K G HOMEPRO MASTER CARPENTERS & CABINET MAKERS

I had Klaus design and build/install a bookcase (shelves, cupboard, drawers) in our study.    The other was to replace a boring painted 4 foot high bookshelf that divided our family room and kitchen table area.

I love the design, materials, stain, finish.   Really love it.   The self-closing drawers were a very nice feature.  The quality of materials appear to be very high.   The reason for my grades are as follows...

Price - his prices were high, but fair.   I couldn't give him an A due to timeliness, responsiveness and some quality issues.   This was a shame as I would have paid another $1,000 if I could have had everything done when it was promised and without the quality issues.

Quality - He certainly is capable of A+ quality, but he just didn't deliver that.   I would say that 90+% was A+, but a couple of obvious areas were C- and they really didn't have to be.   On the replaced bookshelf, there were some gaps in the trim that for the life of me, I just didn't understand why he left them as they were simple to take care of.   It struck me as either careless or not wanting to take the time.  It took about 4 months to get him back to fix this, but he took care of 3 of the 4 and I just let the other go.    On the bookcase in the study, the crown molding had to be pieced evidently, I guess because it was longer than 8 feet (probably 11).   That was not pieced together well at all.  There were some other areas along the tabletop portion of the drawers that were not an even finish (wood edges didn't meet well.  some were a raised edge, the other was a slight, but noticeable gap).   He came back and replaced the crown molding, but didn't do the others.   I would have pressed him on these had I been there, but I was out of town and my parents were there while he did the work.

Responsiveness / Punctuality - You would not believe the delays we had it getting this all wrapped up.   I was not in a hurry for initial installation, so I told him to take his time, so I didn't mind those couple of months, but when it was getting near Christmas, I pressed to have it done by then and it was.   But in coming back to get the problems fixed took an unreasonable time and I practically had to beg him to do it.   Probably 3-4 months from when I first sent him pictures of the problems (he quickly responded that these should not have happened and he would of course take care of them).   His list of reasons for the delays were never-ending.   I think they consisted of he being injured, him being sick, his wife being sick, his wife being in the hospital.   These were all spread out over the Nov-Apr time period.  After reading other reviews, its hard to imagine anyone could be this unfortunate.

Professionalism - very professional, if you can set aside the endless delays.

Would I use him again?   Probably not, since he is no doubt reading this review and having 75% of the cost paid up front and wondering if the work would ever get done.   But for those of you who don't mind delays (perhaps many delays)....and if you are there for the installation to insure it is all done right the first fime, like I said, he is capable of A+ work in my opinion.

I was offered excuse upon excuse for non-performance, delay, etc.  Read another earlier review  (as I should have done) and it will be clear that this operation is a train wreck.

The installation of my appliances was dragged out.  Electrical work was piecemeal and sporatic  After 3 months of delays and excuses, the day finally arrived in late May when my finished cabinet doors and drawers were to be installed.  When the time came instead of being thrilled, I was horrified.  The doors and drawer fronts had been painted in a color and sheen that did not match the cabinets; the paint coating was full of visible debris; some doors and drawers had unsanded and unpainted edges; the frame/raised panel junctures  had not been caulked in preparation for painting; the back sides of the mullion doors had not been sanded or painted prior to the installation the glass.  A number of the doors were still "tacky."  The drawer glides installed were not properly leveled or adjusted. Nevertheless, the drawer boxes had been installed upon them in readiness for attachment of the drawer fronts.  It was clear to me that a significant amount of time would be necessary to properly adjust the drawer glides (and the door hinges), although I had been told that ALL work would  be completed that day. What I saw was thoroughly shoddy work--obviously not the "durable  furniture quality finish" or the "furniture quality craftsmanship" described in the proposal.  Furthermore, it was insulting that I was expected to accept it.

There was no way I would go through another single day of that madness. Mr. Grote says his operation is known for quality project completions and timely delivery. That certainly was not my experience.   I had to end the relationship in order to preserve my sanity.

I hired my own painter who sanded all the drawer fronts and doors and properly caulked them before painting them in the correct color and sheen.  I subsequently hired a competent finish carpenter.  He spent 12 hours overall on hinge and drawer glide leveling and adjustment, including some small but necessary cabinet interior modifications.  Then he spent an additional day installing all the cabinet components and knobs to perfection. I have hired an electrician to complete the unfinished electrical work.

I learned the hard way that a nicely developed proposal with computer-generated  renderings is no substitute for competent project organization and execution.

