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Karzen Restoration

Furniture Repair, Furniture Refinish, Cabinets Reface,

About us

Karzen Restoration, an 80 year old Chicagoland furniture restoration company. Specializing in the refinishing and restoration of antiques and treasured family heirlooms. Karzen Restoration’s old world artisans can reclaim that piece of family history and renew the original old-world beauty to finely crafted furniture. Decades old couches, chairs and loveseats can be reupholstered to bring back the memories from another era. Even the devastation caused by weather, fire, and water can be reversed by Karzen Restoration. They can reclaim the beauty and functionality of a beautiful piece of furniture. Formerly Atlas Refinishing and Service co. Whose owner started the business in 1937. Our mission is to return your family heirlooms and treasured furniture to its original beauty and treasure it's original, craftsmanship.

Business highlights

88 years of experience

Services we offer

Furniture repair, refinishing & restoration. Antique restoration. Piano case repair & refinishing. Cabinet refinishing & refurbishing. Cabinetry & woodworking.

Accepted Payment Methods

  • CreditCard
Reviews
4.674 Reviews
Number of StarsImage of DistributionNumber of Ratings
5
81%
4
8%
3
4%
2
4%
1
3%
Showing 1-25 of 74 reviews
Mercedes K.
Dec 2018
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
Alan and his crew did a beautiful job. I was expecting two panels with a seam in the middle of the headboard and footboard. Instead, they made three panels, and used trim from left-over pieces to cover the seams. The queen size headboard and footboard look like they were originally made for the bedroom set. The bed matches the rest of the bedroom furniture, perfectly. I also want to emphasize that they refinished the wood to a beautiful shade of red/brown mahogany that also matches the rest of the furniture. (I've seen refinished red/brown mahogany end up more like dark brown.) The stain and finish were done to perfection. I couldn't be happier with our "new" headboard and footboard.

VIRGINIA D.
Jul 2017
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
Excellent work although a little pricey. However, the repairs have endured for several years now.

Roberta S.
Jun 2017
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$400
Great! Chairs are exactly what I wanted.

Janet R.
Apr 2017
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$7,000
We thought we were going to have to replace our kitchen cabinets until we met Alan Karzen at a home show.  We were very impressed with his knowledge of refinishing wood.  He came out to our home, removed all the doors and took them to his shop to strip and refinish. The rest of the job was done in our home refinishing the cabinets.  We have cherry wood cabinets that are original to the home built in 1993.  The cabinets were very dark and you could not see the natural grain of the wood.  When Ken was finished with them ... WOW.  We could not believe the difference.  It is like we purchased new cabinets!  They were very careful in protecting our home as they did the work.  Wrapped all the appliances and covered doors to keep dust/materials from escaping the kitchen.  Our Kitchen is absolutely beautiful!  It looks like a whole new kitchen.  I plan on using Alan in the future to do other work in our home.

Rebecca C.
Apr 2017
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$1,400
It was a great experience. He was responsive, timely, and professional. Most of all, my table looks fabulous! I asked him to leave the distressed look and he did, plus he matched the stain to my chairs very accurately. I feel like I got a wonderful new table.

Janet O.
Apr 2016
5.0
unknown

Celeste S.
Feb 2016
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
unknown

David T.
Jan 2016
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$1,700
They picked up the bed, refinished and dropped off at a different address. Communication and service were excellent.

Kathryn D.
Dec 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$3,000
Allen did an excellent Job.

William R.
Dec 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$1,000
These folka are amazing. I got a piece of furniture that had been in the family since the early '70's. It is a thin table that fits in an entry way, but unfolds into a dining size table that seats six if needed. The finish was shot...discolored and peeling. However it was sentimental because it reminded me of large family gatherings and fit perfectly in my entryway. The chair's upolstery was perfect, but it was about to collapse. We called Karzan Restoration. They were polite and prompt and picked up our furniture and delivered it when they were finished.. To make a long stort short, the table looks spectacular. Almost better than new! The finish on the table is lustrous and flawless and the chair seems sturdy enough to hold a 300 lb. man! The Karzan folks are miracle workers and artists and we would definitely hire them again. We have referred them to friends not on Angie's List and they have been equally blown awat by their expertise!
Response from Karzen Restoration

"Thank you for your gracious words of appreciation. We strive for excellence in all of our dealings with clients and it is nice to see when everything works as planned. Thank you for the referrals. We make a living from your referrals. Happy Holidays"


Jeanne H.
Nov 2015
3.0
$700
Did not use them

Martha S.
Sep 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
unknown

Cheryl W.
Aug 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$139
It went great

Patricia S.
Aug 2015
4.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$350
unknown

