Knowing Douglas Hertslet, I am not surprised of so many very disturbing reviews of his work, although a brilliant artist in the past, Kitchen does not seem to be his forte, that I can assure you He would be very good making a very good portrait of you , and that is all you can expect, he is good in vernacular and has the ability to Talk, talk and some more talk, that is all That is left of Douglas read more

Please learn from my Kitchen "Excellence" experience, the only good of it for me is that I may help some poor renovator from making a big mistake and losing tens of thousands of dollars. Please be careful when choosing a joiner. It's such a big decision, and if you make the wrong one with joinery, you won't know until it is too late (ie you have paid a huge non-refundable deposit) During the sales process, (before they have took my money), Kitchen "Excellence" was extremely helpful. From the moment they took my deposit (on a joinery job worth over $100,000), everything changed. I have done multiple renovation projects, and I have never been so unhappy with any contractor before. In fact, I have never given anyone on my Yelp reviews less than 3 stars before. The problems started with the salesperson, Douglas. After the deposit was taken, he became difficult to deal with. I am a very fair person and don't mind if things go wrong, as long as it can be discussed and a plan can be made to rectify the issues. This is the opposite of what happened. We were told many lies over the months, this makes it really difficult to work on a project when you are not being told the truth. Kitchen "Excellence" made it much more difficult for my builder to get the rest of my renovation done because of the difficulty he had with dealing with them and because of their hold-ups and chain-of-command issues. The work itself: This is where it gets really ugly. There were multiple defects in the joinery. The benchtop was installed poorly, the timber was scratched, the polyurethane was scratched, the handles were put on asymmetrically. The stone had large defects in it. The work was in general careless and shabby. When we pointed out the defects, in the majority of defects, they alleged that "when it was installed it was perfect", even though we noted the defects on the same day as installation. Noone ever accepted responsibility. On top of that, they charged me a list of variations that I did not agree to. The whole experience was very depressing. They take no pride in their work. If only there had been a yelp review for them before I engaged them. They do not live up to the name, Kitchen "Excellence". In fact that description turned out to be unintentionally ironic, with the joke being on their clients. Please beware. read more

DO NOT USE THESE UPSTARTS. Kitchen Excellence should be re-branded Kitchen Disasters in their new premises. I can only surmise that they have ripped off sufficient folk who weren't able to protest in order to stay in business. As the reviewer Mimi stated, I too wish I had seen her review before signing a contract with these goons. Firstly they require almost 70% of the total cost before you even see a kitchen cabinet and demolished our kitchen 10 weeks before the cabinets were ready. For me it was fine at the beginning as Douglas Hertslet ,the director,charmed me into signing up. Once signed he became neglectful and preoccupied with his ongoing disasters.. His fabricator and installer Lionel was ill after surgery on his hand. This was known at the time of demolition .Then a series of delays over deliveries and little or no communication from Douglas. I had to manage the electricians who were poor and the installer who was ill. It took 10 whole weeks to have the kitchen workable without one visit from Mr Hertslet. It was horrid dealing with them and the whole thing ended up at a tribunal where we split the costs with an agreed delivering of some remaining pieces. The fabricator Lionel delivered at the 11th hour according to the court order ,only to neglect bringing essential attachment clips. They could not even rap things up professionally. We wanted the luxury of putting our dream kitchen into capable hands to manage all the components in a professional way. We paid a high price for this only to be treated with distain, disrespect and lies. Beware of signing any contract with them. read more

Our experience with Kitchen Excellence couldn't have been more different. Right from the get go Douglas was in constant communication with myself and the builder in regards to time frames and availability for his team to complete the work. The men were courteous and hard working. We had all joinery done, including two laundries, three bathroom, kitchen and home office. It wasn't a small job by any standard and the fit out was done swiftly and to the highest specification. People comment on the flow of the colour scheme throughout the home and we would not hesitate in recommending them. read more

We starting working with Kitchen Excellence around 5 years ago but we put the project on hold for various personal reasons. When we were ready to restart about one year ago we contacted Brett who was so accommodating, visiting our property on the Central Coast many times and fitting in with out travel schedule as we live overseas. He and Douglas designed a wonderful kitchen taking into account the fact that we were bringing in granite and bamboo flooring from overseas. They took that basis color of the granite and flooring and recommended the color scheme for the cabinets, the tiles and even the rest of the kitchen and dining room as I was stuck on that point!! Eric who did the cabinet work was fabulous working above and beyond to meet my schedule! The end result is so fantastic, it brought tears of joy to my eyes!! Brett and Douglas could see the happiness they brought to me when they came to do the final review. I was literally jumping with joy. Douglas and Brett were so professional, but we could have a bit of fun so they were a joy to work with!! So happy we chose Kitchen Excellence!!! Sue Cuthbertson - Jiiliby and Hong Kong read more

Home is where the kitchen is and having come from a background that loves to cook, my kitchen is my comfort zone! We had bought a new place and although the kitchen was OK it was tired and worn and not conducive to me wanting to be in there. I had a budget aside for some refurbs so it was a no brainer for me to renovate the kitchen. I began to research kitchen companies, traipsing the streets. The more I looked the more disappointed I was with the offerings. Not much design flair and very expensive for what I thought were average kitchen designs. Then I found Kitchen Excellence. They were a breath of fresh air. I mainly dealt with Douglas who I warmed to very quickly. He was refreshingly honest and keen to make my kitchen feel right for me- whilst showing me new ways of looking at how I could achieve what I wanted. He is meticulous in his detail-which is not my strong point. All I knew is that it had to look good, be of high quality, not cost me a bomb and fit seamlessly into the rest of the house. And be delivered on time. I couldn't be more happier with the final outcome. Not only did they deliver on time and on budget, Douglas helped with some other interior design work and added little touches to other parts of the house which made the world of difference! I would recommend Kitchen Excellence to anyone who is looking for a company who deliver on their promises. In my experience they lived up to their name. Thanks again. Marcia O'Sullivan read more