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About us
Express Kitchens is a leading kitchen cabinets manufacturer and seller, based at Hartford. The company has a strong retail business interest in Connecticut and Massachusetts with a presence of 17 stores and expanding to new locations across Greater Boston region in Massachusetts.
Business highlights
23 years of experience
Services we offer
CABINET FINISHES., SALE & INSTALLATION OF CABINETS & COUNTERTOPS
Amenities
Free Estimates
Yes
Accepted Payment Methods
- CreditCard
Reviews
3.416 Reviews
| Number of Stars | Image of Distribution | Number of Ratings |
|---|---|---|
| 44% | ||
| 13% | ||
| 6% | ||
| 13% | ||
| 25% |
Showing 1-16 of 16 reviews
Kenneth S.
Oct 2024
At first it was good. But just over 1 year hinges failed and counter top was swelling because they splice the counter top next to the sink. I did call them about the hinge and because it was like 10 days after the year they want to charge me $200 or so to even come look at the problem. I would never recommend them! Stay away!
Robert R.
Jul 2024
Never again, Cabinets are nice, was very nice to work with Molly for the counter top. Problem they measured it paid them 1 foot short on one side. Have a galley kitchen wanted the same footprint, lower cabinets maple color upper french white. Trim for the top came with one side maple the other white. Tried to blame me for the miss measurement, had to bring back lower cabinet for next size up. Had to drive to Hartford no compensation for the gas or time, just a basic bad attitude from the employees for their mistake. They also had me ripping out a wall with all my outlets and light switches, don't know where they got this. Had to pay for a board painted white that I didn't need. Their mistake but I was the cause, so they say.
Susan M.
Sep 2020
I am super impressed with the excellent customer service provided by Express Kitchens. If you're updating your kitchen I highly recommend you work with them! They have a showroom in W. Springfield and also in Hartford and I can't express enough appreciation for how good they have been to work with! It is a rare experience to receive such exceptional customer service and high quality of materials! Susan Melchin, W. Springfield, MA 01089
Shannon H.
Feb 2020
When this projected started I thought that express kitchens was going to be amazing since it was going to be a one stop shopping for design, cabinets, and counter tops. Everything went well in until the cabinets were delivered. When the cabinets showed up all but one cabinet were delivered. We were told that specific cabinet was a custom item so it would take longer, which we had purposely set the delivery date for later so that they would all be delivered in 1 day. The next problem came when the cabinets were going to be installed, the single door cabinets were sold and labeled as left and right hindged cabinets but all the cabinets came with the hinge on the left. This is when the problems with costumer service began. When customer service was contacted I was basically told there was nothing they could do and to figure it out. When the rest of the cabinets were unboxed there was a problem with a cabinet slide not closing properly, this was was replaced by customer service with another one that was broken and on the thrird time it was correct and useable. Then my biggest problem occurred based on the design of express kitchens and their layout of the kitchen. The base blind corner cabinet that was specified (42 inch cabinet) would not open because of the door and draw being to big and hitting the stove, not to mention the door and draw were on the wrong side of the cabinet, which had been specified in the original order and item description. So after finally getting some one at customer service I was sent a smaller base corner cabinet (36 inch). The smaller one sent was now too small leaving a huge visible gap between the cabinet opening and stove. Since by this point I was getting no help from customer service, I was able to research the cabinet maker and find a 3rd option from the cabinet that was a 39 inch cabinet, so that was ordered but once again we were told it was a custom item and I had to wait 8 weeks for that cabinet to be delivered. While waiting for that to be delivered the next design flaw was noticed the 3 draw cabinet next to the fridge pannel would not open because of the lip on the fridge panel, something a “professional designer” should have know. At this point we had a contractor come in who was able to make minor adjustment to make this work. The next issue was the wall mounted wine rack. The item that was ordered was a 30 bottle rack and what was delivers was and 18 bottle rack, when we questioned this mistake I was told a 30 bottle rack never existed and that was all they sell, so we ended up having to settle on the smaller and reconfigure the area to make it work. Just when I think there won’t be any more issues the slide out trays in the 2 pantry cabinets are ready to be installed but there is no “stand offs” or mounting hardware to install them. Back to customer service we go, which of course as you guessed they would send us the stand-offs, so finally after weeks of waiting for the mounting hardware and stand-offs we are ready to install. Except they didn’t send any type of instructions, just a few blocks of wood. When I contacted our customer service rep via email, no response was ever sent, so we took it upon ourselves reaching out to Wolf themselves who within a matter of hours sent us the instructions. The issues still haven’t ended, the top drawer (Of our 3 pots and pans drawer) bottoms support is hanging making a terrible screeching noise as we close the drawer. Customer service was once again contacted, about 4 weeks later the delivery team shows up with a drawer which was a 12in drawer instead of a 30in drawer. By this point as you can imagine we are at whits end, the BBB had been contacted. Once again we called regarding the drawer issue and are still waiting on a replacement (the original delivery was 1/27, we are now in the end of February). Currently we are still awaiting the replacement drawer as well as 4 new pull out drawers for our pantry’s since the corners were all broken off the original ones sent. This entire process has been a complete horror show. As I mentioned we have contacted BBB but unfortunately Express Kitchens has decided not to respond to them so we are currently dealing with the Department of Consumer Protection. STAY AWAY from this terrible company, the minute you have your first issue they are calling you none stop but once you have more than 1 issue they disappear. AWFUL customer service!