1) Within a month after installation one of the drawers broke. Now, less than a year later, 12 out of 31 drawers don't work - they slam and/or don't self-close. When we looked into that, we realized that instead of installing high-end BluMotion by Blum soft and self closing drawer slides as per our contract, Klaus installed some cr**ppy slides made by Ferari. We forgave him for a lot of other things (notice that I only wrote this review now. We let all the other issues, even major, go until this drawer fraud was revealed), but substituting $27 parts with some $4 cr*p is is low. And all for what? A few hundred dollars of cost savings Klaus got out of it?
2) The kitchen island was supposed to be espresso STAINED wood. We carefully chose the color from the variety of stained samples Klaus has provided us with. Using the sample, we chose and purchased the hardwood floors and the granite counter. Then Klaus brought in and installed PAINTED cabinets instead, and the brown paint he got is not even close to the espresso stain color we have chosen. We felt like idiots for that we spent so much time trying to find the perfect countertop to match the cabinets, when the cabinets turned out to be nothing like what we ordered. Plus, the paint job was bad: he tried to fix it (using the roller) but only made things worse. Klaus ended up disappearing on us, abandoning the project. Since he left, the paint continues to chip. I still don't understand what he was thinking. Did he seriously expect us not to notice that cabinets are painted when they were supposed to be stained??
3) When wiring for under-cabinet lights, he connected two wires (not even with a wire nut) and left them hanging in the wall. He was about to patch the opening in the drywall when we caught him. This is incredibly dangerous - leaving wires in the wall without a junction box. Not to mention that you have to have access to all the points of connection, so you can't just close up the wall and hang a cabinet over it. Klaus is a chief of volunteer fire department in Magnolia. I could not believe he was going to leave the wires in the wall just like that!!
4) The dishwaser was improperly connected: the dirty water with pieces of food flows back to the dishwasher from the garbage disposal (because the hose does not loop up above the drain level like it should), and the dishwasher stinks as a results. Klaus cut the hose short to go straight to the disposal, so we cannot even fix this problem without taking the dishwasher out completely and replacing the hose.
5) The fabrication of the cabinets was supposed to take 4 weeks, the installation was supposed to take 3 days. Instead, it took 4 months start to finish. Admittedly, Klaus has plausible reasons for the delay: death in the family first, then Klaus himself got very sick, then there was some equipment malfunction at the shop. We were understanding and to speed things up we hired an electrician (we didn't trust him anyway after the wire in the wall situation) and a plumber to do the work Klaus was supposed to do as per our contract. Klaus managed the best he could - he was installing kitchen in parts over the period of two months, so the were able to partially use it.
We were pretty upset with the painted cabinets instead of stained, but we went along with it, letting him to fix the chipping and running paint, instead of making him make us new cabinets and stain them.
We were not happy that the whole thing took months instead of weeks, but we accepted it and tried to stay optimistic.
But when the drawers started falling apart and we found out that he substituted Blum drawer slides we paid for with this cr*p, we could not get over it. This is pure fraud and there is no excuse for it.

We met with Klaus and went over what we wanted him to do on our kitchen makeover. He offered suggestions and options. We agreed on a design and he returned within a week with drawings and proposal.
We met with 3 or 4 contractors for estimates on our needs. KGB was neither the most expensive nor the least. Our price quotes were from $5,000 to $20,000. We went with KGB because, for the price, we got quality workmanship. On the least expensive bid we were only offered to order prefab cabinets from China and installation .
We signed off with KGB, paid the down payment and while he began the cabinet construction, we readied the kitchen for the install. We gutted the place to the walls. There were a couple of minor delays on his end that weren't his fault.
1. The wood he ordered from his supplier had too high of a moisture content and he had to reorder. While this was a delay, we were glad that he was that meticulous in his work and it showed that he wanted to do an excellent job.
2 At the time we were doing our remodel was the year of a lot of grass fires in the area. I can't remember if he had to evacuate his house or workshop, but that delay was unavoidable as well. Perhaps a week delay.

Once he arrived with the cabinets and began the install, there were the usual delays that involved, not him, but our house. The house was built in the '70s and apparently not a lot of high quality workmanship went into construction when they slapped our neighborhood together... Uneven floors, walls not square, etc. That sort of thing Klaus worked around and did a fantastic job, but it took a few days longer on the install
He also recommended a company for counter tops for us to use who did a fantastic job.
We have a medium sized galley style kitchen. You can get cabinets out there for $5k, but you get what you pay for. You can pay up to $20k, but you'd be overpaying.
KGB came in down the middle of our budget with top quality work.
I think the real sign of someone being happy with a contractor's work is if they'd have the contractor come back again to do another job.
To answer that question, we have a room adjacent to our kitchen that we call our bar. We will definitely have KGB back to give an estimate on the cabinet work in there. Based on their past work, we will most likely go with them again.

Company provided very quick response via email that they were too busy and not accepting new customers or reviewing new projects. While I apprciate their honesty, I will not go back to them for future business.

They are part of the Better Business Bureau and Klaus Grote's craftsmanship is incredible. The work is phenomenal; he takes a lot of pride in what he does and you can tell by his work; the doors are beautiful. He is very responsive, professional and does what he says he will do. He kind of walked me along through the process to make sure I was happy with the job. You get what you pay for. I spoke with a number of other companies over the phone and they were quoting prices without looking at the job and their prices were much too inexpensive for me to have gotten the craftsmanship that I did.

He was absolutely wonderful to work with.