Haynes Kitchen
Friends describe our renovated kitchen as “beautiful”, “expansive”, “bright”, and “not just more functional and accessible but elegant as well”.
We renovated our kitchen, pantry, and adjacent laundry room. Our 22-year-old kitchen was still pristine, however aging and recent surgeries have made accessing items in lower cabinets extremely difficult. Improving accessibility was the main driver of this project. At minimum, we needed additional upper cabinets, deep sturdy drawers in all lower cabinets, well-planned adjustable shelving in the pantry, a door converted to a pocket door, large single-bowl sinks with garbage disposals in kitchen and laundry, under-cabinet lighting, and Instant-hot water tap. Achieving this required all new cabinets, appliances, countertop, backsplash, sinks, faucets, repositioning appliances, tricky complicated reconfiguring of the cooktop downdraft and venting and relocating the blower to the basement to allow custom drawers to be built under the cooktop, rerouting plumbing and wiring, and running additional electric lines from the circuit box in the basement through the finished ceiling to the kitchen. We were terrified!
Wes Dickerson and designer Tarah Carnefix listened attentively as I pointed out the shortcomings of our kitchen and the goals we hoped to achieve. They very thoughtfully made suggestions and demonstrated they understood what we needed and wanted, yet never once pushed or tried to sell me on anything additional. They made multiple trips to our home, measured, submitted several possible designs, and brought subcontractors and the appliance rep to the house to ensure that what we needed could be done. They invested substantial time and planning before we ever committed to BACK, signed a contract, or spent a dime.
I chose BACK because they are highly recommended by several friends who have used them multiple times, they have built an excellent reputation for 40 years, they have a network of the most skilled and reliable subcontractors, and they have a reputation for doing high-quality work and standing behind it in the future. Our job required orchestration of a lot of supplies and people. BACK is expensive, but if they can pull this off, they are worth it.
Project Manager, Michael Seelbach, did not disappoint. He coordinated everything and everybody very well. He communicated clearly and frequently on-site or by phone one or more times/day. He is very conscientious, respectful, courteous, attentive to detail, prompt to respond and address any concerns or inevitable issues, and goes out of his way to be helpful. I would certainly request him again as PM.
Designer Tarah Carnefix held my hand and expertly guided me through the myriad of decisions from infinite possibilities. She is exceptionally talented, quick, yet patient. I sent her photos of things I like, and she quickly found and narrowed down examples online or in a showroom. She was adept at keeping me focused during what can be an overwhelming process. Working with Tarah was fast, easy, and fun! She nailed it!
Everyone on the BACK team and their subs was prompt, courteous, highly competent, attentive to detail, did beautiful work, cleaned up at the end of the day, and watched out for us and our cat!
Shout out to Martin, Brett, Shawn, Zach, and the rest of the BACK team, as well as Young Brothers Plumbing, PM Electrical Services, Winner’s Circle Painting, Joe Reilly at Pieratt’s, the floor finishers, dry wallers, tile setter, HVAC, and all the rest who worked so hard for us.
Gratefully,
Joy and Ken Haynes
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