WOODCRAFTERS OF HILLSDALE

Terrible! I'd never use this company again. The owner, Joe Sr. is personable enough and seemed to want to do the job correctly, but they didn't. The horrible saga: In June 2011 the General Contractor recommended Woodcrafters to do the kitchen and bath cabinets. In July 2011 the cabinet maker sends a hand drawn sketch based on the architects design. We meet with the cabinet maker, provide our comments and our requirements for hardware, finishes, and appliance openings. Yes, our project demanded some custom effort, for instance an elevated dishwasher cabinet with matching integrating front panel and drawer below, under-drawer glides, self-closing hinges, and special refrigerator and oven/microwave enclosures. By Aug 2011 they had revised the hand drawn sketch and provided a cost estimate via the General Contractor. Note, they do not use computers in any way. The estimate was very competitive. After seeing another job Woodcrafters did for the General, we agreed to use them for our cabinets (in Aug 2011). Meanwhile the house renovation was proceeding. In late Sept 2011 Woodcrafters (Joe Sr.) visits to take on-site measurements. Joe Sr. says the plan is to have the cabinets done the last week of Oct or the first week of November 2011. Note this was his estimate of the time until the job would be done. All was fine so far. On 26 Oct 2011 Woodcrafters called the General Contractor and said maybe we should get another contractor to do the cabinets! At the time the cabinets were promised to be installed, they admit they had not even started work! We should have taken the hint and abandoned Woodcrafters. We didn't. After discussion with the General Contractor (who was coordinating with his sub, Woodcrafters) we agreed on a schedule that had the bath vanities/counters done by 15 Dec 2011 and the kitchen cabinets installed and working by the first or second week of January 2012. Then only about two to two and a half months late. The bath vanities were installed on 14 Dec 2011 but the General rejected them as the doors don't align with the sinks. Strange situation since Woodcrafters measured for the bath vanities after the plumbing rough-ins and vanity mirror framing was in place. Anyway, the master bath vanity was removed and reconfigured. It was returned and installed on 22 Dec 2011. Of course we then discovered that the master bath vanity drawers were barely operable because the frame would bind the drawer sides. Further, some of the drawer faces were cockeyed. Really cockeyed. Not something that one would miss if they just looked at the cabinet. There were other finish problems, but they paled in comparison to the drawers and drawer faces. In addition, Woodcrafters advised the General Contractor that the kitchen cabinets would not be done by 15 Jan 2012, but maybe the base cabinets could be done by then. Another delay. The base cabinets were installed on 3 Feb 2012, two weeks later than promised. Color mis-matched doors were noted along with binding hardware and function conflicts (drawers bang against each other when open). The dishwasher cabinet with drawer below was not constructed to specs and the corner cabinets had unstable shelves and too small openings, not to mention that the blind corner storage unit apparatus would hit both the open door and the face of the adjoining cabinet when used. General Contractor seemed to feel that the problems could be fixed. By mid-Feb 2012 all the cabinets were installed except for the upper corner cabinets which were installed in late Feb 2012. More problems are found, some doors don't self close (a requirement) and the upper corner cabinets are not constructed to their own sketch specs with doors opening in different directions and handles in opposite positions. Finally, by mid-March 2012 all the corrective (and patch up) work was done. It was obvious watching the work crew (it was Joe Sr.'s son) they were not happy and simply wanted out of this job. Yes, we were demanding customers. But we were up front with Woodcrafters explaining what we wanted and expected. We were trying to replicate European (German) cabinets in appearance and function. We had very specific demands and provided them up front with both our hardware requirements and appliance specifications. From our perspective we accepted their estimate and anticipated delivery of quality cabinets by the date they provided. Neither happened. The kitchen cabinets were five months late and they were of poor quality. Certainly the wooden boxes or frames are of good quality, but everything you look at or use is not. Even the placement of handles on matching doors is not aligned. To Woodcrafter's credit they did return several times and attempt to fix the problems, and succeeded with most. But disappointed isn't a strong enough term for how we feel. Knowing what I know now, I should have abandoned this contractor in October and gone with someone else, but I didn't think I could get anyone to deliver by December as they promised. Of course, even that promise was itself three months off. If I'd only known. Don't use this company to build your cabinets unless you don't care about the quality and appearance of your kitchen or bath or if you don't mind them being delivered months late. They have no sense of urgency and the finished product is mediocre at best. I understand even the General Contractor has abandoned using them. But they are nice guys who seem to mean well.