Way, way back (as in late November) when we launched upon our remodel we ordered some slide-outs from the HD refacing company ala carte. Hubby just got to the point of installing them about 3-4 weeks ago. As he pulled out the pieces (many of which were minorly damaged) his one comment was: "I could have built these from scratch for much cheaper and with much better construction."

Best of luck with the refacing.

I'll bet it will turn out well after it's all said and done. I just hate that there's likely to much of the "said" involved on your part. I know this is very stressful for you. Sending good thoughts your way. Check back in tomorrow and let us know.

Thanks, I'm sure it will turn out well too, I just hate having to watch it so closely to be sure. I mean, the refrigerator would not have fit when he was all done. Yikes!
The quality of the factory made stuff is great. Pre-finished 3/4 cabinet grade plywood for the new pantry carcass and shelves, poplar used for face frame (will be veneered over), very nice solid maple frame doors and slab fronts for the drawers.
Going into it we got only two quotes, one of which was insanely high. After getting HDs quote I felt it still seemed high for refacing, so I called a custom cabinet maker friend of ours. His prices are WAY out of my league, but after talking it over with him I felt the HD price was at least reasonable for this market.
We'll see how it turns out, but so far I'm wishing I'd made an effort to find a local shop.

- D

Day 2:

I was too incredibly frustrated and angry after yesterday to write anything. Not much better after sleeping on it so I'll try to keep it short.
As mentioned, the doors and drawers look great and I think are made well enough. But that's done in a factory.
The problem is in the craftsmanship of the guy who shows up. Veneering can be done well I think, just watching how it's done I can see how much better I would do it! But this guy just moves too fast, too sloppy and with no care to details. He likes his wood filler.
Worst part is, everything I try to talk to him about he just gets angry and frustrated. Two calls to his boss in two days. Needless to say, this is going to take a long time to resolve and nobody is getting paid anytime soon.

But as it stands now, I need him to finish so we have our kitchen back. So I've stopped bugging him, I'm in the office instead of watching over him. That's what he wanted, "just let me finish, then see what you think" instead of sweating every detail. I've taken lots of pictures for documentation but won't make them public yet. Gearing up for battle!

- Don

Day 3:

Was a disaster. After another battle over his attention to quality and details I sent him packing. I won't go into the details but it was ugly. Day 4 gets much better.

- Don

Day 4:

The Installation Manager for the area and one of his senior installers came out first thing in the morning. Going over the issues I was relieved to find them agreeing with every complaint I had. I was very impressed with how they handled the situation. They made many notes and took a lot of pictures and agreed that the whole thing needs to be redone. It was such a relief to speak with people who completely understood my point of view and were just as disgusted as I when they saw the work.
We're unable to tackle it for the next couple of weeks but that allows them time to get more materials lined up. So we'll reconvene in two weeks and I'm optimistic about it all again.

- Don

Wow. Wow. Really wow.

I don't know if you are in Southern California, but we just used Reborn Cabinets for two of our bathrooms and were VERY pleased with the attention to detail, the workmanship, the professionalism, and the result. The cabinets look top notch.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reborn Cabinets

Hey thanks much, I'm on the east coast so no, can't use them. But I'm pretty confident it will get done well now. I'll update when it gets started again!

- D

((((don_chuwish))))

Hope the return act goes better.

Going with Home Depot can, no doubt, be an aggravating experience. But, the higher ups do seem to respond when problems arise. Good for them! Hope the rest is smooth sailing for you.

I have been reading your saga and I am sorry for everything you are going through. I think that when so much depends on the actual person doing the work, using HD (or Lowes or Sears or another corp) the work will be variable, BUT as you are finding, the good thing is that they WILL stand behind it. It may be upsetting, but at least in the end, you will be pleased.
Unless you know of a particular small local craftsman who is highly recommended, I do believe that going with the larger chains does give that extra protection. (annoying and irritating as it may be, at least it is not some fly by nite disappearing on you with substandard work left behind). It will all work out.

Well I have to comment on this, since my company essentially started what is called refacing in this region. First I have to say how close are you to delaware/philadelphia because I would be more than happy to give you a phone quote on having the work done properly. With a big company like HD you get nothing but problems. Poor communication channels, poor craftsmanship, and cheap products. Coming from a smaller family owned company I can tell you that we beat them in every aspect. I have fixed hinges and slides for jobs that we completed over 20 years ago at no charge. Lets see home depot do that after 1 year, it will never happen without the threat of a lawsuit. As far as pricing they usually are not cheaper, we always come in under sears refacing, and they do not even sell wood. I wish people would share the bad experiences more to discourage people from buying from places like sears and home depot, and encourage using true crafstman from their projects. Remember the people coming out to do their subcontract work are not getting paid much, they are doing because they either could not do it on their own, or they are not legally allowed to do it on their own. I know I sound harsh but I get frustrated at competing with a place that has run many small businesses out of business on the fact that they have e misleading reputation. Take a look at our website if you get a chance, I am very proud of the work I sell and do.

Mike Moore
Moore's Cabinet Refinishing
www.moorescabinets.com

Don, I'm so sorry - refacing is supposed to be "easy" by comparison! I'm looking forward to hearing of your updates!

- Yvonne.

Thanks everyone for the support. We're just back from vacation and I'm finding all these nice notes. Great stuff!
I'll update as things get started again next week.

- D

Mike Moore, if you're still following this thread let me say that I wish I'd taken more time in my research before starting this! I appreciate your post and it sounds like you offer exactly what these guys are missing!

- D

OK, the 2nd try at our kitchen started last Tuesday. I'm so burnt out I don't know how much energy I have to write it up, so I'll gloss over some details.
The new guy and his boss showed up and again expressed amazement at how bad the first try was. I was very reassured about their take on what needed to be done about it but it was also clear that not all the damage could be corrected. The original face frames were gouged and or cracked in places, riddled with screw holes where he'd retried door positions a few too many times, etc.
The first few days went OK, tho there were a few small things I had to point out he took it well and fixed them. No fighting or attitude issues! I was very worried that he hadn't removed all of the old glue down to the bare wood, but he seems to have made that work OK.
On Friday I could tell he was getting tired and frustrated though. He put up some crown and it really looked like amateur hour. Then he tried to fix it with filler and I had to push for it to get redone right. It still isn't as good as it should be.
He came on Saturday to get the job done and again did some crown that just wasn't good enough - had to have him redo that too. Still not as good as I'd do myself.
I've been appreciative all week that he's trying to fix a big mess and can't do magic. But when he declared it done yesterday and asked me to check it and 'sign off' I was not ready to do so. There were still a few things to tweak and fix as well as the damage done by the first guy. I was NOT ready to call it good. He was telling me if I don't sign off at the end of the job then he doesn't get paid. Fine I said, come back another day and fix a few more things. But I could tell that wasn't really an option for him.
There seems to be a very unfair structure to how they handle their subs. Give them a tight deadline to complete, no option to run over and either get sign off on the last day or don't get paid. That's just unfair to both the sub and the customer. Plus, an hour or less of looking over the job isn't enough to decide whether it's good or not. As we cleaned up and moved stuff back in today we started seeing all kinds of little things that needed fixing but hadn't noticed yesterday. Door and drawer alignment, odd choices in how to handle shoe and corner molding, etc.
So now I have to call them tomorrow and work out those details. Very irritating and stressful!

- D

P.S. I think it's hilarious that Home Depot has a little 'sponsored by' logo on this thread. Not exactly a flattering write up!