My wife and I have remodeled 6 homes, so we are no strangers to working with suppliers and…read morecontractors on projects. We wanted to upgrade our small wet bar and chose to work with Greater Chicago Kitchen and Bath because Jennifer Hissa has won numerous awards and had a beautiful showroom. Admittedly, our project was not very large, however Jennifer was very helpful and engaged when she was working with my wife to select a new Wood-Mode 48" bar cabinet with 72" of open wall cabinets above. Jennifer recommended her general contractor Matt, to handle the entire project including demo, installation of the new cabinets, re-installing the bar sink with plumbing, LED lighting, electrical, drywall patching and painting.
Matt started the demo work in December and when he was done, he left a 6' wide by 3' high open section of exposed exterior walls studs and insulation. After a phone call, he returned to install a sloppily cut piece of drywall over the opening with a 1" irregularly shaped gap around the perimeter of the patch piece. He told us that his drywall contractor would be back to patch up the wall properly before the upper cabinets were installed. Never happened. Even with the "patch", so much cold air was leaking in during the cold snap, I had to use shipping tape and caulking because the gaps were too wide for regular patching. I should not have to spend my time fixing the GC's sloppy workmanship.
The cabinets finally arrived in January and it took another week or more to schedule the finish carpenter to do the installation. The wall was still not patched, and I assumed that when the work was scheduled, the wall was going to be patched as promised. Nope. He installed the wall cabinets right over the unfinished drywall. When I realized what he had done, i asked him why the wall wasn't patched, and he said he didn't know anything about it. But that that the cabinets would seal the wall. Really.
There was also a slight upward bow in the existing drywall soffit, so he installed a wood shim in the middle of the upper cabinet top that stuck out beyond the cabinet, leaving a 1/2" gap between the cabinet and the soffit. When i asked him what his plan was for that, he said it should be caulked and painted it red. Really.
He installed the base cabinet so that it protruded an inch past the side wall, and his solution was to install trim pieces that wrapped around the corners and eclipsed the wall and casing. It looked more like a DYI project than a custom installation. We sent pictures to Jennifer and she said that he cabinet had to be installed that way to clear the existing under counter bar cooler.
This was not the case at all and when the carpenter returned, I showed him that if he pushed the cabinet back to the wall, none of his trim pieces would be necessary. He also installed brass finger pulls that we ordered from Jennifer and we could not open or shut the drawers without the pulls hitting the counter top or adjacent drawers. We told Jennifer and she said the drawers were adjustable, but no one adjusted them, not to mention that the pull was never installed on the bottom drawer because it needed to routed. The carpenter said he doesn't do routing so it remains unfinished. I did my best to adjust the drawer spacing, but they only work properly if you pull out the 3rd drawer and work your way up to the second and first.
When the countertop was installed (by others), we noticed that the amount wall tile Jennifer ordered was not sufficient for the job....so we had to wait another 2 weeks for the shipment. As soon as it arrived, Jennifer was on the phone asking for a $500 check to cover the additional tile. We shouldn't have paid her until the job was done and there went any leverage we might have had.
The electrician finally showed up...an hour late...last Friday 3/6 to install the LED strip lighting. Both Jennifer and Matt were texted and there was no response from either, so they are now fired. We will hire someone to patch and paint the walls (even though it was in her scope) and then I need to find a cabinet maker who will route out the drawer faces to properly accommodate the finger pulls.
On a positive note, the plumber, the electrician and the counter company did a great job. As for Greater Chicago Kitchen and Bath, Jennifer Hissa and Matt, I would never use them again or recommend them to anyone. This was a small, simple project. It was not well managed, the communication was poor, the quality of work was mostly sub-par, they were unresponsive and there was no accountability, 10 plus weeks and still not completed. I don't know how she won those awards, but this was one of the worst reno projects we've ever been involved with. We paid for custom and got Menards. Look at the pictures....this was a hack job. Total rip-offs.
R&P C
Barrington Hills
