SE Kitchens & Baths Inc.

Based on the many Angie's List positive reviews and Angie's List awards given to this vendor, I decided to go with them and not get additional quotes. My gut told me otherwise, and I should have listened. I am pleased with the overall result, however; it just took some aggravation to get to that point. I have been reluctant to post this review, but as an Angie's List member I feel at least obligated to do so.

Perhaps I expect too much from contractors, holding a countertop fabricator I employed last October as the "gold standard" of quality, professionalism, responsiveness, cleanliness, and a positive attitude. With SE Kitchens I felt an overall negative attitude, and I think it carried over into the work. Skip, the owner, and two other men arrived in three separate trucks. Two of the trucks backed over two of my orange driveway-marker sticks, and I knew then we were off to a bad start. Although they took care to lay down heavy drop cloths across all my floors, they still left debris, from those cloths, that I had to clean up. After they left, I discovered I had quite a bit of bathroom cleaning to do. There were black marks on the side of the toilet, black marks on my white floor tile (I panicked when I saw what looked like a tile crack, but fortunately it was not), and debris on the floor of the linen closet. There were dirt marks (like dirty fingerprints) on my new white cabinet. There were dirt marks on part of a replaced chair railing. I could clean all that myself (and did), but then I started to notice that the applied caulk was not only in the seams of the granite (as it should be!), but on the horizontal surface itself in many places. The caulk was simply applied with a lack of attention to detail (my opinion). Though the caulk is clear, it is not invisible. There is white caulk that was spread too wide between the replaced chair railing and the painted wall above it. (I will have to attempt to paint over that strip of caulk.) Finally, the black gasket under the fixture is crooked. The gasket issue is an aesthetic thing and I notice it. But since the granite, too, is black, it's not as offensive as it otherwise could be. After all that, I discovered three tiny nicks along the edge of the granite, and I was quite concerned about those. (It turns out they are not going to create a problem.)

On a positive note, I was pleased to see Skip take extra precaution when he used a torch to work on the plumbing in the wall!

The height of the cabinet I bought from him is 34-1/2" - an unpleasant discovery when I saw it being installed in my bathroom! I had expected the usual 30" height, and panicked when I saw how high it is. Skip replied that "Nobody buys 30" anymore; no more back-breaking." (I.e., I won't have to bend over so much when using the sink. True, but I'm 5' 9", and I wonder how a person 8 or 9 inches shorter would respond.) In any case, I was not given a choice. I was not aware there are two different heights available. Another positive note: unlike the saleswoman who I encountered on my first visit, Skip did a terrific job helping me with the selection process of the cabinet and top. He worked with me to keep the cost down to a level with which I was comfortable, and which really did give me what I wanted and needed.

Now, based on how I generally felt through this entire experience I was very uncomfortable with the idea of calling Skip to complain about the caulking and the nicks. I did finally call, but it was not returned. I called again several days later, and, Skip being there, took my call. He was very responsive and came to my house -- I think the next morning. He didn't give me any grief about it, as I had somewhat feared. He was pleasant, assured me the nicks were not an issue, and I am satisfied. He removed the excess caulk, and showed me that all it takes to remove it is a single-edge razor blade. "You can use [granite] as a cutting board," he then told me. (This is my first-ever granite piece and did not know what I can and cannot do to it.)

In the end, as I indicated at the beginning of this review, I am very pleased with my new vanity. The black granite itself adds a lot of class to my bathroom, replacing a pedestal sink that offered minimal surface space and, of course, no storage space.

Skip and his crew were professional and courteous and easy to work with.

1) The chandelier was no easy task to install. They did a great job: A

2) Ceiling fan in bedroom w/ remote and wall controls: A

3) Window screens: I had all of the screens replaced because several of my old ones had fallen out when my two (indoor) cats sat on the window sill and leaned against the screens. Within two months of receiving the new screens, one of the downstairs screens popped out and my little cat fell out of the first floor window. This is a skittish indoor cat who had never been outside, and it took me close to an hour to coax him back inside. Because the only reason I had the screens replaced was to keep my cats from falling out of the window, and I now have zero confidence in the integrity of the screens, I rate this section as an: F

4) New toilet and light/fan in guest bathroom: A

5) My master bathroom was completely gutted. Out went the old bathtub and in came a beautiful shower stall with a bench, shelves and glass doors. It looks great and I love it. The painting and floor tiling were A. The toilet and light/fan: A. But now comes the part that has been gnawing at me from the start. I ordered a custom-made, "top of the line" vanity with a granite top. It was the most expensive piece of the whole renovation .About $3000 or > if memory serves. On the final day of the job, after Skip installed the sink, he told me that I "lost a drawer." Apparently the sink was too deep so there was no way to install the top drawer of the custom-made 3-drawer vanity that I ordered. And then while we were standing there in the bathroom reviewing the job, the wood plank that would have been the face of the top drawer fell onto the floor. As all of us girls know, the top drawer is the most important drawer of the vanity, and basically of any piece that has drawers. You wouldn't put your kitchen silverware in the 2nd drawer, would you? As much as I love my overall renovated bathroom, the missing top drawer on the vanity bugs the *&%# out of me each and every day. A big disappointment. And it is the missing drawer that brings down my overall ratings. I was going to keep this to myself and not post on Angie's list, but then this week, the toilet paper holder that was installed onto my custom-made vanity fell off.

