Oakville Kitchen Designers

I wish I knew then what I know now.NOTHING that was promised actually happened. From poor products to unmet deadlines, from wrong measuring to errors,from unacceptable craftsmanship wrong color,I could not be more displeased. The 30 days "promise" is a complete joke,it took 6 months and still not finish, the price and timeline was a complete joke. The contractor was less than professional, took our key to the house(never returned so we had to change the locks)come without our authorization to my home and text me that he is in my home!!

It's been 5 months since the kitchen was finished. I feel fortunate compared to other reviewers. So far, we are happy with the quality, design, functionality of our kitchen. But heaven forbid anything breaks. Customer service is severely lacking. The sense of urgency was non-existent. We are patient and reasonable people but we did not anticipate having to be on top of every little detail. In good conscience, I will not recommend or use OKD again. I have been thru reno's before and I know that my expectations were set appropriately. It's too bad because John has some really good tradespeople but there is so much disorganization, it does not take the sting away.

Lisa was the designer I worked it from OKD and she was pleasant to work with and had good ideas for the layout and design of my kitchen. Overall, I am pleased with the quality of the cabinets and the semi finished product. However, the entire project was fraught with issues.

-Floating shelves didn't arrive with cabinetry. (3 week delay to locate missing floating shelves and install)
-Wrong fridge size on drawings.
-Trade informed me it was his first time installing floating shelves.
-Hardware/Handles were not the ones I had picked. Was promised that they would be swapped with the correct ones but nothing came of it.
-Neither John nor Lisa were present during delivery.
-Neither John or Lisa were present during the install despite me requesting it.
-I asked Lisa to confirm in person that the correct slab of Quartz had come in prior to being cut be she said she would be at the cottage.

It's been 2 months and I haven't heard from anyone at OKD.
-Cardboard and wrapping wasn't picked up for weeks after the cabinets were installed. Took multiple calls to have it picked up.
-Requested a Quartz lip instead of a backsplash but that never materialized.
-Asked that holes be routered for the hvac in the kick plate but was never done.

Haven't heard from anyone at OKD in over 2 months.

What a disaster. Consistent broken promises, we had about 1,000 square feet of flooring, John orders 500 square feet, we've had ripped out floors since mid-August, and it's now late October. Hopefully the next batch of flooring matches. There is no organization, no accountability, John takes your money and doesn't deliver. There are obviously others who are experiencing the same issues, if you're interested, more than willing to talk.

Another tale of lack of coordination, communication and no sense of urgency

Our tale began with great excitement and is now fizzling with frustration because of lack of action and coordination on the part of OKD. We are now at the end of week 7 of a six week project. For four separate weeks since the end of August, there has been no work or trades in the house, 21 work days with no activity – no wonder it’s behind! We waited nearly two weeks for the dry-waller to appear. We subsequently discovered the trades were working exclusively at another customer who has also just reviewed on this site – and who, btw, is quite correct; the only time anything is on schedule is when John shows up for a cheque.

Throughout, we have been told that x will happen on Tuesday, oh probably Wednesday, maybe next week ... When the cabinetry did eventually arrive (over 2 weeks late because the order was placed just as the factory started its summer shut-down!), some cabinets had been ordered incorrectly and some parts had not been ordered at all! Measuring for counter-tops took place over a week ago and since then - nothing. This week, I asked John for a schedule in writing, “I’ll have it with you Thursday.” On Friday, “it’ll be tomorrow”. Same old story.

The cabinetry is not finished, the backsplash is not in place, appliances sit around the kitchen, the crack in the ceiling (which OKD caused) still needs to be repaired, electrical and plumbing need completion etc. John rarely responds to phone calls and his voice mailbox is always full. When we’ve seen them, the trades have been excellent: polite, professional and always clean up after themselves. It is they who have earned the one star rating I’ve given. However, the management of this project is abysmal.

This has not been a pleasant experience for us and we would never want anyone else to have to go through it. We’re living in chaos with no end in sight.

We went to OKD not because of the most efficient timeline (other companies quoted us 5-7 weeks, OKD said 8 weeks) or the lowest price (low cost sometimes means low quality right?); but we chose OKD because John seemed like a good guy to work with, and was remarkably responsive during the planning phase of the project.

Unfortunately, as soon as we paid him and we broke ground, starting with the demo on May 14th, 2016, things went amiss.

It is now October 14th, 2016 -yes it has been 5 months (not 5 weeks) and we still aren't finished with the renovation. The worst case scenario estimate was 8 weeks, but we're moving into week 23 as I write this email.

Just in case you missed it:

8 weeks = plan
23 weeks = still incomplete

Granted, there was some structural uncertainties, where I'm nice enough to give John a 3-week 'bye'; that STILL puts us at 20 weeks and still being behind by more than double the estimated worst case scenario.

The worst part is, there is still no urgency from this company to make things right, or any sense of wrong doing. Everything is just one new excuse away, with a supplier 'screwing things up' or 'supplier messing up the order' -except that it seems like everything is delayed and nothing is done right -but for some reason it is never this company's fault! We all know this story all too well...

