Dear Mr. Rardon,

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the professionalism, integrity and superb customer service your company demonstrated in the successful completion of our kitchen renovation contract.  Additionally, the product knowledge, hard work, diligence and attention to detail of Mr. Dennis Wieckert were critically important to the successful completion of the contract.  The finished product, our new kitchen, is beautiful and exceeded our expectations. 

Your company was highly recommended by several of our neighbors.  We were very fortunate to have you as the prime contractor and are pleased with the project management, attention to detail, communication, and customer service you demonstrated over the past few months.  Any construction/installation contracts end up successful and some end up in litigation.  It all depends upon the professionalism, integrity, and capability of the prime contractor, the quality of sub-contractors, and the planning and detail incorporated into the contract.  The quality of product and your work was excellent.  Despite several challenges, you did an outstanding job managing your sub-contractors, directing, and coordinating the installation schedules and ensuring the quality of the finished product.  As the contract proceeded, you kept us well informed and overall the communication was excellent.  You demonstrated a lot of flexibility and resourcefulness regarding incorporating our thoughts and ideas and managed to maintain the contract schedule.  The end result of your efforts was a high quality job, delivered on time and at the agreed upon price.  We sincerely appreciate the efforts and hard work of you and Dennis and simply wanted to say “thank you.'”

We have shown our new kitchen to many of our friends and neighbors.  We will continue to refer you and your company to anybody who is looking for an honest, competent, and capable contractor.  Thank you again for a job well done.  JoAnn and I want to extend our best wishes to you for continued success.

D. R. “Mac” Mckenzie

Captain, USN (Retired)

Norfolk, VA

 

Dennis,

Thanks so much for your patience, expertise, and humor in helping us with our kitchen.

Sarah L.

Norfolk, VA

 

Dear Rob and Dennis,

On behalf of our church family, I would like to express our appreciation for the beautiful countertop that now resides in our preschool nursery at Calvary.  It was a perfect finishing touch to our redecorating efforts and has been genuinely admired by all who have seen it.  Thank you so much for your generous gift.  May the blessing of our Lord be richly bestowed upon both you and your fine business.

Rev. Phillip Parker

Calvary Baptist Church

Portsmouth, VA

 

Dear Elizabeth,

I wanted to thank you for the professional way in which the installation was handled.  All of the people involved in the removal and installation of the vanity and fixtures were prompt, courteous, and efficient.  It was a pleasure to work with all of you.

Jane P.

Portsmouth, VA

 

Dear Mr. Rardon,

We would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks for the excellent service you provided us on our recently completed kitchen.  Kitchen Emporium came to us highly recommended and frankly you exceeded our expectations.

Your very punctual performance an meticulous attention to detail was quite impressive.  All of our concerns and questions had immediate answers and resolutions.  As could be expected of a sizable remodeling project, there were many questions and ideas brought forward all of which were handled professionally and timely.  You delivered and installed your products as promised without any deviations, monetary changes or adjustments.  We were at all times informed of your schedule and like clockwork, you delivered.

We are understandably proud of our new kitchen and putting it all together has indeed been a rare and pleasurable experience for us.  As we continued to enjoy the newness of our home, we will forever remember your part in it and we will be certain to highly recommend Kitchen Emporium to anyone we know that may be in the market for kitchen remolding or any other services you provide.

Lastly, we would like to extend a special note of thanks for your commendable patience and tolerance in dealing with our sometimes indecisiveness and uncertainties.  It has indeed been a pleasure doing business with you.

Bill H.

Virginia Beach, VA

 

To the Professionals at Kitchen Emporium,

We just wanted to thank you for the excellent service your team provided during the past few months in the selection and subsequent installation of our kitchen, laundry room and bath room cabinets.

Dennis was a big help in the selection of our oak cabinets as well as narrowing down the overwhelming choices of countertop options.  We had not been able to find the exact kind of cabinets we wanted (plain oak with no knobs, just finger pulls) to give us a clean looking kitchen and laundry and still be stylish until we say the cabinets your installed.  Some of his suggestions such as the drawers for pots instead of regular cabinets are very much appreciated and actually provide more storage than the normal choice of cabinets.  Turning the two bookcases in the family room facing toward the French doors also turned out to be an improvement in the appearance of the room.

The team of installers did an excellent job as well as suggesting some options that also enhanced the appearance of the cabinets.  Their idea for fitting a duct under the kitchen sink directly into the wood looks as though it was designed to be that way.

We look forward to continuing our relationship with you when we get ready to finish the room above the garage and will be calling you for replacing that cabinet and sink in that bathroom.  We have and will continue to recommend your business to anyone we know of who is in the building process.  Feel free to use us as a reference.  Again, thank you.  We really appreciate the attention to detail.  You took the same care and time with the whole process s we have in building the entire house.

Terry and Wayne Darrington

Suffolk, VA

 

Dear Rob and Dennis,

It was a pleasure working with both of you on our remodeling project.  We are very happy with the final project. 

Thanks for everything,

Barbara C.

