J.K. Granite and Cabinet (off Sam Houston Parkway) installed kitchen cabinets and a granite counter top in my home. My first visit to their office left me with mixed feelings about the company; for instance, the shop was messy, lacked organization and product samples were strewn all over the place. I looked past this though as they had been recommended by a former customer. I made an appointment for Mr. Jing to stop by my house and conduct a site survey and estimate. He arrived on time and was there for about five minutes. It was much shorter than I expected, but he said he had seen many kitchens like mine before (e.g. layout ) and knew what I needed. He said he would get back to me regarding the estimate within a day or two. A week had passed and I didn't hear from him. Warning sign number one. A week or so later I went to his office to see if the estimate was available, and it was. He said he was too busy and it slipped his mind. During this visit I asked about a tile back splash under the kitchen cabinets. Mr Jing said that he wasn't a tile installer by trade, but had done them and would do so if I liked. I agreed and asked him how many square feet I would need. He gave me the amount and I picked up the tile so it would be ready on the day of the installation. I was told the entire installation would take three days.
Day one of installation. The installers were to arrive by 9AM. They arrived at 10:45AM. No reason given and no call a head of time to let me know. Warning sign number two. The teams moved very fast; one team removed the old cabinets while another team put my new cabinets together on the driveway. I assumed they would clean up the driveway...sweep it...but they didn't. I was left with all sorts of nails and screws all over the driveway and in my lawn. Nothing like a nail kicking up while mowing the lawn. They stayed until just after 9PM on the first day. That was totally unprofessional. Start at 9AM and leave by 5PM. Mr. Jing stopped by to check on the progress later that afternoon. During his visit I asked about the back splash and if that was going to be completed on day three. He looked puzzled. He said, "I don't recall anything about a back splash." I reminded him of tile he told me to buy. "Oh....I would not have said I'd install a back splash". Big warning sign number three. He essentially shrugged his shoulders and said he'd do it for a small price.
Day two of installation. The team installed the counter tops and sink, and finished off the cabinets. Again, the installation team came later than they said they would. The counter top was sized and cut on my driveway. I was expecting this. What I wasn't expecting was to have the ceramic tiles for the back splash cut on my lawn. I was left with all sorts of corner cuts in the grass. Again, a great thing for the lawn mower. As for the back splash, Mr. Jing was installing it. I saw it after he was about fifty tiles into the process. Honestly, it was the worst tile installation I had ever seen in my life. I was jaw dropped. No spacers. No symmetry. He was quite literally cutting and pasting them to the wall as fast as humanly possible. I told him to stop. I asked why there were no spacers. His reply, "It's not possible to use spacers with this kind of tile." I picked up travertine. I asked about the lack of symmetry. Again, he replied "It's not possible with this kind of tile." I told him to take it down and I'll deal with it myself.
I was upset because Mr. Jing was more concerned about shaving a day off the installation than making sure I received quality service. There was no day three. In the end, I was left with two cracked cabinet doors, a section of crown molding that wasn't properly nailed together, and one of the bottom wood pieces below the lower cabinets was not nailed in. It just sort of stuck out. Another board was not cut to proper length and it left a gap below the lower cabinets. It took over three months to get J.K. to come back and fix these problems. Their reason? They were too busy with 'other' customers. And I have to throw this one in as well. Mr. Jing sent one of his employees over to my house to have me write down my credit card number on a piece of paper along with the expiration date, key code, and name as it appeared on my card and he would charge the balance. Seriously?! I declined and went to his office and had it charged in person.
With so many cabinet and counter top installation companies in the Houston area, I cannot not recommend this company at all...for any project. read more