I think it matters who you rent from. We found our condo on VRBO, it was managed by the Moss family, and it's beautiful and clean.
We checked out several homes before we made our commitment, and when the washer broke and I had to use the neighbor's washer, I was SO GLAD we stayed where we were. We were also staying there during the Iselle/Julio double whammy hurricanes that never quite hit Oahu. Great base of operations to explore inland and north shore.
So, we had an updated kitchen, fully usable, with a lot of room to move. I made 2 dinners there, and all the breakfasts and most lunches. No table, but a large counter with lots of barstool seating. Worked great.
We had two clean bathrooms. 1 Master king size bed/full master bedroom upstairs, with a two sink updated bathroom, and a huge close. Downstairs, another king sized bed, but a smaller room.
Both rooms had TV, plus the television in the living room.
The large loft had a bunk bed, a daybed, and two folding mattresses under the daybed where a trundle would normally go. This is where all the kids hung out and slept.
We had a screen enclosed lanai with loads of beach stuff plus a bistro set. There was a hammock right outside the lanai, plus another small bistro set.
We used the pool right in front near the lot, great pool.
VERY comfortable for 2 families, with 4 kids total.
We payed ~$1800 for 9 days/8 nights which included the cleaning fee; we split it between 2 families, so extremely affordable. We hit foodland and got the Mai Kai card, and that saved us a ton of money. That allowed us to take a few nice dinners, we ate cheap too (Fiji Market Curry in Kuhunu was great, also the Kuhunu Grill right near the sugarmill.)
We drove to Turtle Bay Resort (you can walk but we had toddlers) to park in the lot and play in the sand via the public access. It's got a protected lagoon. Wear water shoes though, lots of lava rocks and sharp stones because there is an ancient lava flow that hardened into a spit. Really fun to scramble around on the rocks looking for hermit crabs.
Things to know:
There's no laundromat on the North Shore, and no public rooms at Kuilima. We tried to find one when our laundry went out. Aimee Moss was cool with us using another condo for laundry.
There's no lifeguard at the beach as far as we could tell, so watch your kids. The surf is pretty mild (we were here in August.)
If there is a hurricane or tropical storm warning, the locals buy ALL the water, flashlights and batteries and candles. Because the power and water go out a lot. However, the two hurricanes that tried to batter Oahu only got the Big Island, all we got was rain, so we returned candles to the store. We also ended up with tons of water.
We stayed in unit #91. HIGHLY recommend this unit, and even more now because we went next door to do laundry and saw how shabby it was. The owners of #91 are super picky and ask that you take your garbage out daily and clean up all spills/crumbs, which we were on. That's because there are giant tropical cockroaches ready to take over the minute you mess up, and tiny ants are all over outside. Also, geckos and giant frogs, which I was glad for, because they eat the ants and cockroaches. No joke, the two cockroaches we did find were about 2 inches long. Never saw anymore, but we were on top of all crumbs let me tell you. If you are at all squeamish about this kind of stuff, you definitely don't want to stay "in the country", and check in to the hotel resort on the point, because there are critters everywhere. We loved it, and our daughters were excellent Gecko Spotters and Backyard Safari Action was happening every day.
We left the condo spotless and vacuumed, all except two towels and the bedding was laundered.
Really great space, very clean, very well-maintained, and usable. We spent our day time in Waipuha, Hale'iwa, and Kuhunu, and a whole day at Waimea Falls. We always came home to hot showers, gin and tonics, and cozy beds.
It's a shame that not other condos were in similar repair/function! I've read a lot of reviews now of Kuilima Estates, and you just really need to be careful it seems. But we were really lucky, and we would TOTALLY stay here again. Our girls were really sad to leave. read more