BETTER KITCHENS & BATHS, INC.

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My Wife and I chose this provider based on a recommendation to work with Kenyon Cobble on our Kitchen remodel.  That was the best recommendation we have gotten and Kenyon was the best thing that could have happened to our Kitchen.  After whittling down our needs, wants and constraints on our own, we arranged for Kenyon to visit the site and help.  It was nothing short of remarkable to see our potential kitchen from his perspective.  He very soon sent us a conceptual layout and we evaluated.  We went through multiple iterations of this until our dream kitchen was revealed.  That could not have happened with out Kenyon's talent, professionalism and patience. 



We then moved to cabinet selection at the store.  Kenyon educated us on each option and very methodically took us through each decision we needed to make.  He didn't steer us, but when prodded, offered his expert opinion on different features.  It was the most pleasant purchase experience either of us had ever had.



The cabinets are being installed as I write this, and everything is as expected.  We are elated.  We also are both certain we are blessed to have had Kenyon walk us through this project.  He took the project from nice to awesome!

Overall, it went okay.  We did research with BBB and other systems.  They worked with us to get the look we wanted.  We were given a list of places that we could go and see the various peices.  All of the vendors were helpful and nice. Especially the folks who provided the faucets etc.  
The parts that  did not go smoothly were
1. The master bathroom was on the second floor and the workmen installing the plumbing injured the ceiling below in the kitchen.  While they repaired the ceiling, they did not paint it.  That was left up to us.
2. We had meetings with the project manager and the worksite manager.  I thought we were all on the same page with the tile design and the inclusion of a niche for soaps, shampoos.  We never saw a picture of the design; all done verbally (Big Mistake)  The tile installers did not know about or have a copy  of the design we wanted and didn't even know about the niche.  So I had to call, missed a morning of work to meet with the two managers and get it straightened out.  Now the finished product is nice, but this process could have gone MUCH smoother.
3. We had to have them come back to finish up a couple of things like caulking.
Things that did go well.  They did some extra pieces for us, like hung a medicine cabinet and installed new faucets in two other bathrooms.  It did cost extra, but very reasonable and professional.  Also, they alerted us to a roof issue and we got them taken care of.  They did clean up well and had dropcloths, i.e. didn't leave a drop on our off white carpeting.  We still love our bathroom.

They had an extra one in the color finish we were looking for.

Dan Wines is incredibly unprofessional.  Having not gotten beyond the quote process, I can't speak to the work Better Kitchens does. 

We used Better Kitchens and Baths for our kitchen remodel.   We replaced cabinets, countertops, kitchen sink, faucet, garbage disposal, dishwasher, stove hood and added under cabinet lighting.  Our contact person at Better Kitchens was Brad Parker.  He did a great job designing our updated kitchen and provided the quote promptly.
We did not end up purchasing our countertops, faucet, or garbage disposal through Better Kitchens because we were able to get better prices elsewhere.  We did use the electrician and plumber from Better Kitchens and they were both very professional and provided quality work.  
The removal of the old cabinets went smoothly.  The new cabinets were installed by installers from Better Kitchens.  Derick and Joseph were both really great to work with.  They do quality work, were polite and professional, and we felt that we could trust them in our house.  They are very nice, conscientious people and they work well together.
Our real issue with the project was the cabinets themselves.  After discussing our needs, Better Kitchens recommended Wolf Cabinets and they turned out to be poor quality.  We were assured that the quality had not been an issue in the past.  We could have bought better quality cabinets off the shelf at a big box store.  Many, many places on the cabinet doors were not sanded properly before being stained, leaving the finish very noticeably rough. Some of the drawers do not close smoothly.  In some places there are streaks or globs of stain.  Some of the wood had stripes.  Some of the doors were dinged or scratched. There were two long scratches down the side of one cabinet. You can tell that the doors and drawer fronts were not given adequate time to dry after staining before being wrapped for shipment because the pattern from the foam they were wrapped in is visible on the surface.
After reporting the issues to Brad, he worked very hard to try to correct them.  He agreed with our complaints and never gave us a hard time over the issues we were having with the cabinet quality.  He ordered replacement after replacement for cabinet doors, drawers, glides, etc.  Replacement after replacement came in with the same or worse issues.  Over the span of several re-orders we were able to replace a few doors and drawer fronts.  Brad didn't stop trying to fix the problems until we all accepted that  the effort was fruitless and that the quality was not improving on the vast majority of replacement pieces.  The project took much longer than it should have due to the quality issues. In the end, we accepted several remaining cabinet issues just to finally be done and came to an agreement with Better Kitchens on the final payment.
In summary, we received prompt and professional service from Better Kitchens but the cabinets themselves are not good quality.  Brad, Derick, and Joseph were very good to work with.

