Ohhhh, What a Day! Cabinet woes still unresolved!!!LONG

16 years ago

My Kitchen has been "basically" done since right before Christmas, with 2 adjoining bookcases delivered after the holidays BUT all of my issue items have remained untaken care of. Two warped doors, one door with glass that doesn't match the others, missing crown molding,toe kick, shelf for bookcase and undercab trim to hide lites and the biggest one of all the "skin" or veneer for my island(the first one came 8" too short).

Originally some of these items were to be replaces with my second shipment but the company "didn't get around to it".

I've been waiting since the end of December and today the balance of my stuff was coming; this after being postponed from Tues to Wed to today. Actually didn't even think the stuff was gonna come at all.

So delivery guys here at 8am, bring everything in and ready for me to hand over final payment and head out the door. I'm like no way, I am checking each and every item and so I do.

Got the warped doors replaced but I or my GC need to transfer hardware; toe kick, crown shelf(1/4-1/2" too long but will take it) and undercab lite trim, good to go. New corbels-yay! Only one box left, big box, can't imagine what it is but there should be two pkgs left! Open big box and it is (2) sheets of "skin" which was to be (1)4' x 9' pc. The first was to be 4' x 8' and came out to be 88" long, not 96". So cab guy and i decide lets go with a 9' pc that way if they screw up the length i'll still be ok. But now it is in two pcs, meaning there will be a seam right down the middle which I did not want, nor order.

And of course, there is the missing box that should have had my wall cab door with the correct glass. How does a company supply 8 doors with 7 matching and 1 not??? I don't get that from the start, but anyhow no replacement.

Call the cabinet guy and the guy that i have been dealing with all along is not there so i get to deal with the owner.

I spent an hour and a half on the phone with this man.

He expected me to give his guys two of my wall cab doors with the glass in them so he could get the right glass. This is after I have waited ten weeks for all the stuff that was messed up to start!!!

Would you have?

I told him that i had no comfort level with getting my glass any quicker than what it took to get all the stuff today and I was not leaving my kitchen with two doors missing. It is the first thing you see when you walk into my house(including the naked island wall) and it was not gonna happen.

He also told me that i could not get the skin in an 8' length it only came in 4' lengths. Well why did it come almost 8' the first time? Duh?

We went round and round on both of these points for all this time; him saying that i wasn't working with him and he only wanted to do the right thing but to do that i needed to hand over those doors and accept a seamed veneer.

He insisted that i might get the wrong glass again if he didn't have the doors; well why is that? I picked out a certain type of glass and they managed to get it right 7 times just not 8.

It was so frustrating!

At one point his guy, who is still there, says "you're not gonna give me a check are you?", i'm like not until this is all taken care of. So he reports that to his boss who, did not say a thing to me about it.

I was actually prepared to not get anything and have to go the legal route so maybe now I should be a little happy that I've gotten this far? The only thing is the glass was pretty noticeable and I really didn't want a seam running down the middle of the island. So many things were issues with the cabinets, wrong sizes, bow out backs, wracked boxes, warped shelves and for the most part my GC(bro) just made things work by doing extra work.

I just want it to be done and finished.

How it is left is that he thinks he will have it all rectified by Monday...i'm not holding my breath.

And also today we were able to view the damage in our backyard from a tree falling which almost missed the house, just scraped and dented down the side of the siding, crushed a patio set & spewed glass everywhere, damaged alot of pavers but fortunately didn't come directly down on our house. It is a mess, to be sure, so dealing with that.

And, i know, how much in one day, got my problem fridge replaced with a smaller fridge which no longer has the built-in look the other had and it makes me sad, because i soooo wanted the other one to work, it fit well and looked nice. I was too afraid to buy the larger one b/c i was really afraid the clearance would not have worked and my over the fridge cabs would have been history.

Sorry that this is soooo long just needed to vent big time.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that cabinet guy keeps his word.

Thanks for listening.

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Comments (7)

raehelen
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Kas,

I wonder if the two four pieces came as leftovers from another job? Call me cynical. I am appalled at how so many people will blatantly lie to cover their a_____. Obviously they are available as 8' lengths, and I hope you stick to your guns.

However, I wudda given him the door- wanna see my kitchen with let's see, 1.2.3.4 doors missing (at carpenters to be trimmed down), and ten doors still with green masking tape handles (since October), cuz the doors are either going to be replaced (with glass inserts that also didn't arrive with original order), or with drawers.

My carpenter is coming any hour now to pick up the drawers and pullout shelves he made with maple veneered plywood and stapled together, instead of made with solid maple and dove-tailed together. Now he gets to make them all over again.

DH wants me to start looking for a 'real job' to help pay for the total house reno we are in the midst of. (I'm self-employed.) But as a friend said who was over today and witnessed all the phone calls, how could I possibly be on top of all this crap at a 'real job'?

