Oakville Kitchen Designers

Another tale of lack of coordination, communication and sense of urgency Our tale began with great excitement and is now fizzling with frustration because of lack of action and coordination on the part of OKD. We are now at the end of week 10 of a six week project. For four separate weeks since the end of August, there has been no work or trades in the house, 21 work days with no activity – no wonder it’s behind! We waited nearly two weeks for the dry-waller to appear. We subsequently discovered the trades were working exclusively at another customer who has also just reviewed on this site – and who, btw, is quite correct; the only time anything is on schedule is when John shows up for a cheque. Throughout, we have been told that x will happen on Tuesday, oh probably Wednesday, maybe next week ... When the cabinetry did eventually arrive (over 2 weeks late because the order was placed just as the factory started its summer shut-down!), some cabinets had been ordered incorrectly and some parts had not been ordered at all! Measuring for counter-tops took place over a week ago and since then - nothing. This week, I asked John for a schedule in writing, “I’ll have it with you Thursday.” On Friday, “it’ll be tomorrow”. Same old story. The cabinetry is not finished, the backsplash is not in place, appliances sit around the kitchen, the crack in the ceiling (which OKD caused) still needs to be repaired, electrical and plumbing need completion etc. John rarely responds to phone calls and his voice mailbox is always full. When we’ve seen them, the trades have been excellent: polite, professional and always clean up after themselves. It is they who have earned the one star rating I’ve given). However, the management of this project is abysmal. This has not been a pleasant experience for us and we would never want anyone else to have to go through it. We’re living in chaos with no end in sight.

We went to OKD not because of the most efficient timeline (other companies quoted us 5-7 weeks, OKD said 8 weeks) or the lowest price (low cost sometimes means low quality right?); but we chose OKD because John seemed like a good guy to work with, and was remarkably responsive during the planning phase of the project. Unfortunately, as soon as we paid him and we broke ground, starting with the demo on May 14th, 2016, things went amiss. It is now October 14th, 2016 -yes it has been 5 months (not 5 weeks) and we still aren't finished with the renovation. The worst case scenario estimate was 8 weeks, but we're moving into week 23 as I write this email. Just in case you missed it: 8 weeks = plan 23 weeks = still incomplete Granted, there was some structural uncertainties, where I'm nice enough to give John a 3-week 'bye'; that STILL puts us at 20 weeks and still being behind by more than double the estimated worst case scenario. The worst part is, there is still no urgency from this company to make things right, or any sense of wrong doing. Everything is just one new excuse away, with a supplier 'screwing things up' or 'supplier messing up the order' -except that it seems like everything is delayed and nothing is done right -but for some reason it is never this company's fault! We all know this story all too well... I have never been given so much lip service in my life. I hired John to be the 'man in the trenches' to run the project so that I can have the turn-key experience, I ended up having to do all of the pushing and prodding myself. THREE TIMES I had to drive to home depot and buy/cut board to protect my own floors; I even had to re-plastic my furniture because his staff didn't bother to cover my upholstered couch before putting it on its side and pushing it through the drywall dust on the floor. Are you kidding me? The worst part about this, is I still don't have a completion deadline, but I'm ready to cut the cord because Oakville Kitchen Designers obviously does not need my business and I am not a worthy customer of John's. Just for your information, anytime John says: today = tomorrow (maybe) 1 day = 1 week 1 week = 1 month 1 month = 3 months List of things that contributed to this mess: 1) Did not consult a structural engineer during the planning stage (+3 weeks) 2) Cabinets not ordered properly (missing cabinets and panels) (+4 weeks) 3) Contractors did not properly protect floors and furniture ($$$ set back; I had to personally go to Home Depot to buy board to protect my own wood floors) 4) Backsplash quartz slab was mis-drilled leading to having to replace the entire item (no cost, but +1 week) 5) Did not order enough hardware (+2 weeks) 6) Multiple occasions where contractors had to measure and re-measure and re-measure and re-order moldings and trim from home depot (+2 weeks)... 7) Bankette went out to get sprayed, but the colors are inconsistent; two of the panels are actually a different white than the rest of it.. but okay 8) $30,000+ cabinets have been patched with an exposed edge above my range hood, so I have an exposed wooden edge showing still after 22 weeks of work 9) I still have multiple holes in my basement due to the original structural work that have yet to be looked after 10) Transitions installed between kitchen and living room have been stained, but the stain was applied on my trim as well 11) General delays and.. I just don't know... (+3 months) 12) Delays in making scheduled payments by customer (me) 0 days I'm sure I'm missing a few more items. Feel free to message me for details; I also have pictures to back up my case. Buyer beware. This is a scary company to deal with.

