LEMONS CABINETS

I did not complete this review in a timely manner because I was so very disappointed and unhappy with the work that was done. It was difficult to get him to come out and complete the project and he was obviously avoiding calls. I have had a hard time being positive about what I could say about the job. I think he has the skills to do a good job - but it didn't happen when he was here and I would not recommend him for any other jobs.

Given that Lemons Cabinets was a 3rd generation business, given awards, and had received good reviews, I decided to go forward with hiring Aaron to build my kitchen cabinets. I paid him half down on Feb 5th, when he told me the cabinets would be installed in 3 weeks, fully finished and stained before install. March 28th (8 weeks later), only the bases of the cabinets were installed (missing any doors, shelves or drawers), completely unfinished, and come to find out un-level, uneven, and crooked. In order for my countertops to be installed, I had to have my contractor re-hang all of the cabinets. April 26th (29 days after the partial install of the UNFINISHED and CROOKED bases), he came to apparently install and finish, and was in a car accident that sent my drawers and doors across the highway.  Aaron proceeded to continue to my house and hang the damaged doors with scratches and asphalt embedded in them. Since that time, he would not call me or return any contact. He then came back out on May 6th (3 months after initial agreement) to "make everything right".  He shaved off doors with asphalt in them, instead of remaking them, he didn't repair or replace scratches, he hung doors with lopsided hinges, he made half the shelves and left them on the ground with no finished sides, half of the cabinets have NO shelves, some drawers won?t even open, toe kick is awful, cabinets without finished trim, uneven install, and upon leaving, he hit my contractor's truck and ran.  I cannot recommend loud or strong enough to STAY AWAY from Aaron Lemons, and Lemons cabinets.  He has made a disgrace out of his grandfather's business. I am now hiring someone else to come and fix the absolute mess he has made of my cabinets.

We hired Lemons Cabinets to make and install new kitchen cabinets for a second home. First, we were told the job would start in June,2012. It didn't start until much later and took several months to finally get them installed. Because this is our second home , we could not be there when the cabinets were installed. The day after the installation, we were asked if we could pay the remaining cost the next day. Aaron, the owner of the company drives to our house and we paid him the money because we trusted him that the job was complete. We later get a call from the owner of a remodeling company who was doing other work in the kitchen,unrelated to Lemons Cabinets, that the color did not match on all the cabinets. When we go inspect the job, not only did we see that  some of the doors and drawers were noticeably darker than the others, but found screws that were sticking out, doors that did not fit  or did not close properly and trim that was not installed. When Aaron picked up the check, he told us he had to go back and do some touchup. This was much more than touchup work. After many, many phone calls and many delays, he finally went back and attempted to get the color of the stain to match up, but the cabinets still do not match. He did fix the other problems. He also promised to go back again to try to get the stain to match up but never did. Now if I want the stain problem solved, I will have to pay someone else another $3000-$5000.  My main criticisms of Lemons Cabinets in addition to the above are: hard to contact , have to leave messages several times before calling me back, and not following through on doing things he told me he was going to do. For example, I was told  more than once Aaron would be back to address a problem  and it either happened much later than he told me or not at all. To sum up, I got the feeling that  he was in a hurry and rushed the job through because he had other jobs and because of the travel distance between our home and the cabinet shop location. Our mistake was paying him before we had inspected the work. After getting the money, I feel we were put at the bottom of his priority list.                                   

