sales staff acted like they didn't care about my business after we signed that first informal commitment that they then started referring to as the "contract" once we started having problems. My quote said "all wood" cabinet box....well I guess technically particleboard is "all wood" - get a detailed itemized list in writing before you sign or agree to anything One thing that was required by my wife - "our KitchenAid mixer has to be able to fit on the counter " - guess what, the design is about 1" too short so we can't even put the mixer on the counter because the upper cabinets are too close to the countertop. Something so simple that they failed at and refused to do anything about to fix. The hinges and hardware were the same thing as the cheapest hardware hinges I could have got from any big box home improvement store. Not what I expected for a $10,000 kitchen. The day the cabinets were delivered and installed it looked like a nice job was done, until I started looking closer. The Kitchen Place uses subcontractors for the install, and when we had problems, we found out that the Kitchen Place wasn't going to stand behind them for damages and we were told it would go through the subcontractor seperately. Our refrigerator was pulled out from the wall a few inches, and when I looked underneath it to see why - I found out that my brand new flooring had been ruined and the Kitchen Place's subcontractor left the refrigerator pulled out from the wall. Neither the Kitchen Place nor the subcontractor informed me it had been damaged so I guess that was done to hide it. (tears/holes in two places) Even though the Kitchen Place had several weeks notice in advance they were the last of all of the contractors to get supplies delivered and caused our financing plans to be moved back over 45 days with extra time extensions. We got the excuse of "the delivery truck didn't come yet" not just once but several times. This is a real inconvenience, especially when we have 4 kids and trying to work around these problems for meals, dishes, etc. The day the cabinets were delivered and installed, no countertop was ordered so then it was 2 weeks+ to get the countertop ordered and delivered. The excuse was that they were not able to pre-order the countertop because they couldn't figure out the proper dimensions until the base cabinets were installed? We had to put down boards and plywood on top of the base cabinets just so we could have something to work with since we had no countertop! Again, this wasn't just a couple of day delay, this was 2 weeks+. We were told that there was a $20 rebate per cabinet, but it has been about 3 months since the design was done and we haven't seen anything of the rebates and on top of that the finished installation still isn't done. We were told the kitchen design would be enough seating for our family comfortably - if you come to my house they cannot be seated comfortably. The design only gave us 90" to try to fit 5 people. Measure your chairs at home and see how that elbow room would work for your family.... The cabinet design to go above our stove in order to accomodate a range hood microwave did not work. The cabinet doors opened up too far and they hit the ceiling fan that was there so we had to take the fan blades off. The cabinet was also the wrong size, it was too tall and wasn't going to fit correctly. When I voiced my concern we were told 2-3 times that "no, its ok. all microwaves are standard and it will fit". Well how about you trying to cook on your stove and only have about 14" from the top of the stove to the bottom of the range hood for cooking? I call that a design problem, especially when the Kitchen Place designer commented earlier in the process that you should typically have about 20" of clearance above the stove for a range hood. The really agravating part was that the Kitchen Place made me pay for a new cabinet for about $270 and did everything possible to not admit their mistake. I was told my standard countertop height stove was too tall and that was the problem. I was told my light switch on the wall was too high and that I should re-wire it (because now the microwave was going to cover up about 1/3 of the wall plate for my light switch/outlet above the stove.) I was told that there really was no need to change the cabinet design. We felt we were getting bullied to just live with it whether we liked it or not. Finally after getting our general contractor to go to bat for us, the Kitchen Place told us (begrudginly) they would have their subcontractor come back with the cabinet and install for free, but we would still be charged for the cabinet. At this point my wife and I really don't want the Kitchen Place or any of their subcontractors in our home again, but we are feeling bullied enough and burned out enough that we just want this done and over with, so they are supposed to come this week. (by the way it took 3+ weeks for the Kitchen Place to get this one cabinet delivered to me). The subcontractor seemed like really nice person and experienced, but this job has not gone well. I place about 80% of the problems on the Kitchen Place and 20% of the blame on the subcontractor. The subcontractor worked fast, and cleaned up very well. When he left, the work area was very clean. Subcontractor was polite and friendly. We originally ordered the better quality cabinets they offer, and originally were told these are an "all plywood box". They are not all particle board, but they are not an all plywood box either. The back of the cabinet and the tops and bottoms in the cabinet are both a cheap panelboard type of product. There is a plywood strip on the back of the cabinet and the sides of most of the cabinets are plywood, so I guess that's what the Kitchen Place calls an "all plywood box". Maybe this is how most cabinets are made these days, but they shouldn't sell/advertise them as "all plywood" when they are not. I can go on and on... but you can see some of the issues I have had and would not reccomend this business. The latest is that I got a phone call from the Kitchen Place wanting to know about payment for the kitchen and their subcontractor hasn't even been here to replace the fouled up microwave cabinet. 8/30/13 (And I haven't seen any payment for my damaged flooring or any of the rebates on the cabinets) I've tried to be accomodating and understanding about these problems and delays but the more that keep cropping up and the longer they get drug out and the ruder I get treated, the less I am inclined to put up with it. Now that we've been more assertive about getting these problems fixed, the bright cheery sales pitch has dissappeared from the Kitchen Place and we are left wishing we never would have ordered anything from the Kitchen Place. I am somewhat apprehensive about posting this on Angie's list because my name and address is visible to the workers at the Kitchen Place and I get the impression that they will drag my name through the mud in order to discredit these problems. I expect that the Kitchen Place wishes they had never dealt with me either, I just expected it done and done right. I withheld payment as long as I could to force them to make things right, in return, they put more effort into bullying me and threatening a lien on my home than they did in trying to make things right. I was not treated respectfully, or courteously, but I suspect they can get away with that because how many people re-do their kitchen more than once every 10 years? So I guess they really don't care about being professional. In Closing, if you do business with them, don't pay upfront and make sure you get everything in writing.