I am rating them a 3 because of the great quality of cabinets and counter tops and the design they came up with for us. If those things were the only thing we rated on I would give them a 5. HOWEVER we had our kitchen done last summer and we were told it was going to be a 3 day install. We all can suck it up for 3 days right? We did the gutting out and floor tiling prior to them starting the install. There was a 1 man install crew for 2 weeks then the 3rd week a 2 man crew showed up (only after we began to complain about the time it was taking and the limited progress daily). It took 3 weeks to get 9 top cabinets in and 9 bottom cabinets in. We had to take time off work to be home during this time and when we were unable to be home, make arrangements for others to be here. (I should note that the contractor acknowledged and validated the extensive install however Joy didn't see this as a problem because the countertop couldn't have been installed for that time period anyway......ummmm but we could have got the appliances put in allowing us to cook and not have a living room full of dishes, tupperware, food etc! not cool)
My husband called and went in to verify how to cut the area for the pantry, I will add he is skilled at this kind of work. He was given specific instructions and cut it accordingly however when the cabinets came they didn't fit and Joy indicated "that is what happens when homeowners do things on their own". No! Either the directions were wrong or the cabinets were inaccurately ordered. Either way.... the trim didn't flow with the rest of the kitchen. When we pointed this out to Joy she didn't see the flaw (although everyone that saw it agreed it didn't flow). We have since made alterations to it on our own to make it flow and it looks great now.
Ultimately we love our new kitchen and would not likely use Kitchens by Design again based on our experience. read more