Anne C.
Jun 2017
4 of 10 cabinets delivered damaged. Could not get replacement in time for counter top install. Had to agree to keep damaged base cabinet to make counter install date. Was told they would not replace uppers because they were installed. Was supposed to receive a panel to fix them. Three weeks after initial delivery date still havent received it .Second delivery of pantry cabinet was damaged. It took another week for them to use the two damaged cabinets to fabricate one good one. Was told numerous times I would get a call back to address issues, that did not happen until I got a manager involved. Still waiting for repair panels. The only compensation I received was $250. For agreeing to keep the damaged base cabinet. I asked for some monetary consideration for having to undergo the aggravation and project delay of 3 pantry cabinet deliveries and was told by the manager he would run it up the food chain....I never heard another word. Many other problems....they forgot to order the sink grid....on one call the customer service rep told me the cabinet issue was not express kitchens issue....it was their vendor's problem. Horrible aggravating experience. I attached 2 pics of the original cabinets to show where they drove screws up through the inside bottom of the cabinets. I was told by the manager that they get the cabinets in a flat box so the assembly damage would have been made by express kitchen assemblers.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I would like to apologize - our dedication to customer service has earned us an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, and we are happy to report that customer service was able to reach an agreement with Ms. [Member Name Removed] that was to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. Again, thank you for taking the time to post a review of your experience. it is by listening to our customers that we can learn what can be done better in the future. We now have 13 locations in CT and MA, we are fully insured and licensed, we take pride in offering the best value for cabinets and countertops."
Henrietta W.
Mar 2016
.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
Debora D.
Oct 2015
.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
Gary T.
Jul 2015
The whole experience with the exception of dealing with Timothy Cornelio was excruciatingly painful.
Dealing with the "project manager" Russ Messenger in the Springfield facility proved to be extremely difficult
after we spent a Sunday afternoon of smiles and "understanding" and us giving him a check for $6000.
He told us that white kitchens wern't popular now and suggested a wood finish which we went with (all newer kitchen
magazines promote the white finish).
I believe that we should have been told that the cubic storage would be considerably less than our original cabinets -
oh well - buyer beware...
On the day of installation, installers scheduled to be on site at 9AM did't show up untill 3PM. No one from EXPRESS
could find out what and where he and his crew were or return any of the 4 calls my wife had placed to get an answer.
Come to find out the foreman had been in the hosipital due to slicing his hand.
Only the foreman spoke broken English and we had difficulty understanding him.
They did demolition of the cabinets and counter top and left the debris on the ground just to the side of our driveway
which they left there for 3 days - screws, nails and debris all on the driving surface.
After installing the upper cabinets (cabinets to the left of the sink 1" higher that the ones to the right of the sink) and installing
the base cabinets (unlevel and out of plumb) I contacted Mr. Messenger 3 times between Friday and Saturday to let him know of the issue due to the granite counter tops being scheduled to be installed on the following Monday.
The foreman argued with me upon arriving on Monday insisting that everything is perfect, I called the installers boss and requested a supervisor to come to my home.
Enter the Quality Control Representive Timothy Cornelio who stopped the installers and literally had them remove the entire installation and start over and have everything installed properly.
the counter installers who showed up at 10AM waited aroud for 4 hours for the base cabinets to be insalled properly and then
installed it level (did a nice job - outside vendor used by EXPRESS).
Overall, extremely disappointed with the entire process. The cabinets look OK but they have considerably less space than the old ones that were torn out and the quality is poor. Never again - you get what you pay for is all we can say!
Thanks again to Tim for making something out of a crappy job and saving us the cost of a second kitchen remodel.
Dealing with the "project manager" Russ Messenger in the Springfield facility proved to be extremely difficult
after we spent a Sunday afternoon of smiles and "understanding" and us giving him a check for $6000.
He told us that white kitchens wern't popular now and suggested a wood finish which we went with (all newer kitchen
magazines promote the white finish).