If we were grading and giving this review before and up to the install, it would have been an A or A-, but it is incomplete work and broken promises that makes this provider receive a failing grade.
    We got four estimates for our cabinets and chose Aaron. He was neither the cheapest nor the most expensive. Aaron was working on a huge project out of town before our install, and this caused a few delays of a week or two, several times. He cited broken saws, his tire shop install running long, etc... He does not communicate well, and this became a huge issue with our remodel as time went on. We were doing much of the sheetrocking, texturing, and painting ourselves, and we took this time to work on other aspects of the kitchen, but it did make the job go longer than we liked.
    The showpiece in our kitchen is our 9 foot custom pantry. Aaron told us early on in his spiel that a cabinet without a back is just a box and he often talked about his grandfather's skills, skills that he employed today, such as making his cabinets by hand. One week before the install, when he brought stain samples, he stood in our kitchen and verified where the cabinets would go, based on our marks on the wall. We had replaced the sheetrock with green, mildew resistant sheetrock, and had textured and painted up to  and beyond the predetermined lines/dimensions based on our info from Aaron (at no time did we ever receive a blueprint or drawing in writing - always nods, reassurances and verbal dimensions via Aaron over the phone or in person.) He specifically told me that day that the entire wall would be covered with pantry. Again, the laid back persona was deceptively appealing.
    At install, we were mortified to see that the bottom half of the 9' x 4' pantry, with pull out drawers on gliders was backless. Huh???? There for all the world to see when you open our pantry doors is lovely green sheetrock. This is a huge structure, with a broom closet on one side and another storage cabinet buttressing it on the other. Every other cabinet has a back in our kitchen - 22 of them. Some of them are so tall you would need a ladder to even see the back, but the one high traffic area that we use 25 times a day is backless. I was worried when I saw the omission, but my husband said "Aaron will make it right." Aaron seemed unconcerned about the mistake, assured us he would fix it and he and his crew left.
    About two weeks later he returned. When he came for the initial install, one of our cabinet doors flew off on the highway, so he brought a new door for that cabinet. He also brought a trashcan for the trash compartment and he installed pull-out corner shelves. What he did not bring, as promised, was extra hinges, extra stain, a wine rack he was designing for a designated area or wood to repair back of pantry. He brushed it off and said that his saw was broken. He left and that is when this review went from an A- to an F.
    We let a week go by and my husband started calling. No answer. He called again. No answer. And it was then, after four phone calls, the last of which was my husband saying "Are you really never going to call us back?" that we knew he was history. In retrospect, had the door not flown off on the highway, we wonder if he ever would have come back at all, even the one time.
    I believe that the pantry redo was too big of a job for him to fix... he had his money and he was gone. But with Aaron, there is no boss to check with, no "I'd like to do it, but the boss says "No"." He is the company and the company is him. His wife was supposedly his business manager, but we never talked to her or had her number, only his shop and his cell, neither of which he ever answered - it always went to voicemail, oftentimes with the voicemail box being full.
    The hinge hardware is a debacle as well. Several hinges did not work from day One. Aaron promised he would provide extras - yet when he came back, he did not bring hinges or stain - two hugely important items that we desperately needed and cost him very little to provide. And, as for the stain, the wood contracted on the inset of many cabinet doors, where it meets the frame of the door, as wood does when it adjusts to the homes' humidity, and consequently, we have vertical lines of unstained wood on multiple cabinets. Again, we were able to match the stain enough for touch ups, but this is another example of his laziness and broken promises wasting our valuable time.
    We can live without the wine rack - it was an add-on that Aaron promised in his jargon when he wanted our business (and before he had our money.) We have spent 6 or 7 trips to a specialty woodworking store in Hurst to replace the hinges. Frustrating to have to replace and repair what should have been part of a $12,000+ job. By the way, our hinge that we upgraded to is a molded metal bracket, ie: made in Germany instead of the cheap made in China pressed metal hinge that was installed. It cost us a whopping $5 for two. So for $2.50 a piece we got a far superior hinge to the one he installed - granted we now have to replace 75 hinges, costing us $187.50 and plenty of time and effort. If Lemon's Cabinets is not going to offer a hinge upgrade option as a choice, they need to find a better hinge for their cabinets.
    As a last appeal, we sent Lemon's Cabinets an email through this Angie's List site, pretending we were new business, knowing he would open it  and hopefully read it. We asked only for extra hinges and stain to be sent through the mail, giving him one last chance to partially redeem himself. He did not comply or reply.
    Our pantry still needs to be repaired... We will have and do have a great kitchen, but in spite of, not because of, Lemon's Cabinets and we would NEVER recommend him for any project, big or small.

Aaron was very quick to reply to my initial inquiry for an estimate. The estimate was very fair and beat other bids I had received. He drove out to my house to verify measurements and discuss the style and color of the cabinets. During the process of making the cabinets he sent me pictures of stain variations for me to choose from. The turnaround time was very quick. He installed them on the 3rd day. 
We love our cabinets so much! They feel really upscale and we love the style and color. 
Would definitely recommend.

unknown

Aaron has always been very punctual, patient, professional, and polite. He always returns phone calls. He never seemed to mind taking the extra step to come to the house, re-measure, or discuss my concerns. We worked very closely together on the layout and design. He was always willing to explain details regarding hinge hardware, drawer slides, lazy-susan mechanism, so that I could better understand how everything was going to work.

While other cabinet makers were either very negative or clearly did not want to work with a woman, my experience with Aaron was never that way. I asked that cabinets, both wall and base, on one side of the kitchen be 28" deep on the base and 16" deep on the wall, which is not the standard. He said "no problem" to this, while other cabinet makers were very opposed. He strived diligently to make use of every available cubic inch, which was much appreciated.

The job was not without some problems. This is an old house and nothing is square. Aaron was always very willing to correct anything that was not to my specifications or liking. The install was professional. The cabinets are high-quality. I would definitely use Lemon's again.

I highly recommend.

Aaron, did a wonderful job in bringing my idea to reality. The cabinets a plain shaker style, with a cherry stain. When you walk into our kitchen they are the wow factor. Aaron, was the only cabinet maker that made several suggestions that now that I have them i don't know how I lived without them. They are beautiful simple and elegant. Thank you for my beautiful cabinets Aaron!

I was satisfied with the work of the person who came out. He was very timely and professional as well.