I have never been given so much lip service in my life. I hired John to be the 'man in the trenches' to run the project so that I can have the turn-key experience, I ended up having to do all of the pushing and prodding myself. THREE TIMES I had to drive to home depot and buy/cut board to protect my own floors; I even had to re-plastic my furniture because his staff didn't bother to cover my upholstered couch before putting it on its side and pushing it through the drywall dust on the floor. Are you kidding me?

The worst part about this, is I still don't have a completion deadline, but I'm ready to cut the cord because Oakville Kitchen Designers obviously does not need my business and I am not a worthy customer of John's.

Just for your information, anytime John says:

today = tomorrow (maybe)
1 day = 1 week
1 week = 1 month
1 month = 3 months

List of things that contributed to this mess:
1) Did not consult a structural engineer during the planning stage (+3 weeks)
2) Cabinets not ordered properly (missing cabinets and panels) (+4 weeks)
3) Contractors did not properly protect floors and furniture ($$$ set back; I had to personally go to Home Depot to buy board to protect my own wood floors)
4) Backsplash quartz slab was mis-drilled leading to having to replace the entire item (no cost, but +1 week)
5) Did not order enough hardware (+2 weeks)
6) Multiple occasions where contractors had to measure and re-measure and re-measure and re-order moldings and trim from home depot (+2 weeks)...
7) Bankette went out to get sprayed, but the colors are inconsistent; two of the panels are actually a different white than the rest of it.. but okay
8) $30,000+ cabinets have been patched with an exposed edge above my range hood, so I have an exposed wooden edge showing still after 22 weeks of work
9) I still have multiple holes in my basement due to the original structural work that have yet to be looked after
10) Transitions installed between kitchen and living room have been stained, but the stain was applied on my trim as well
11) General delays and.. I just don't know... (+3 months)
12) Delays in making scheduled payments by customer (me) 0 days

I'm sure I'm missing a few more items.

Feel free to message me for details; I also have pictures to back up my case.

Buyer beware. This is a scary company to deal with.

Client service is non existing. The company made several errors causing delays in the finalization of the project. The company, on top of that, has no problem leaving a client with a half finished kitchen. I have a cabinet in my garage and a couple of drawers on the kitchen floor. I also have installed drawers that do not open...disappointing, extremely disappointing.

We contracted OKD for a large reno project that included a new kitchen, 3 new bathrooms, new office cabinets, complete house paint job, new tile floors and sanding of hardwood floors. What was initially committed to be finalized in 6 weeks has now dragged on for about 9 and is still not finished. The account manager made multiple drawing mistakes that we could luckily detect ourselves before it was too late. Kitchen island connections were misplaced, pot lights were drilled so many times the ceiling turned into a Swiss cheese, incorrect tiles were placed in one of the bathrooms and they asked us to order a different size fridge because they made a mistake in cabinetry in the kitchen and we could just in time stop the floor company from putting the wrong color on a freshly sanded red oak floor. Planning and clear communication are totally absent between client, OKD and their subcontractors. Despite the sales pitch at the start of the project, the account manager displayed zero sense of urgency. The president of the company only shows up when intermediate cheques need to be collected. We eventually bypassed the account manager and dealt directly with the president over the last two weeks. Unfortunately zero difference here: no sense of urgency, no clue of where his crew stands in work progress and a lot of commitments and words but very little real action. Our experience is very similar to the testimony on this site dated 2009/06/12 (anonymous). The company’s reaction to that review was that they ‘do not have any documentation in our files of any unresolved issues or unsatisfied clients which is why we feel this review does not belong to us.” We have plenty of documentation on our case. At this point, would not recommend this company at all. New commitments were made week after week, most recently yesterday. We have been more than patient with the president of OKD and his staff. They only have 6 days left to complete what they promised and to meet their extended deadline. Should they fail to do so, it will be a clear sign to us that we cannot be the only victims of Oakville Kitchen Designers. With this in mind, stay tuned as we plan to update the community with how this evolves.

Update - 2 days to deadline
This week, commitments have again been pushed out systematically. Today, out of the 4 countertops that needed to be installed, only one was completed: the kitchen's was missing, for one bathroom size was right but color wrong, for another color was right but size wrong. During the course of the week, it has become increasingly clear to us that we as client need to do all the follow-up and coordination of the job, OKD's president does not. We are skeptical the job will get done by the deadline.

Update 28 days past the deadline
OKD missed the deadline of Sep 27 as was to be expected despite the many commitments we received. Many things remain open (backsplash, missing trim in kitchen cabinets, basement stairs, ...). Have not seen OKD president since. Has not responded to our calls nor mails. Last weekend we managed to get him on the line by using a different phone. Did not know where the project stood, claimed "he was working on it" but could not get into any details. Promised to get back to us with a detailed plan by Monday. That is now again one week ago and we have heard nothing from him. No call, no text, no mail. Voicemail box is full again and we cannot leave messages. We are in week 15 of what should have been a 6 week project. We believe OKD has given up on us. It should be clear by now that we would highly recommend you not to use this company. Ever.

OKD was great! John developed a design taking both input from us and drawing from his experience. His trades were highly professional and very courteous, taking the time to explain what they were doing along the way, and did their job with as minimal disruption as possible. They cleaned up a the end of the day, which was helpful when kids are around.
We have received many compliments on our new kitchen and main floor and of course enjoying it ourselves.