Summary: friendly, knowledgeable and good value; absolute pleasure working with Brian on a kitchen remodel.
I helped my mother in law with a major kitchen remodel last year and got lots of cabinet quotes, recognizing that the cabinets were going to be the major material cost. After getting high-end quotes from custom carpentry to higher end brand names, I made an appointment here, since I drive by the showroom in Castro Valley often, but had no expectations on what I would find. We met with Brian Martinelli, bringing a rough sketch of the existing layout, and explained what we were hoping to achieve by reconfiguring the peninsula to a center island. Brian understood our vision immediately and whipped up a digital layout within minutes. When we explained that we were hoping to save on costs, he was absolutely understanding and recommended the Waypoint line (assembled & painted in Arizona), which was a good fit for our budget and quality expectations. Though Waypoint has fewer color and design options, they had what we were looking for at a better price. He was able to leverage a few seasonal specials to save us some money, and we walked out the door about an hour later with a realistic quote and a strong feeling that we had found our kitchen cabinets.
Brian came out not long after that to take final measurements and put together a final layout draft. We were happy with the factory-provided color choices for our cabinets and moved forward. At the time, I had been planning to hire out subcontractors for the labor & installation but changed my mind and was able to get some great general contractor recommendations from Brian. He gave us a handful of names he worked with often in the area, and we were really glad he connected us with our eventual general contractor, who was a joy to work with. We did run into a hiccup with one incorrect cabinet size, but I was able to get a hold of Brian over the phone immediately, and he confirmed that this was a mistake on the part of the factory, who sent over the wrong size. He put in a rush order for that last cabinet to arrive, and he kept in constant contact to update us as we waited on the final piece. Brian also helped us about a month later to order some additional molding in the same color as the gray island to finish off the flooring, communicating promptly over email.
Overall, a year later, we're very happy with the quality of the cabinets for the price. We have no regrets about the cabinet line, color, layout that we went with. Brian gave valuable input regarding the layout of drawers and organization that we appreciated. Planning to return when we have another project! read more