We originally sought to have our kitchen refaced and had sought various quotes, and one was from Len. He said he did not really do refacing but he gave us a price on a new kitchen.
We first decided instead to go with Ikea, but after pricing everything out Len's custom kitchen was about the same price, and it was 'custom'. We brought our kitchen design to him, he did not change anything and later came to our house to measure again. I did the demo to save money, and 4 weeks later (1 week delay on Len's part) the process began. We were quoted 2-3 days for the install. I think we finally finished everything up 2 months later.
The first attempt at instaltion, the countertop that was delivered was measured wrong. It was too short on one side so they would have to re-order and come back to install the piece that did not fit. We also asked the installer if we could still install the sink so we could have water while we waited two weeks for the new counter. He said that it was fine to install and use as normal. As we are not experts we followed what he said. If he said not to install the sink we would have waited until everything was completed. While we waiting for the new countertop, Yolonda would call and ask for money. Our agreement had specific time periods for paying, and she would get nasty when I said we were going to follow them.
Finally Yolonda calls to say the counter is ready, but we need to be home now to allow for delivery. If it is not possible, we can choose to either leave it on the driveway or the scheduled install date the day after will not be possible because the installer will not have a counter to install. Frustrated, my GF rushed home to accept the countertop. The install was supposed to take place the following day however because we installed the sink and used it as per the advice of the installer, there was water damage on the laminate at the seams. I called Yolanda to express that I was told that installing the sink would be fine and that the installer made NO indication using the sink would cause this kind of water damage. She was not friendly in responding and said that I should not have even installed the sink and agreed to re-order the damaged counter.
During the wait for the second time, Yolonda called regarding payment, and again we deferred to our agreement. Setting up another date to have the rest of the counter installed was frustrating as we had to work on their schedule. Finally the day arrives when everything is ready to be installed. I could not take another day off work so my GF stays home. She tells Claudio (the installer) that she will have to wait for me to get home before paying the last 10%. We agreed to remit the final 10% on a Saturday at the head office.
Having fully inspected the kitchen prior to paying the final 10% we decided that the quality was not what we expected and that we would not pay until the issues we found were resolved. When Claudio attached the cabinets, it appears he did not drill a pilot hole for the screws. Also when inserting the screws he countersunk them at varying levels. The net affect produced cracking of the wood veneer and some undesirable visible screws. We had requested caps from Claudio at the time but he said we did not have a matching colour. We later followed up with Yolanda and she said they do provide caps for screws. In a few cases these worked well to cover the screws, and the caps attached nicely. Unfortunately since the screws are countersunk, 20 of the 24 caps I tried to attach would fall off with minimal effort or would not attach at all because the screw was countersunk too deep. The quality of the cabinets from their manufacturer were also not great quality. Where two pieces of veneer meet the cuts are jagged and visible.
Another major issue was that the light valences were screwed through the inside of the cabinet instead of being attached underneath with wood glue, and L-brackets. Yolanda confirmed with us that L-Brackets were the way to go and questioned the sanity of Claudio for doing differently. This is an issue that we felt could be resolved with screw caps. Being a custom kitchen we should not have to resort to covering the improper workmanship with caps.
Len agreed to have Claudio come back and try and fix these issues before we would give him the final payment. My GF and I were no longer willing to take any more days off for them to come and fix the kitchen. We asked if Claudio can come on a weekend to complete the work however Yolanda was rude in telling us this was not possible. Eventually he came on a Saturday morning to provide us with sticker caps to cover the screws that were countersunk at different levels.
Ultimately, this was not a great experience. The level of professionalism displayed by Yolanda, the installer and Len were disappointing. I questioned Yolonda on their level of quality, and workmanship, and she said that they still get orders so we must be too picky. We got a 'custom' kitchen however I will not recommend this company to complete any work.
- Approximate cost of services:
- $10,000.00