I'm writing to share my recent experience with Semihandmade, and strongly urge you to review other…read morebusinesses for your cabinets, they are not the same company we experienced our first time around.
In 2018, we had our first project with Semihandmade, and it was outstanding. We used one of SHM recommended designers and the level of support and attention to detail was perfect; our final kitchen, pantry and laundry room were beautiful! As it turned out, our home was featured in Atomic Ranch in its 2021 Design Issue, where I spoke highly of Semihandmade in that interview. We were very proud and recommended their products and services to many people over the years.
After moving to Asheville, we planned another kitchen renovation and launched that in January of 2025. Even though our former designer had moved to Modern Twig, we chose Semihandmade again based on our past experience. Unfortunately, this time has been very different.
We ordered roughly $28,000 in cabinet fronts-- the largest single expense in our kitchen renovation. We understood the delivery timeline, but the order arrived in separate shipments without advance notice. When my husband (who installed both kitchens) discovered one incorrect cabinet setup and a missing drawer front, he reached out to their customer service. The response from Deanna Bade was essentially, "read your contract," which I found dismissive and frankly did not sit well with me.
It was clear from our IKEA design submission that our order had been entered correctly on our side but miscoded in the SHM system. My expectation was to hear, "Sorry that happened--let us make it right." Instead, I received a lecture on treating her "like a professional" before she agreed to resolve the issue--an interaction that left me feeling unwelcome as a customer.
Later, as installation progressed, we discovered that the walnut doors were noticeably different in color--clearly not from a single batch, as SHM advertising promises. When I raised this, I was told replacement would require approval from the "walnut manufacturer" and would be done as a "courtesy remake." I had to remind her that Semihandmade--not a third party--was my point of purchase and that this was a quality control failure, not a favor.
This caused weeks of delay, but even after the replacements arrived, there was no follow-up to confirm receipt, check color consistency, or offer an apology by Deanna or SHM customer service, only a request to do a survey. I am shocked and saddened at the decline of Semihandmade whom I have raved about for years. Given Deanna Bade describes herself as "Customer Experience Manager with a proven track record in resolving complex issues and driving customer satisfaction", she did not execute at this level at all. I realize this must be a very hard job if there is a lot of customer dissatisfaction with product and operations (which seems to be possible based on reviews), and if that is the case, this ultimately is a reflection on Semihandmade's commitment as a company to quality of product and services.
Given the strong competition in this industry, I would think this is not the quality of product SHM wants to deliver or the standard of service SHM want for their customers. Mistakes happen, but a willingness to "bend over backwards" to correct them makes all the difference. Sadly, even after the new walnut order arrived, given the delay in time we realized we could not rip out our entire kitchen and start all over, so the previous construction with panels, built in shelving, etc. that had begun had to stay the same and will always be slightly off in color, a forever reminder.
I reached out to the CEO, John McDonald, who did respond and apologized, which was good; but did not offer to compensate us for our customer stress, delay or final mixed matched cabinetry (although I did not ask for one either) - my point was to ensure at the top he knew how much SHM had fallen in my eyes. I've gone from being one of their strongest advocates to feeling I can no longer recommend Semihandmade. I hope my experience helps SHM to identify areas to improve both quality control and customer care, but mostly that you as a customer like me is warned and seriously looks at all the other options before you purchase from this company, I wish we had.
