We recently completed our complete kitchen makeover with HB Kitchens. HB was recommended by couple of friends. Our cabinets are from an Italian company and were installed by the cabinet contractor, but HB did everything else. I was a little nervous working with two separate contractors but there were zero issues. They worked around each other's schedules and coordinated the dates of the delivery for tiles and Miele's installation. HB additionally took care of all permits.
HB gutted my old kitchen, removed old tiles and the 9"inch light soffit. They redid the electrical including outlets for appliances & cabinet lights, new LED ceiling lights, etc. They suggested locations of lights, switches, & outlets. They added new wiring from the main electrical panel (as needed per code) and also for my radiant floor heating. They updated my main panel and also added an outlet for my EV car charging in the garage.
HB replaced my kitchen window, installed radiant floor heating, new tiles, and prepared the place for the cabinet contractor. After the cabinet contractor had installed the cabinets, Miele came to install my appliances and HB made sure the electrical and gas lines and water connections were ready for their pre-inspection and subsequent install.
They installed my quartz counter top, sink, garbage disposal, instant hot water tank, water filter, and the hood over the cooktop. Wei, one of the owners of HB, advised me on the brand for the sink appliances based on what he used on his own home. They grouted the tiles last to avoid them getting dirty.
All their workers were very good - each crew specialized on a different aspect of the kitchen. They were polite, timely, and took pride in their work. During the entire process, they put plastic sheeting as needed to make sure that dust did not go into rest of the house, and also put a special zipped plastic thing for the kitchen entrance so we could still enter the kitchen area to go to family room. We kept our old fridge in the living rom and they put cardboard on the floor to make sure it did not get damaged. Also whenever they left at the end of day they made sure things were left clean and tidy. Wei, one of the owners and the one that gave us the original estimate, visited frequently to see check that everything was going okay. He was also very prompt in responding to SMS and called back promptly to answer questions and discuss dates for next phase etc.
I am a handy man with a very good eye for details; HB did everything to my satisfaction (that says a lot). For the countertop, we had picked veined Quartz. I wanted the veins to appear in a particular way for the backsplash and also for the waterfall. HB worked with me on this and I even went with them to the Quartz warehouse to layout the slab cuts with blue tape so that veins were to my satisfaction; in one place there was a misunderstanding in our communication and HB took care of that by ordering a new slab. Wei said, " I do not want you to compromise on the design - it would keep bugging you down the road as you use the kitchen."
Every thing was timely. There were some minor delays because of tile delivery, or Miele's appliance delivery/installation, but HB worked with us around these schedules. For example we had not selected our breakfast nook ceiling fan till last week and they came to install that just yesterday, almost 2 months after the rest of the project complete- they did not linger this last part even thought I had paid them over 95% of the fees. While I don't foresee any problems, but if they do arise, I am confident that HB and Wei will standby their work. I felt their prices were competitive and reasonable.
PS-1. Both our friends who used HB got their cabinets from HB. We had already selected our European styled cabinets and its manufacturer. I would not hesitate to get the Kitchen Cabinets from HB - they work with several suppliers.
PS-2. I can't resist giving feedback on our Miele appliances even though it has nothing to do with HB: Don't get sucked into Miele's marketing. Their dishwashers are not the best (smaller than US/Japanese brands so fitting large sauce pans is a problem); also it does not clean as well as my previous Kenmore, so trust the Consumer reports ratings. When the salesman says "how can a $800 CR rated dishwasher beat a $2000 Miele", tell him that it does. Miele's refrigerator is excellent but other appliances are good to very-good. Miele's look/aesthetics on refrigerator and the oven/microwave is fabulous, which is what my wife wanted. In hindsight, I would get a different brand of dishwasher for sure and perhaps even a different gas cooktop. Because of package deal, we got suckered into getting all Miele rather than follow CR ratings.
In conclusion, my experience with HB Kitchens was great - they are very professional and their workmanship is excellent. I highly recommend them! read more