Got my fingers crossed for you!!!
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Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
That is an interesting point you made, Raehelen. Could be, just could be.

Sorry to hear all of your issues, makes mine seem smaller.

But, I too work from home in a family business(with DH) and I just don't get how soooooo many things can go wrong. How do these guys stay in business????? We could never run our business like this, we would have no business. It really truly amazes me!

When we were at the height of construction and even prior when i was researching and ordering, etc. My DH would say to me, Are you planning on doing ANY work today? LOL, he really didn't get just how much work it is even though I spent a full year planning and researching(mainly here).

Thanks for crossing those fingers, i will let you know and I hope things start to come together for you also.
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User
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Veneered panels comes in 4 x 8 sheets. You are gonna have to have a seam. What the cabinet maker may have been trying to tell you is that your line doesn't have a cross grain 4 x 8 sheet, which is the grain running vertical through the 48" dimension rather than horizontal. That's common in some budget priced lines, and many customers who want a more finished look usually solve that by ordering decorative door panels to finish the island back off. It's a more finished look than is plain veneer, and far more durable. If you don't want to go to that expense, then two sheets of 4 x 8 should have been ordered and some batten molding so that the seam can at least be centered on the island. Some customers prefer the look of a single 4 x 8 centered, and two smaller flanking pieces rather than two large pieces meeting in the middle.

Glass can come in "lots" much like fabric or granite. Matching the "same" glass from different lots can be very difficult without a sample to compare it too. If you are nervous about relinquishing a whole door, just take the glass out of it to hand over. But, not giving him the glass is a mistake if you want your glass to 100% match. And, leaving the glass in the door will protect it somewhat from bumps and dings in transport. Wrapping it in bubble wrap is even better.
rosie
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
It's fun to just chat about style choices, but good information like this is what makes this forum great.
User
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
thanks for the info live wire oak but the first piece of "skin" WAS 4' x 8' but in reality it was only 48" x 88" instead of 96" and the grain ran up and down so IDK

in regards to the glass I was hoping that the "lot" thing wasn't the case with glass, this could become a problem but then maybe they will have to replace all of the glass panes? All of the cab glass doors were made at the same time so how did one manage to not match? What is not matching is that the glass is an obscure textured glass on the inside and the out side is a matte/non-glare finish. The door that does not match has a glare finish and is pretty noticeable when lights are on full or in the daytime when the sun is shining into the area.

The company cabinet owner wanted to bring to another guy he knew that did glazing to replace it with matching glass. I very willingly said I would bring the two doors to his shop so he could determine the type of glass and fabricate it and I would return for installation. For whatever reason, the cab guy didn't want to do it that way.
Hopefully whatever he is working out will resolve these issues, only time will tell...

But thanks for the info, it is very helpful as rosie noted.
pepperpie
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Kas - I feel for you.

Our kitchen has also been functional since December but the cabinet company (Holiday) keeps screwing up.

We have been waiting for 4 cabinet doors/1 drawer front/Sub-Zero refrigerator panels/assorted moulding and some trim for our cooktop hood. They have supplied these things at least 3 times times but it always comes in wrong. Our cabinets are custom stain/matte finish/ distressed/ wormholed. The cabinets have come in either non-matte or non-distressed or non-wormholed or all three. It is amazing to receive the upper half of the Sub-Zero door matte without distressing and the lower half regular finish with distressing. What are they thinking at the factory???

In addition...they send these relatively small cabinet shipments in a huge semi whose driver has called to deliver as late as midnight.

Meanwhile, our KD, who is a real peach of a guy, has not received the final 20% payment on our cabinet order. Nor does he even ask for it. He seems totally embarassed by this cabinet company. We have called the company and ranted and called the area rep for Holiday and ranted and of course, called our KD and ranted. Our only progress has been to have the latest (wrong) shipments delivered by courier during daylight hours.

Maybe they will get it right some day. Although the cabinets are beautiful....I too question how they stay in business. It is amazing.

Best of luck to you.
User
Original Author
16 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
thanks pepperpie and to you also....my countertop installer said that he has yet to see one job that he has done get the cabinets right in one shot

OTOH my brother used the company that i used and had no issues but i wonder if maybe they changed their cabinet supplier btwn his and my job; who knows?

reading the posts here it seems that most people have some kind of an issue, some worse than others.

I think mine are more minor but am just frustrated by it all; i want to be done. and actually as they continue to screw up i get more po'd about how much extra work we did to make things right with what they sent wrong.

What are you gonna do? Guess this is kitchen remodeling life.

Thanks again and good luck!!1

Ohhhh, What a Day! Cabinet woes still unresolved!!!LONG

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raehelen

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Ohhhh, What a Day! Cabinet woes still unresolved!!!LONG

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