I believe that we should have been told that the cubic storage would be considerably less than our original cabinets -
oh well - buyer beware...
On the day of installation, installers scheduled to be on site at 9AM did't show up untill 3PM. No one from EXPRESS
could find out what and where he and his crew were or return any of the 4 calls my wife had placed to get an answer.
Come to find out the foreman had been in the hosipital due to slicing his hand.
Only the foreman spoke broken English and we had difficulty understanding him.
They did demolition of the cabinets and counter top and left the debris on the ground just to the side of our driveway
which they left there for 3 days - screws, nails and debris all on the driving surface.
After installing the upper cabinets (cabinets to the left of the sink 1" higher that the ones to the right of the sink) and installing
the base cabinets (unlevel and out of plumb) I contacted Mr. Messenger 3 times between Friday and Saturday to let him know of the issue due to the granite counter tops being scheduled to be installed on the following Monday.
The foreman argued with me upon arriving on Monday insisting that everything is perfect, I called the installers boss and requested a supervisor to come to my home.
Enter the Quality Control Representive Timothy Cornelio who stopped the installers and literally had them remove the entire installation and start over and have everything installed properly.
the counter installers who showed up at 10AM waited aroud for 4 hours for the base cabinets to be insalled properly and then
installed it level (did a nice job - outside vendor used by EXPRESS).
Overall, extremely disappointed with the entire process. The cabinets look OK but they have considerably less space than the old ones that were torn out and the quality is poor. Never again - you get what you pay for is all we can say!
Thanks again to Tim for making something out of a crappy job and saving us the cost of a second kitchen remodel.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Mr, We thank you for taking the time to post this detailed review. Let me just say, your sales associate Russ and our Quality Control manager Tim both said it was a pleasure doing business with you. We are happy to hear that you loved your stone counters and the final installed product but sorry to hear that you weren't completely satisfied with your experience. I would like to just acknowledge some of the points you made to hopefully clear things up. Our installer was delayed on the initial day of install due to a medical emergency, we also acknowledge that Tim came out to remedy installation concerns that you brought up, as we have discussed that crew no longer works for us because of the issues that you faced. If it weren’t for people like you leaving feedback, we wouldn’t have any idea how to improve our customer service. We take people’s comments very seriously. If someone isn’t happy, we address this issue to the best of our capability. We now have 8 locations in CT and MA where we service our customers out of; we install between 20-30 kitchens a week and deliver twice as many that our customer install themselves, and needless to say most of these customers give us positive reviews, also we are registered with the state, fully insured and take pride in giving the best value proposition when you buy a kitchen."
Patricia B.
May 2015
unknown
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
Byron D.
Dec 2014
I went to the showroom and was acknowledged by the sales person. I wandered around for awhile. I was able to figure the pricing out on my own but I did not have much interaction with anyone. I asked a couple questions and was answered in such a way that I felt I was bothering the salesperson. I left, frankly I noticed a phone number for another location on some literature. I called another location and received the additional pricing info I was looking for.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed], I'd like to start by apologizing and thanking you for bringing this to our attention. I was not with the company back in 2014, but we take feedback very seriously and I hope you will consider letting us earn the chance to work with you again at some point in the future."
Marilou C.
Oct 2013
The sales person in Orange Ct wasn't very helpful. He was too laid back. He didn't suggest anything. I had to go around to the kitchen setup samples and open and close the cabinets and drawers to see what options were available. He was more than happy to change whatever I wanted but since this was my first kitchen I didn't know what was available. The installer Bob was wonderful. I was only sorry I didn't know, until he was done, that he was able to do other tasks for a reasonable price. We had to deal with the home office in Hartford and they were very nice also. As with all remodeling some things didn't run as smoothly as I wished but over all I was very happy and have recommended Express Kitchens to others.
Mildred S.