Chesapeake, VA

 

Rob,

We love our new kitchen!  Thank you so much for the wonderful design you came up with for our very limited budget.  It makes our home much more livable.  I actually enjoy preparing meals in such a lovely environment without the dread of having to wash all of the dishes by hand afterward.  You are a real blessing.

Lesa and Dan

Suffolk, VA 

 

Dennis,

Thanks again for our beautiful kitchen.  We couldn’t be more thrilled!

Laura,

Portsmouth, VA

 

Dear Rob,

Thank you for making sure the floor was done right and to our satisfaction.  We will recommend you to our friends.

Karen and Jim P.

Suffolk, VA

 

Rob and Dennis,

You guys are so great!  A pleasant surprise of a super new cutting board made my day.  The kitchen looks great, thanks to a job well done.  It constantly gives us a reason to say thanks for choosing you.

Sonya and Tim M.

Portsmouth, VA

 

Dear Rob,

Thank you for the great job.  I am very satisfied with everything.  One thing was most appreciated, you always did exactly what you promised, and that is unusual these days.

Thanks again,

Donna B.

Portsmouth, VA

 

Dear Dennis,

Meant to send you a note on our ‘kitchen anniversary’ but some big jerk named Hurricane Floyd kind of distracted me.  Anyhow, we’re still greatly enjoying our new kitchen and still greatly appreciate all your help in achieving what we wanted.  Thanks!

Debby C.

Virginia Beach, VA

 

Rob and Dennis,

Thank you for your patience and attention to detail.  We love our kitchen!

Steven and Lisa L.

Chesapeake, VA

 

Dear Rob,

I just wanted to thank you for being so patient with me through my uncertainty in deciding on our kitchen cabinets.  Initially, going into the remodeling, I was so sure the white was what I wanted.  I got sidetracked because I did not like the laminate cabinets.

Your beautiful showroom and the information we received gave me what I needed to make a very important decision.  I am so looking forward to my new kitchen.  Thank you again.

Sincerely,

Dixie T.

Chesapeake, VA

 

The Home Depot

Taylor Road Store

RE: ___ family cabinet installation mistakes

To Whom It May Concern,

The reason that we are writing to you today is to provide a timeline of what we feel were various miscues on the part of Home Depot, KraftMaid, and ___ Enterprises, Inc. during the installation of our built-in den cabinets/entertainment center.  Due to the fact that one mistake has compounded the effects of another, it will have taken nearly four months to complete the installation of these cabinets (please note: installation has still not been completed as of the time of this writing).  In our opinion, this project has taken entirely too long, especially when considering the fact that this installation consisted only of a straight line of cabinet aligned along one wall, interrupted only by our fireplace, in addition to the following facts:

• no structural work was required
• no electrical work was required
• no plumbing work was required
• the owners (us) provided all required/agreed upon prep work prior to ___ Enterprises arriving on site for the installation (removed existing crown molding and fireplace mantel, removed brick toy box, repaired brick hearth, installed plywood floor panels to provide reasonable flush floor surface, removed baseboard hot water heat register, relocated air conditioner ductwork and vent in way of cabinets, relocated multiple electrical outlets, repaired drywall).

The following is an approximate timeline of what has transpired on this project;

Mid June 2007- design completed/contract signed at Home Depot.  Project cost paid in full.

Late June/early July- first set of cabinet deliveries received from KraftMaid.  Neil checked this delivery and several items were back ordered or missing.

Mid July- another delivery received.  A different person (Stephanie or Peggy) checked this delivery and some items were damaged and had to be ordered again.

Late July-another delivery received.  A  third person (Stephanie or Peggy) checked this delivery and more items were damaged and had to be ordered again.

Mid August- another shipment received.  Peggy checked this delivery and all items appeared to be in place.  Installation was scheduled.

Mid August-___ Enterprises arrived to provide installation.  Unfortunately, the wooden counter top had a beveled edge and was thus 3/4” short to support wall cabinets.  Other errors were also noted (right- hand support panel for t.v. bay had a natural finish and did not match the bisque paint color of cabinets, right-hand support panel and overhead panel for t.v. bay did not match one another in size).  ___ Enterprises representatives notified Peggy and discussed required remedies and new pieces were ordered.

Early/mid September- replacement pieces arrived from KraftMaid.  ___ Enterprises arrived to finish installation.  The replacement pieces were made too long (a mistake by KraftMaid).  ___ Enterprises installed the remainder pieces in order to resolve a conflict that arose during the ogee molding installation.  Also a ___ Enterprise representative  installed a piece of trim along the rear corner of the t.v bay such that an electrical outlet cover plate cannot be installed.

Mid September- the final piece was received from KraftMaid.  The panel section mandated by the ___ Enterprise representative has still not arrived, and it will apparently not arrive until early October.  Home Depot attempted to schedule another installation by ___ Enterprises to effect substantial completion without the end panel.  ___ Enterprises has advised that their schedule cannot accommodate us, and that they will not be available to complete the project until mid October.