I stopped in to meet with a designer and have custom cabinets built for a laundry room.  Designer was out for lunch, but someone took all details and said he would contact me as soon as he returned.  3 days later, I had to call and ask about it.  The designer said he was apparently too busy, and would try to work on it and send something over.  No apologies, and acted like my job was bothering him.  It didn't matter if they gave me a good deal...I didn't like their attitude.

The good news is, we are very happy with our new kitchen.  It is a dramatic improvement over the old one.  Also, Better Kitchens and Baths was committed to fixing problems and making things right in the end.   
The bad news is, there were far, far too many problems along the way.  Most of them related to very poor communication, logistics, and coordination.   The entire project was far more stressful than it should have been.We never felt we were getting the attention to detail that our expensive project deserved.  Many of the issues were completely avoidable, and a minimum of professional communication effort would have prevented them. 
The project went two weeks past its estimated completion date.  When we'd ask questions or seek clarification, we occasionally received a condescending attitude.  There were unnecessary delays in the schedule caused by an utter lack of follow-through.Pros:  The designer they assigned to us was very good at designing cabinets. This must be her area of expertise, as she was highly knowledgeable.  Another positive I must acknowledge is they really did try hard to make things right when they went wrong, and again, the final results are good.  The final positive comment is that they never pressured us about payments.  Because we did not feel the project was going well, we held off making payments as long as we could.  They did not make an issue out of this, and we appreciate it.
Cons: Beyond cabinets, the knowledge and expertise of our assigned designer started to break down and show some gaps. We somehow learned more about back splashes, floor tiles, trim, appliances, and many other small things just by driving around talking to suppliers and other designers. We really aren't that knowledgeable these things, so we were consistently surprised and bothered by our assigned designer's obvious ignorance in areas other than cabinetry. Making this worse, we were treated with a defensive attitude when such issues were pointed out. 
Our original budget for this project was $20,000.  We used a mixture of our own labor,material, and subs together with their subs.   We are still trying to figure out why our final price was $25,000 when we did so much of the leg work and materials purchases ourselves.  When you hire a team of pros you expect something for your money, not stress and endless follow-up tasks to deal with yourself.
We also shopped hard for bargains on materials and appliances and we removed and extras or options that we could in an attempt to keep the total cost down.  Better Kitchens sent us an itemized list every few days, explaining various charges and costs we were accumulating.  This normally would have been a good thing, except for the list was very inconsistent and often did not make sense.  The numbers were always changing and it was more confusing than helpful.   Basic math seemed to be beyond the grasp of the person putting the list together. Labor from their subs was very expensive.  We expected a higher hourly rate, but it seemed twice what we paid our own subs. 
The quality of work from their subs was all over the place.  It ranged from excellent from some of their subs to haphazard and slipshod from others.  Many things large and small had to be done over again, which they did do. 
Short version:  they made a lot of mistakes, however they were willing to fix them.   We did not feel we got good value for our money when you add in the stress, budget overruns, and extra work that we the customers had to do to stay on top of things.  If we ever do a project like this again, we'll hire real general contractor with experience and a proven track record.  Their cabinet designer, even though she is a good one, just didn't seem capable of managing any other part of our project.

The costs quoted were significantly higher than our budget allowed and we put this project on hold.  BKB was very flexible and allowed us to scope the work as we saw fit and use either their contractors or individuals we already knew.  There was some pressure to use their contractors as they were "bonded".

After the cabinets were installed, we bought a new refrigerator and it didn't fit. The cabinet company came out and fixed the cabinets so the refrigerator would fit for no charge.