Aug 2013
We ordered and paid in full for laminate counters on May 6. The counters were to be delivered in 3 - 4 weeks. At 4 1/2 weeks the counters were delivered. Two of the 5 pieces were badly made, one had chips in it that were covered by white silicone (that came off the first washing) the other was made with 2 different background colors. The pattern we chose was Carrera Marble. The 45 degree joint had a white background on one side and an off white on the other side. They remade both pieces and returned on June 19 with them. This time the one with the chips had 2 large chips, one in each end. This was for an island cabinet. The one with the 45 degree angle had a seam that wasn't flush. Each time they came we had to disconnect the plumbing under the sink. On June 27 they were supposedly done again, we chose this time to check them out before they delivered them. We drove to Hartford and the island counter had not been touched, and the seam was still not flush on the other counter. On June 28 we drove back to Hartford and reluctantly accepted the counters. We had decided that they were never going to make a good counter. There are tiny chips on most of the counter ends. They weren't able to install the counters till July 10. The counter that was installed with the 45 degree angle does not reach the end of the cabinet. It is about 1/8 of an inch shy of the end of the cabinet. There was supposed to be an over hang of about 1/8. The counter is about 1/4 too short. They installed the counters and managed to damage my porcelain sink while doing the installation. I have a 6 inch by 1/2 piece out of the front of my sink, and 3 chips on the sides. They claimed it wasn't their fault. I finally went to BBB and filed a complaint. Eventually Express Kitchens agreed to repair my sink. They came out on August 21 and did a lousy job. The sink actually looked better with white electrical tape covering the chunk out of the front. Needless to say, we would not recommend Express Kitchens. The job took over 15 weeks to complete a lousy job.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Ms, We thank you for taking the time to post a review. We are sorry to hear that you weren't completely satisfied with your experience. I would like to just acknowledge some of the points you made to hopefully clear things up. You came to our showroom to purchase laminate counters, you choose a color that had horizontal line pattern running through it, Based on the size of your counters and material requirement we had to put a seam; which was explained and signed off on by you. Because you were not happy with the counters we stood behind our work and redid the counters and installed them for you. The sink that you mention is over 20 year old porcelain sink that had chips and marks in several areas, we do not warranty any material that we don’t sell and there is no way to ensure no further damage to a 20 year old used sink during removal and reinstallation. This was brought to your attention and even though we do not take responsibility for this; as a customer service gesture we did try to repair this for you. We have gone above and beyond our normal warranty procedures to ensure that we responded to all your issues. We take people’s comments very seriously and are sorry to hear that you are not completely satisfied."
Robert L.
Jul 2013
We went through the Newington location and were very pleased. The Granite Counter was purchased through Renaissance Stone of Wallingford, CT who worked with Express Kitchens. We found Russ to be very pleasant and easy to work with. All in all, wre are very happy with our new kitchen.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
JAMES T.
Jun 2013
It went very well and they were good. I ordered from them because of their price. I found about them through their television advertising.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
Robyne G.
Mar 2013
My husband and I decided to update our 1950's kitchen. We researched various places but the Express Kitchens location in Hamden, CT impressed us the most. Our rep helped us to lay out our new kitchen and incorporated all of our 'wish list' in her design. We loved the cabinets we picked out and bonus, they were very reasonably priced. Solid wood with soft close cabinets/drawers included in a price that the big box stores couldn't touch. Our price also included granite countertops. We weren't happy with the choices offered as part of their promotion but as it turned out, four additional choices opened up with one that was perfect for our new kitchen. The only issue was with the granite install itself - which is done by an outside vendor that Express Kitchens contracts with. Apparently this company was very, very busy and our granite couldn't be installed for five weeks; not the inital 2-3 weeks we originally told. I called Express Kitchens corporate office because no countertops also meant no sink - for five weeks! They immediately delivered a temporary sink and countertop for us while we waited. This saved us in take out food costs and saved us from having to wash dishes in our tiny bathroom sink. All deliveries (cabinets, temporary sink and countertop) from Express Kitchens were prompt and the delivery staff were always kind and considerate. We chose to install our cabinets ourselves, so I can't speak to their installation folks but we were pleased each step of the way with Express Kitchens. We have a beautiful new kitchen with gorgeous cabinets and granite countertops at the fraction of the cost it would have been had we gone elsewhere. We couldn't be happier!
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for your kind words! We appreciate you taking the time to review us and we look forward to working with you again in the future!"
DANIEL A.
Aug 2007
It took about 1 month in between the time we went to design the kitchen layout to having the cabinets installed. Once the cabinets were installed they came to measure for the countertops. They did not arrive at the designated appointment time which caused me to miss an important commitment. They then took much longer to perform that task than was estimated. They came to install the countertops on a Friday and were fast but failed to bring all the required pieces so they had to come back the following Monday.
Response from EXPRESS KITCHENS
"Hi [Member Name Removed]! Thanks so much for taking the time to share your Express Kitchens experience! We love hearing from customers so it helps us learn what we are doing right and what we can improve on. I hope you will consider letting us earn your business again in the future!"
Licensing
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FAQ
EXPRESS KITCHENS is currently rated 3.4 overall out of 5.
EXPRESS KITCHENS accepts the following forms of payment: CreditCard
Yes, EXPRESS KITCHENS offers free project estimates.
No, EXPRESS KITCHENS does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, EXPRESS KITCHENS does not offer a senior discount.
No, EXPRESS KITCHENS does not offer emergency services.
No, EXPRESS KITCHENS does not offer warranties.