In reviewing the project, we feel that the following items will need to be improved upon for Home Depot to remain competitive in the market place and to prevent similar snafus from occurring in the future:

• Three different project team members checked in the deliveries from KraftMaid.  Even with these folks checking the various pieces, there were still several “surprises” that slipped through quality control.  This should not happen- using one dedicated person per project to review items instead of three would have been advantageous.
• It seems as if the project management team members are being stretched too thin- they do not seem to be closely monitoring these projects until something occurs to bring a project to a screaming halt.  Only then is oversight truly provided.
• The role of the project manager is unclear.  We have rarely corresponded with Neil, our project manager.  It is much more typical for us to speak with Peggy, who appears to be the department head of three different departments.  While we feel as though she is doing the best she can given her many duties, it seems as though Neil should be working with us instead.  When my wife contacted Neil to schedule inspection for the initial KraftMaid delivery, he was either not prepared of had not received our contact/order information.
• The delivery time for each round of product deliveries from KraftMaid took three weeks.  This has been the greatest source of delays for the project.  This caused the project to drag on interminable every time damage or smudging was discovered.  Apparently, KraftMaid is unable to UPS  delivery and this seems horrendously inadequate for making timely deliveries.
• The designers at Home Depot and the installer at ___ Enterprises don’t seem to be on the same page.  ___ Enterprises argued vociferously for us the use laminate counter tops, which we adamantly opposed due to the location of these cabinets.  The designer advised that the wooden tops were perfectly suited for this application and would provide a superior look.  In the final analysis, we strongly agreed with the designer, however because of the conflicting advice, this was a strong source of friction during the planning stages of the project.
• A conflict between the brick hearth and the Ogee molding on the left side cabinets was not discovered until the second time ___ Enterprises had arrived to perform the installation.  An end panel was missing and if ___ Enterprises had installed the Ogee molding during the first day of installation, the missing panel would have been caught much earlier in the project.
• Although the designer, Christina, seemed very thorough and knowledgeable, she was apparently unaware of the conflicts.
• Home Depot’s front desk customer service representatives seemed very callous and occasionally quite rude when answering the telephone.  Furthermore, it appears that messages are not being delivered by customer service to the kitchen department staff.

My wife has expended a great deal of time and effort trying to manage this project, to keep all parties informed, and to provide ”motivation” to the project team.  Either she or I have been readily available for every inspection and installation as needed.  I have taken a vacation time from work to oversee the installation, only to see it gone to waste.  My wife has become increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and the comical errors despite her best efforts. 

Furthermore, our sunroom which comprises nearly 10% of our home’s square footage, has been almost completely inaccessible for over three months as it was necessary to store the cabinets.

In the final analysis, this project could and should have been handled more expeditiously and proactively.  A homeowner should not have to expend so much energy to see things through.  For comparison purposes, Kitchen Emporium completed a $35,000.00 renovation to our kitchen this past spring (including significant structural, electrical and plumbing work in addition to cabinetry and granite countertops) in less than sixty days.

For these reasons, we would appreciate receiving a full refund of the monies we paid toward this project.

Sincerely,

Christopher and Angela T.

 

Dear Dennis,

Thank you for doing such beautiful work.  We love the kitchen.

Tammy and John L.

Virginia Beach, VA

 

Dear Rob and Dennis,

Just a quick note to thank you both for a job well done.  We absolutely love our new kitchen.

Sincerely,

Al and Ruth P.

P.S. An extra ‘thank you’ to Dennis for the beautiful job you did finishing up our kitchen.  Your conscientiousness is so very much appreciated.

 

Rob,

Thanks for the help.  I appreciate your patience more than I can say.  If I find an old man with money, I’ll be back for some more cabinets.  Your folks did a fine job.

Isabel O.

Chesapeake, VA

 

Dennis,

Thanks again for all your help and I’m referring you to all my friends and neighbors!  You were great about letting me vent when I needed to!

Tracy R.

Virginia Beach, VA

 

Dear Rob,

We are so thrilled with our new kitchen!  It’s everything we had hoped for and more.  From the very beginning, thru all the decisions and choices, the usual problems and those unexpected ones, your calm steady manner and reliable expertise always helped to make in not so overwhelming these past months.

We are so pleased to add our names to Kitchen Emporiums satisfied customers and long list of fans.  Sending many thank yous and our best wishes to you and Dennis for continued success.

Jane O’Keefe

Norfolk, VA

 

Dennis,

We love the kitchen and sing your praises to one and all.  Thanks again for making it such an enjoyable experience.  your ideas and input solved so many problems and have worked wonderfully.

Gus and Joan S.

Hampton, VA

 

Dear Rob,

Thanks for a great job at a fair price.  We are looking forward to the move in the near future.

Crawford J.

Norfolk, VA

 

Dennis,

So far, all is working well with the cabinets and countertops.  Everyone loves the look, layout and more- that includes me!  Thanks for everything!

Pam C.

Norfolk, VA

 

Rob,

We’re both very pleased with our kitchen and the fine work you and your contractors did.  Thanks.

We’ll be sure to recommend you  to others.

Steve and Tonya

Chesapeake, VA