Get matched with top outdoor kitchen pros in Burnham, IL

"I bought a new patio table from NW Metalcrafters to replace an older one that was no longer usable. The salesperson Brian was very helpful with the sale, letting me take home color samples to match the new table's finish with my old chairs that I had planned to keep. Several days after the table was delivered, I noticed that one of the legs was bent at a welding joint. I sent photos to NW Metalcrafters and they agreed right away to get a new table from the manufacturer as part of the warranty. Andrew was helpful in arranging and scheduling pickup of the old table and the delivery of the new table."

"We had a 750 sq foot elevated deck built by Joel and the building team led by Matt. Joel was fantastic to work with from his first visit, design proposal and quote. The building team led by Matt did extremely high quality work and were great to design with as the project progressed. They were very neat and hard working. We were delighted with the overall experience, result and value for money. We would definitely work with them again and highly recommend them."

"Michael and his team expertly constructed a beautiful cabana room over our existing patio. Michael had great a timeline and communication throughout the entire process. The end result is exactly what my wife and I were looking for."

"As a new summer season begins, I once again am reminded how frustrated I still am with this job. Maria was hired to replace the concrete floor in the garage, put in a new asphalt driveway with brick edging and apron, put in a new stone and brick stoop and walk. The walkway is fine although the stoop is now pulling away from the house. This work was completed in 2015, so maybe that is the norm. Wouldn't know because Maria never returns phone calls or texts. Our biggest problem was the driveway. She told us she puts the brick in cement so the grass doesn't burn along the edge as it does with a metal edge. Well it doesn't burn because it can't grow. We cannot grow grass up to the bricks because there is a layer of concrete. We cannot chip the concrete away because the bricks loosen up. It looks terrible. Again after months of trying to contact Maria we received no response. Additionally, there is a dip in the asphalt where water collects and ices up in the winter. Again, no response. The cement floor in the garage was supposed to be painted after it cured. Never done and again no response. Initially we considered having Maria do a stone patio in the back but her lack of responsiveness to issues that arose ended that!"

"Short story: Foreman accused me of lying about something they broke and this project is still unfinished nearly five weeks after work begun. The project involved leveling the patio, which had sunk, and reconstructing a retaining wall, which had also settled. In order to fix the patio, Diaz had to move our hot tub. First, the retaining wall was not done correctly—their rebuild was shorter in height than the wall on the other side of the patio stairs. After this was pointed out to the foreman, they sent a crew over a few days later to even out the retaining wall, which looks good now. However, they still have not returned (four weeks later) to clean up the mortar and other stuff which is splattered all over the patio bricks. The other issue was that they damaged our hot tub when they moved it. When they came out to repair it at first, the foreman accused me of lying about the hot tub being broken. I told him that I did not appreciate being accused of dishonesty. They attempted a repair, which failed. They told me they needed to order a part. That apparently took 3 weeks. The part was installed and the repair failed. We then had another wait while they figured out that they needed to hire a professional to do the work. After a few more days, the hot tub was repaired and now works correctly. However, their contractor left trash all over the place. We are still waiting for the crew to return to finish cleanup, over five weeks after the job was begun. The only good thing has been the communication—their representative has consistently been responsive and apologetic for the issues, but this doesn't change the fact that the workmanship has been poor and the job has taken far too long to finish."

"We had Unity replace our concrete patio. Tom was great, worked with us in getting our patio pavers picked out, and was extremely responsive to all of my questions. He made sure we were satisfied along the way and checked in each day. The patio turned out really nice and we can't wait to be able to enjoy it. It's great to have peace of mind with the included 5 year warranty. We are already planning on having them do our front walkway to match. Thank you very much Tom and a big thanks to your crew!"

"Unfortunately, the “kitchen design” contract required payment up front ($2500- LOTS of money) for one design and two iterations. I was left extremely disappointed when the "design" was so simplistic that I kept thinking the real design would be forthcoming. Trapped in a "no refund" deal, I kept nudging the designer with inspirational references, but no creative, comprehensive and personalized design emerged. The "final" design looks like a trailer kitchen that needs to be updated, not my dream $50,000 new kitchen for our $600k home. I recommend you pay AFTER you’re happy with their design, if you go with Dream Kitchens. They use the same "design" software as Home Depot, yet Home Depot is free, patient, takes time to suggest materials sourcing, and tries on different product lines ‘til you’re satisfied with style v. budget. Dream Kitchens' output from the same software is far higher resolution and includes lighting and wine and cheese trays, so there could be merit in the higher fidelity view of what you're planning... but they kept not updating pervasive details that kept me from seeing how the kitchen would look! Green walls, fat hanging shelves, yellow countertops – remained long after I requested them be out of the plan. This adds to my resentment over being admonished by the owner because they did “extra” iterations. Maybe my contemporary / midcentury style is outside their domain, though they have a nice such display in their showroom. The designer once suggested I "go visit places who design that sort of thing" to figure it out. So I sent a 49-page set of examples, to which she responded with an update only adding an awkward new position for a shelf (still fat) in the middle of a wall. In the bitter end, I threw away their "designs" and used the elevations to design my own in Photoshop. Cost me 1.5 months full time to get my design done. If I didn’t have that skill and the option to work on my kitchen design while putting my profession on hold, I don’t know how I’d get a kitchen design – because I sure don’t have another $2500 – or even $250 to get the professional help I sought at the outset. I have NEVER been so disappointed in an investment. I have a high regard for design and believe good design saves time and money in the long run. Designers have a responsibility to satisfy their customers. When I let the owner know I was not satisfied and requested only half my money back (I said I'd rather have my money back than write a bad review) he copied his lawyer in a snarky email response saying he'd "...defend (his) reputation to the full extent of the law". He got very nasty, accusing me of insincerity, lying, threatening to defame, asking for a job (?!?! :O), being unable to afford what I like, suggesting that he coerced me to design my kitchen, and he made fun of my “despair”. DEFINITELY call the references and be sure your style expectations are within Design Kitchens’ toolkit, ‘cause you don’t want to let them know they’ve disappointed you. YUK."

"Great until 2 days later when the pool lights stopped working. Suddenly they don't return calls."