Kitchen & Bath Factory & Construction

• They were nice people throughout the estimate and sales process.  The one thing I would caution is that a lot of the things they showed us or talked about, I though were included in the estimate, weren't.  Examples: Handles on drawers and doors.  Creating space for for refrigerator by removing studs, etc.

For the most part I liked the big picture.  It looked good.  Over all I am not unhappy with the work, but more disappointed in some facets. of the job.  They painted, redid the moulding, painted and ceilng (removing pop corn)in the created great room, which was well done and I am still happy with it.  This work was not included in other estimates we got.  They helped plan out the floor plan and that is still a plus, liked it better that what we got with other estimates.  
I would not suggest getting the solid wood birch doors.  They all have two cross braces in the back that affect the storage behind the door.   They said these were needed to prevent warping.  Some of the doors are warping out anyway, so they no longer look even when closed.   The doors are made from multiple pieces and the spot where they come together are spliting in spots.  Some wood putty and spray lacquer fixes it, but...
I wasn't please with th demolition guy.  Nice, a lot of talk, no follow through, and not clear.  When he ask if he could toss the garbage disposal, which was in good shape and the Heavy Duty Kenmore model,  I got the impression they were putting in a new one.   When they were hooking up the plumbing they asked where the old one was.  I told them the story.  When they started putting in a beat up rusty one, I told them that was unacceptable.  They gave me an hour to get a new one or I'd have to do it myself.    They were not careful with the things they removed.  The two lateral blinds they stuck out side ended up with damaged strips and there are not enough left to cover a window and the creases and stains in the one for the sliding door take away from it's previous appearance.
I mention the refrigerator sales speech when the refrigerator came out about 8 inches from the cabinet they built.  They said no problem.  They pulled the cabinet out and dry wall the space on one side and covered the other side with the back splash tile.
This would have been fine. but two things bother me.  1) There are a line of patched holes on one side (where it has previously been attached to he cabinet on that side), than were not well patched.  It looks like the putty was applied by hand and it is rough and sticks out.   2)  They didn't tell me until I asked about the two kitchen windows, that I lost those due to the work done on the refrigerator.  May have OK'd that at the time, but it came only after I asked about the windows.  This is one of the professionalism dings.
Flooring:
This was contracted for separately.  I planned to be there for the installation.  It some how got moved up to a Saturday when I was out of town for a funeral.  I don't believe I got the flooring I contracted for.  Make sure you get a copy.  The name of the flooring was on the back of the sample we got and on the one page contract he had when showing us the samples.  I never got a copy.  I wrote the name of the sample down.   After it was installed I had to call and email several times to get information on the flooring.   I even mentioned the name of the flooring. It was Merbau and priced accordingly, I got Hickory flooring. I was finally given a site to go to for maintenance instructions, they did not have the flooring I contracted for at that site.  Not sure if I was taken or not, it looks good, but I may have paid more for something I didn't get.  I have always feel like this was a bait and switch deal, main reason I won't hire them again.  
Fit and finish:
Other than the things above.
1) Our smoke alarm went off often when cooking.   We finally found the problem while working in the attic,   The smoke was just vented to the attic, which would fill with smoke and filter down from the recessed lights and set off the alarm. The pipe from the exhaust fan wasn't fan wasn't hooked up to the pipe to the roof.
2)  Where the  glass tile back splash ended it was sharp and jagged. 
3) Made a 12 x 12 drywall column where there is  was a 4 x 4 supporting a structural beam.  Looked good for a few months, but their is now an indented seam on two sides about 2 inches in about where a drywall corner strip would end.  I guess there is nothing supporting the back of the corners.  It just sinks in.  I t is built into an island and we have watched it gradually grow.
4) Dented new stainless steel refrigerator door.  Scraped control panel of new dishwasher.  
5) Granite seam  at sink has always been less shiny and noticeable.   After they spent hours trying to polish it, it looked better, but...   They think that is a good place for a seam.  It is the only place I have a chip in the granite. I have looked at other seams (other kitchens)  and have never seen these problems with them.    
6) They talked about self closing doors and drawers.  The drawers need constant adjustment and the soft close mechanism is plastic. never could get them to work very well, but the main problem is that they don't last.  They leak some oily stuff after awhile and don't work.
7) One light coat of finish on the wood.  Gets water stains easily.  
Communication:
Was the person overseeing the project about once or twice a week.  This was fine, but instead of discussing the project, he was always trying to sell us windows, roofing, siding or something else.