Roberta S.
Aug 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
unknown

Don F.
Apr 2015
2.0
$600
unknown

SHIRLEY Z.
Apr 2015
3.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$1,000
He picked up the chairs and brought them back to us in a timely fashion. They look great. We didn't want new chairs -
we wanted these fixed. Although it was more expensive this way, Mr. Karzen did a good job. Unfortunately, one of the
chair backs broke. We paid again to have it repaired. An end table was returned on 4/22/15. It looks good but reeks
of varish. It will need some airing out. An accent table wasn't fixed properly. It still had nicks and one badly nicked area
wasn't even filled in. It was just smeared over with a stain that is the wrong color. Karzen argued that he didn't
have a color match. In that case, he should not have tried to charge us for it. It came back worse than it went in.
Instead of trying to work with me, he had a temper tantrum. "I have to pick up my grandkid. I don't have time for this."
I offered to pay for the smelly table he did fix. But he bellowed at me "no charge"and stalked off. Needless to say
we will not be using his service again.

Richard H.
Mar 2015
3.0
$400
.

Raul S.
Mar 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$2,000
Alan was wonderful to deal with! He picked up the pieces right before my vacation. If the weather had cooperated, I would have had them back the day after I returned. The work was wonderful, and the finished pieces are gorgeous. We weren't even sure the leather inserts were salvageable, but his leather restorer worked miracles. I would use him again and recommend him in a heartbeat.

Trude H.
Feb 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
unknown

Kathleen M.
Feb 2015
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$3,200
It was beautiful. He was very careful when working with the furniture. They picked up the furniture and returned it for us. They were within the time frame they quoted us. It was an excellent experience with them.

Alison A.
Feb 2015
4.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$400


He did an adequate job and in a timely fashion,


Response from Karzen Restoration

"Thank you for your review. We try very hard to exceed your expectations and it appears we were remiss . We responded within hours of your call and evaluated the repairs. The work was completed in a matter of days and in fact we made 3 visits to your home, including the initial evaluation where we picked up the damaged doors. The project was completed within the initial quote I provided. You indicated our professionalism was an average grade and gave us an overall B grade on our efforts. Hopefully, we will exceed your expectations on our next effort"


Raymond N.
Dec 2014
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$3,000
Fantastic. Pick up on time, accommodated special delivery requirements, furniture looked brand new when done and it was completed two weeks earlier than promised date

Christine C.
Dec 2014
5.0
Yes, I recommend this pro
$2,100
The dining table and hutch were pieces of furniture that were given to me by my parents nearly 40 years ago.  The table especially was in terrible shape.  
The furniture was picked and returned.  They both came back looking beautiful and I am so glad I had decided to have them refinished.
The work took longer than expected but the results were worth the wait.  I would highly recommend Karzen Restoration.

Charles S.
Nov 2014
1.0
$500
Do not ever refinish a college chair here! I was fine with the amount of time, 7 months, as I wasn't in a hurry. But I was extremely disappointed with my chair. I took my father's college chair there which was quite old and was told it could be refinished to look like new.
I was very disappointed and upset with the overall quality of the work. The workmanship was very poor and unacceptable, but at the point of receiving the chair, there was nothing I could do. I did pay the full price for a finished product that was very poorly executed, but even if it had been discounted I would still be extremely upset with the overall quality of the refinishing of my father's chair. I should have been informed from the beginning that there could possibly be a problem with refinishing the chair. I understand that accidents can happen but at the point when it happened I should have been informed right away. The decal that was on the chair disintegrated when a product was applied, ok that was an accident, maybe even unavoidable,but the replacement decal looks like a car decal from the book store. If I had been contacted I might have been able to contact the company that makes the chairs and explain how special the chair was to me and see if they had a similar decal.   A thin gold line that was painted in the grooves on the chair was very poorly done, the excuse being that it was done by hand, but a painter with a steady hand would have been able to do it correctly, instead of having the paint extend onto the black finish and not even be solid gold in the grooves.
Just such a huge disappointment!!!! My son has a college chair and the gold is perfectly done, he could not believe the work that was done on my chair. It should have never been returned to me like that. I did not speak up at the time as I was in shock and very upset, but upon further reflection and after speaking with my family, I felt like I needed to write a review. That is why I am a member of Angie's list. 
Showing 1-25 of 74

Licensing

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FAQ

Karzen Restoration is currently rated 4.6 overall out of 5.
Karzen Restoration accepts the following forms of payment: CreditCard
No, Karzen Restoration does not offer free project estimates.
No, Karzen Restoration does not offer eco-friendly accreditations.
No, Karzen Restoration does not offer a senior discount.
No, Karzen Restoration does not offer emergency services.
No, Karzen Restoration does not offer warranties.

Contact Information

1875 Cavell Ave, Highland Park, IL 60035

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