First, wamot, I'm sorry you're having to go through this. It's the nightmare we all have while planning and going thru a reno. I'm mostly putting this here for others who might find this thread down the line. I know that the GCs and KDs at each store are unique and that becomes part of the puzzle that we have to untangle as we make our decisions. We first went to Lowe's and had them measure (paid) and do a design. There were some things they wanted to do that we thought were excessive (possibly in the wake of the violations that lucille posted) and I felt that the 'designer' was more of a sales person. I think he might have been handing things off to another designer to do. I never once saw him in the design software. We REALLY liked the GC and tried to make it work because we wanted to work with him. But we decided to check out HD. A friend had HD do their kitchen last year, so they also had the recommendation thing going for them. We had measurements from Lowe's, but we had HD come out to measure to protect ourselves ($49 in the midst of this was a bargain, even though we'd already had to eat $91 for Lowe's to measure). The hard part for us was every step with HD took two times longer. There wasn't such a tight arrangement between GC and store. We had to wait longer at each step, and as such, while I was hoping our cabinets would be here next week or so but we're looking about another month out past that. The big reason I'm posting this here is that we were told the GC would come to measure and his wife did. I was not here, MIL was here and remarked what a thorough job she did and how impressed she was. The measurements went from GCs wife to KD. She tweaked the rough design we had based on my measurements to what the GC provided. She was off in four places. FOUR! So that led to a whole round of 'How are you putting that there, that won't fit?' because I knew pretty much all the measurements by heart. I remeasured most things, confirming my measurements with Lowes' measurements. We tweaked the plan for the 3rd or so time and the GC revisited to confirm everything was good. I'm pretty sure THAT's the point that they're responsible up to. After that, I did some switching of things. I did things like move to a 36x33 Susan to gain 3" more in trash pullout to get two cans and make a base and wall into a tall to create a transition from an area that will have a backsplash (interior wall) to an area that will have masonry behind it (exterior wall). Since no floor measurements will change, I should be good. My KD at HD is very good, but she let me know she was a little intimidated by me (and often regrets giving me an old spec book). And more related to the OP's issue, as I was deciding whether to make the jump to HD from Lowe's, I did some reading. I wish I could remember what I googled, but I read that if you want your kitchen done on time, don't use Lowe's. But if you want to save some money in the end, do. They're known for delaying things for many reasons (misordering, not organizing installs well) BUT the flip side is that there are non-performance clauses in their contracts and so you often get $ off per day for each day certain things are delayed. I'd look things over and see if you can find anything like what I'm remembering. I was concerned with Lowe's because they wanted us to pay for everything (all materials and all labor) up front and when I balked that I watched too much People's Court to pay contracting things up front...they have no incentive to finish, I was told there were non-performace clauses (just as I'd read on the internet). Whatever I googled, I also came across a forum with current and former Lowe's employee's posting about changes to the structure of the way they work with outside contractors etc. It was all very interesting. Good luck. If you end up doing away with the fillers, make sure that at least you don't get charged for what will become 'extra pieces you don't need'.

Missy, I know nothing more. I haven't seen anything else about them, not even in Menard's advertisements.

IKEA is a much better quality and bang for your buck than either of the ones you mentioned

Hi, Lisa ??? "I'm ordering the cabinets separately from the GC, so I'm paying both of them." So, You are paying both the GC & Kitchen Designer. Both were reluctant to measure in beginning. They agreed to measure togeather. (That's great!) You are buying cabinets directly from cabinet store or maker. Is that correct? ___________ I understand why GC did not pay for them if you hired a KD to design the kitchen. A good installer would want to check a kitchen design measures before cabinets installed to prepare for upcoming install. Mine do. But I'm confused what was agreed to between your hired help. Why did the hired KD hesitate to want to confirm layout measures for you before buying cabinets? That's very odd to me. Did the cabinet company design the cabinet layout or the KD design the cabinet layout? Did the KD work togeather with the cabinet company to design it? Why did the KD not buy the cabinets for you? By the client buying the cabinets, I believe technically if something does not fit right, the client will have to work with the cabinet company directly to pay for any possible changes or fixes. Because there was confusion in the beginning of who would measure, is a red flag of who is going to resolve any potential issues & who is going to pay for it. Usually it is more apparent on who's job & responsibility it is on a jobsite beforehand. I hope everything goes well & it probably should. Hopefully, they will work as a team to get you a beautiful, kitchen soon.