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Kitchen - They cracked the granite when installing, and did a very poor patch job.  Would not replace. It was near a small seam along the front of the sink, and they had to "re-do" the fix several times before I was satisfied (how satisfied can you be with a crack in your granite). The outlet covers didn't cover the tile cuts they made for the glass tiles in the backsplash.  They had to re-place 6 or 7 tiles because they cut them too short. At first they just tried filling all the gaps with grout. 
Bathrooms - Installed the shower door in the wrong direction.  Outlets didn't line up (one would be installed 3" higher than the other), They didn't order the floor shower tile I wanted and tried to substitute something else.  When I refused their substitution, it was a 3 week delay. This is subjective, but I didn't feel they were mindful of the flaws in the marble when they made the cut-outs for the sink.  The most dull/discolored edge of the marble is front and center!   I had to remind them three times to bring the heating duct into the bathroom. The paint on the cabinets is chipping like crazy!
One major problem is that there is no foreman on the job.  You get a different crew constantly.  You would tell one group what you wanted, then someone else would show up not having a clue.  If you use this company, you have to be the foreman and watch very closely to catch mistakes before it's too late.
Having said all this, I do love my new bathroom and kitchen counter tops.  The process however did not go very smoothly, and I would not use this contractor again.

Ed was professional and confident with his evaluation of the job from the start.  He included all our desires for a larger shower, more light including a solar tube.  The plumbing became a larger job than first estimated, but was handled without problem.  Crews worked long and hard every day about the same hours.  Inspectors seemed very pleased with their work at every inspection.  Shower was tiled in travertine and floor in porcelain.  They created the seven foot long vanity cabinet and eight foot tall linen cabinet. Two sinks were installed in a beautiful granite countertop.   Start to finish the job was promised at 5 to 6 weeks and it was done right on. Can't wait to show off our beautiful spacious new bath.

We got 5 quotes and this company seemed to have the best value (price in the lower range of quotes and they were going to do the most work) so we went with Kitchen & Bath Factory.   I am very happy with the kitchen after all was said and done, but the job took longer than quoted and responsiveness to emails/phone calls was a struggle.  They did, however, come out to my house FREE OF CHARGE a year later to touch up an area that had gotten messed up due to water, and for that I was very appreciative and shows that they will stand behind their work.  All in all, I would recommend this company.

So far the process is going good. 

THe job was promised to last three weeks--it went 5 weeks over, and then we had to fire Ed and K & B Factory. Ed was never at the job site. His workers would come out and had no supervision. They would be asking us questions on what needed to be done. Out of the gate, the job took a wrong turn the plumbing was not moved as per our instruction (it is clearly written in our bid from Ed) and the cabinets were made too large, extending into our dining area. Ed blamed the mistake on our asking for a lazy susan which pushed the cabinets way out of the kitchen space--but shouldn't a good contractor tell his cleints that something may be a problem? Ed reluctantly re-did the work. It has been one mistake after another. The painters fail to use painter's tape, so the red wall paint was splotched on the white crown molding. The cabinets are painted black, but you can see the brush strokes. His workers cleaned their brushes in our brand new black sink, and stained it with mineral spirits. We have a stainless steel back splash that was dinged by the workers. The workers also scratched and dented our cabinets when doing the final repairs. The back splash edges were not finished off and my son cut his hand on the sharp edge. The cabinet hardware is cheap and the cabinets don't all line up properly. The workers dented our new stove when installing it and they put the dishwasher in crooked. The top of the glass cabinet can be seen from teh staircase was was left unfinished. When we asked them to at least paint it, the workers painted one side of a piece of wood and covered the unfinished cabinet top. Unfortunately they put it in upside down, so the unfinished side faces up. Every time he need us to make a decision on tiles, counter, backsplash, it was always at the last minute so we didn't have time to special order anything without throwing off the job. We had no lead time or schedule to follow. They have a showroom but never brought out any materials for us to look at. We spend nights and lunch hours running to Home Depot and Lowes for our picks. The handles and knobs that Ed and company did supply where incredibly cheap and we told him not to put those on the cabinets. On our bid, it is written "maple cabinets" and that was our expectation. We did not want pressed wood anywhere. Our cabinets are made of pressed wood and polar--I think the only maple is on the trim. And when they did the trim, they left the nail holes showing.
After nearly two months, we were done being patient. We fired K & B and kept their final payment so that we can make the proper corrections. Last week, we had a water leak under our sink--it turns out K & B put the garbage disposal plumbing in wrong and also failed to seal one of the pipes.