Misc: There was a small problem with the plumbing of the new shower which leaked after its first use. Skip and the plumber came back the next day to fix it. No big whoop. Nobody's perfect. But they had to go through my closet to get to the leak, and the patch job on my closet wall was less than perfect. It is not in an area where any guest would notice it, but it bothers me because it was done in a hurry on the last day of the job and looks sloppy. It makes me feel badly because I know that is not how someone would repair it if it was in their own home.

We have very old post and beam construction, they worked with existing beam and made the small space more open.  Very high quality materials and workmanship.  Employees and subs were here when they said they would be.  Every day they put down drop cloths over our porch and walkway area and EVERY evening they totally cleaned the area before leaving. 



They were professional, trustworthy and I would recommend their work anywhere.   I would post pictures of before and after, if this site allowed.







Our big problem was with the appliance delivery and that was a SEARS problem.  Good products, terrible experience with delivery.

Provider was able to provide a showroom with products that he uses in his work.  He took the time to come to my home to make measurements and had a plan made up of the exact placement of tub, vanity, etc.   Provider had my husband and I come into his showroom and spent a long time with us picking out the specific products that we desired.  The work was delayed by 1 week due to an apparent delay in the delivery of the bathtub.  He and his workers were courteous and tried to keep the mess to a minimum but each day after they left I found myself picking up and cleaning for 1-2 hours because of dust and debris left on stairs and in entryway, hallway to bedrooms, etc.  The work itself took approximately 2 1/2 weeks.  My biggest complaint is that I paid the provider to paint the bathroom and had to approach him repeatedly about the poor job that was done with the paint, after complaining yet a third time he did send workers to repaint once again after which time I was satisfied.

We decided to renovate two bathrooms and the kitchen in a townhouse we own. SE Kitchens and Baths gave me a good estimate with very detailed plans. Skip listened to me as I described what I wanted the outcome to be, and I felt he really kept my budget in mind. When I met at his shop to pick out items, I asked that he only show me things that met the expenses in the estimate which he did without hesitation. He also gave me suggestions and told me about items he liked. That phase went really well and I was happy with all my picks. I did go over a tiny bit on tile for the bathroom but i knew it and was OK with that overage. We searched for a laminate flooring, and while meeting with the flooring rep, I asked about bamboo and she thought it was a perfect fit for us. Skip loved the idea, and best of all, it was within the flooring budget.Although the work took a little longer to complete than we originally thought, it was well worth the wait. The kitchen is just gorgeous and the attention to detail is fantastic. We moved our washer and dryer to another location which SE Kitchens and Baths did for us, and put a new shower where those appliances were. The rest of the bathroom as well as the full bath were gutted and new everything was put into place. They are not over the top - it's only a townhouse - but they are clean, fresh and have lots of storage now. Everything we asked for was completed beautifully and everything works and looks great. They did run into a few problems which were totally unforseen which caused some delays and small cost increases, but nothing major or upsetting. All the issues were handled well - I was not there during the renovations but was kept abreast of all that was going on with emails, phone calls and pictures. A fair amount of painting, electrical work, and plumbing were all a part of this project, and I am happy with every aspect of the work. It is such a beautiful renovation!!I would definitely recommend SE Kitchens and Baths for renovations. Skip was easy to work with and listened to my needs and wants. He didn't encourage things I didn't need, but he did suggest a few things that I hadn't considered which turned out to be great decisions. I felt his costs were fair and his estimates were extremely detailed and correct, since I experienced no real cost overruns, which I consider wonderful planning on his part. Highly recommend.

My experience with SE Kitchens & Baths was not good. They never gave us plans. It was probably after two months they came to the house. They said their service was free but I paid $50 for it. It was just a mess from the beginning. The lady from the company was not listening to what we want. It aggravated me more than ever. I had nothing good to say.

My wife and I are very pleased with the design work done by Skip. We are looking to gut and remodel our kitchen and two of our bathrooms and we were having difficulties working through the space and design options. Skip spent a few hours at our home measuring and listening to what we were looking to do. Two weeks later we went to his design center and he went over his design plans for each area. They are beautiful. Great use of all available space and was everything that we were looking for and more.
His estimate was a pleasant surprise. For the quality of the materials and all labor it was very reasonable. We will be scheduling the work for early summer and will write another review for the install.

From start to finish SE does it all. Skip and his crew are top notch. The deal is made and the contracts signed. You choose your materials, designe plan and Skip transforms the room on time, on schedule and in a professional manner. I am sure that all jobs will not go as smooth as my laundry room did. But do not worry if you have SE Kitchens and Baths do your job. Skip will work with you, he keeps in touch, is on time and on the job. This is a company that has the experience, interigity and cares about it's reputation.

It was a very pleasant experience.

This was a great experience! Skip was professional from the beginning and what we loved the most was his creativity and ability to help us think about options to create a more comfortable and functional space. He brought us into his office to see the proposal and the materials options. From there, we got started. Construction took about 3.5 weeks, a little over what we planned for but not unexpected. The guys who worked here day to day were professional and courteous. They never left a mess. The few subcontractors that were used were just as great. They worked around issues from previous homewoner's mistakes and overcame some electrical obstacles. Truly, compared to the other contractors who we got quotes from, SE was far and away the best. Creative, professional, courteous, and THE best price in town. Skip helped us save here and there by allowing us to do the demolition and painting ourselves. A great deal that has added so much value to our home!

Smooth and uncomplicated.  Good communication and interaction between contractor and customer.

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