We contracted OKD for a large reno project that included a new kitchen, 3 new bathrooms, new office cabinets, complete house paint job, new tile floors and sanding of hardwood floors. What was initially committed to be finalized in 6 weeks has now dragged on for about 9 and is still not finished. The account manager made multiple drawing mistakes that we could luckily detect ourselves before it was too late. Kitchen island connections were misplaced, pot lights were drilled so many times the ceiling turned into a Swiss cheese, incorrect tiles were placed in one of the bathrooms and they asked us to order a different size fridge because they made a mistake in cabinetry in the kitchen and we could just in time stop the floor company from putting the wrong color on a freshly sanded red oak floor. Planning and clear communication are totally absent between client, OKD and their subcontractors. Despite the sales pitch at the start of the project, the account manager displayed zero sense of urgency. The president of the company only shows up when intermediate cheques need to be collected. We eventually bypassed the account manager and dealt directly with the president over the last two weeks. Unfortunately zero difference here: no sense of urgency, no clue of where his crew stands in work progress and a lot of commitments and words but very little real action. Our experience is very similar to the testimony on this site dated 2009/06/12 (anonymous). The company’s reaction to that review was that they ‘do not have any documentation in our files of any unresolved issues or unsatisfied clients which is why we feel this review does not belong to us.” We have plenty of documentation on our case. At this point, would not recommend this company at all. New commitments were made week after week, most recently yesterday. We have been more than patient with the president of OKD and his staff. They only have 6 days left to complete what they promised and to meet their extended deadline. Should they fail to do so, it will be a clear sign to us that we cannot be the only victims of Oakville Kitchen Designers. With this in mind, stay tuned as we plan to update the community with how this evolves. Update - 2 days to deadline This week, commitments have again been pushed out systematically. Today, out of the 4 countertops that needed to be installed, only one was completed: the kitchen's was missing, for one bathroom size was right but color wrong, for another color was right but size wrong. During the course of the week, it has become increasingly clear to us that we as client need to do all the follow-up and coordination of the job, OKD's president does not. He systematically ignores our pleas and flat-out says he has not spoken to his crew nor has "the planning in front of him." We are skeptical the job will get done by the deadline. Will never work with this company again and would advise against hiring them. It is just not worth your money.

We interviewed half a dozen kitchen designers and narrowed it down to three we felt could do the job. John listened carefully to what we wanted and proceeded to hit the ball out of the park with his design which he then delivered on budget and on schedule. John was punctual, always kept his word and was responsive to our needs throughout the project. John's sub contractors were true professions and John responded quickly to any issues that would arise during the project. You simply can't go wrong choosing OKD to renovate your kitchen. We are extremely pleased with our new kitchen and thank John for giving us a kitchen worthy of a high end magazine layout.

We have worked with John on many projects over the years and we have always been pleased with the end result. John has good design ideas and his projects stay on budget. There have been minor deficiencies in som cases and John looks after these quickly and without question. We will use him again for sure.

Done a few kitchen hoods with John at Oakville Kitchen Designers and of course we get to see the workmanship and attention to detail - highly recommend Oakville Kitchen Designers if you are looking for a quality kitchen at a fair price.

Award winning designers who stay on budget and use quality products. Very happy bringing our kitchen into the 20th century.

The project has not yet started, but it has been 6 months of back and forth with the designer and she has been extremely patient with us. There was alot of valuable input from her and she is available whenever we have questions about anything relate to the kitchen. She is connected and gave us recommendation of different vendor to shop for the material but we were never pressured to use her contacts. The schedule gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect on what day. Our friend who used them said they were on time in terms of completion so let's hope ours will be too!