This whole situation seems strange to me. If something is going on they need to keep you informed. Theses are your cabinets. You paid them. It's a business transaction. Honestly, if they are not returning calls, I would drive there & see what in the world is really going on? Or you might have to threaten legal action. Another month - maybe? Before you get you cabs? You can feel bad for people when they are ill but they are by no means treating you fairly. You might be better off getting you money back & ordering from somewhere else. Something is not right here.

Wow, sounds like what I went thru trying to get built-ins in our LR. I was having custom builtins done around a FP. I was having builtins, FP surround re-tiled and the room re-painted, etc. A 2-3 day cabinet 'install', literally turned into 3 month install. Yep, like you, I felt sorry for the guy and family member, but it was a business transaction to which I had considerable amount of money invested and I couldn't walk away. I re-arranged what I could manage to do (like the painting), so *everything* wasn't in limbo. However, by the time the cabinet guy got done, I wasn't happy with the quality of the job and related this to the KD whom I hired this cabinet maker from. Neither got a shot at the more expensive custom kitchen re-do.

Hang in there. Look at it positively...the delay will give you the time to 2nd guess all your choices...again. :)

This is one of the hazards of dealing with a small enterprise.
Stuff just happens.

Assuming this is an honest and legitimate business, you just sit tight and wait, knowing that this is their livelihood and they feel internal pressure to get the job done and collect payment. When you deal with a small business like this, you have to accept that things like this can happen and be willing to accept the risk. I know it seems like a huge obstacle to you right now, the truth of the matter is that being set back by only a month or six weeks is pretty insignificant in the larger scheme of things.

Your other alternative is to get your money back and start over with another cabinet source--which will likely mean an even longer delay.

I would want to know how far along they are in the production. Have they even started. From your post, it sounds like they haven't. If they haven't started, I'd take my business elsewhere. You will encounter a delay, but at least you will have a completion date. The advice to talk to your GC is good advice. Even though he isn't the first contact, he can gauge whether they are on the up and up. Sometimes things just suck.

My heart went "thud" when I read this. I won't hijack your post by relating all the problems associated with our remodel. As with yours, we based all our arrangements with contractors - other than our KD's installation contractor - on her schedule and her word. Also, like you, trouble initially started with a hint of a slight delay. And, like you, it eventually turned into getting no responses at all.

Among the worst of our problems was trying to keep our subs in the loop so they could plan to keep us in their schedules. They were superb craftsmen and really nice people who bent over backwards to accomodate our needs. I felt sick over how they were being jerked around and we were very generous with bonuses to them in the end to try to compensate in some way for their troubles.

I hate to say this, but if you can get out of this, I would. We stayed the course and it was very uncomfortable dealing with people once we'd lost trust in their word. Instead of feeling like valued customers, we were made to feel like they were doing us a favor by having taken our job. The delays continued. We discovered that components we'd been told had been delivered and were ready for installation had not even yet been ordered. We let a lot of what most people here would consider unacceptable work (that DH eventually will touch up/repair) get by simply because we needed to get back in our home and have these folks out of our lives.

If you can see clear to hit the reset button, you may spare yourself a lot of grief. I wish you the very best as you sort this out.

Personal problems are just that....personal. This is business and your cabinet guy needs to make it right.

thank you, all. I'm actually relieved that there replies weren't an overwhelming "you are a horrible person for being worried about your cabinets in the face of terrible health issues."

this company is definitely legit - have seen their work in many homes in and around my town. have even seen them mentioned on here. but what i don't know is how many people actually work for them, outside of the one guy i've been dealing with as the sales guy, and then the people in the factory.

yes, i'd like to know if my cabinets have been started too. i emailed the brother back in horror after i got his note and he never replied.

i'm going to speak with the GC tomorrow and see what he thinks. pulling the plug now...i can't even fathom. they have a huge amount of deposit. and to start all over...we'd have to literally start all over. the thought makes me nauseous.

I think what I would do something like this:

Have your KD contact the company. Have her tell them enough is enough, that you have been more than patient and though sympathetic to their personal problems, you have a house to finish. Give them a reasonable deadline for delivery, not too much time though. Ultimatum is: if delivery is not received by stated deadline, you will pull the order and under the circumstance expect full reimbursement on your deposit immediately. If neither option happens you will have no recourse except to hand it over to your attorney and contact the better business bureau and all small business associations they be members of. If you go this route, be sure to have your KD follow up the phone call with an email stating exactly the same thing mentioning her phone call so they cannot say the were not notified. You should not loose any money because of their problems. I would have not been as patient as you.

I agree with zorrosiw1.

If the person with the problems is the sales person, I don't understand why things are on hold then. If the order is partly paid for, it must be ready to go to production in the factory. If there are cabinet makers, they should still be able to carry on. m If you see their work a lot and hear about them, they can't be too small. And I agree, if they can't deliver in a reasonable time frame, ALL of your deposit should be refunded as it is them reneging on a deal, not you.

Perhaps it is the cabinetmaker himself who is ill, or his spouse who is critically ill. Brother should just tell you if that is the case. If they have a "factory" with a production crew, though, I wonder if no one there is capable of setting up the work to be executed (a possibility).

Anyway, when I ran into delays and snags, although my GC's crew expressed some grumpiness over them, he assured me that this was common and although they would move on to the next project, there would inevitably be a delay or break in that work before long where they could come back to mine. And that proved to be the case.

Are you in CA by chance?? A similar thing happened to us. Last fall our original cabinetmaker was in the process of doing the shop drawings for our cabinets when we (well our GC) got an email that he had gotten very ill, and he was told by his doctors he would have to stop all work for at least 6 weeks. Horrible for him and his business. We ended up going with another cabinet maker b/c our cabinets hadn't been started yet. I agree with others who suggest getting your KD to call the cabinet maker and get an answer. Our cabinets were delayed but we still had so much to do on the house it didn't affect our overall timeline.

As for an unforeseen delay to our project-the west coast port dispute (finally resolved last week) has brought our remodel to a halt. Our countertops (Caesarstone), which were supposed to arrive in mid-January have yet to arrive. We can't complete our kitchen or one of our bathrooms because everything left to do is dependent on the countertops being installed first. We are stuck. All the subs are gone b/c there's nothing really to do until they arrive. Fortunately our house is close to completion, and fairly livable now. Plywood is a good substitute for kitchen counters, and we have another bathroom in which we used a different type of countertop, so that's finished.

My LG Viatera is manufactured in Georgia. It's always an option.

Omg. Going thru the same situation. 3 months and kitchen boxes still not fully installed. Holding up our countertops which is holding up the tilers and finishers and painters and electricians. I’ve had it and am losing sleep and having anxiety attacks as the delay is costing us thousands every month as interest rates are thru the roof.