Settle in for this one:…read more
In January 2024, we chose ArDan to remodel our glorified galley kitchen in our 1974 rambler in McCormick Ranch, and provided a budget between $150-175K. The project had a couple of other components, i.e., removing two interior walls and a non-functioning beehive fireplace, replacing the front door, and a handful of "wants" but not necessarily "needs."
While fully aware of said budget, the sales guy's first concept (his idea, not ours), was to relocate the kitchen and create a butler's pantry/walk-through pantry in place of the original kitchen; essentially putting in two kitchens. That would be all fine and good if it could be done for $150-175K. We had never considered moving the kitchen. It seemed costly, but he knew our budget. (Note: nothing about this project included gaining any square footage to our 1984 sq ft home).
We paid them 9K to get the ball rolling; they came a couple of times to take measurements, 3D imaging, etc., and then provided a proposal that exceeded our original budget by $150K. That should have been our sign (that and the 8K they allocated for washer/dryer), but we'd spent several thousand dollars so far and thought they at least deserved another chance to get it right.
We then opted to keep the kitchen in place and incorporate a peninsula, instead. In lieu of solid wood cabinets (and because I was looking for a more stream-lined, minimalist style), ArDan suggested a laminate cabinet to give us the look we wanted without (supposedly) the cost of wood. Again, we were skeptical, but the laminate was beautiful, solid, exceptionally engineered.
After falling in love with the cabinets, choosing countertops and appliances, and meeting with the designer at the cabinet company multiple times (the design was finalized with the exception of adding a few inserts), ArDan presented us with yet another cost estimate that was still between $92-117K over our original budget.
The more economical laminate cabinets were anything but, and necessitated an additional $20K to install because, as our contractor finally disclosed, he wasn't qualified to do so. German cabinets apparently must be installed by Germans. From Germany.
At no point in the process was ArDan even remotely close to our original number. It was clear the job needed some serious re-tooling, and I let them know that unless they had any other suggestions, the kitchen project was going to be dead in the water.
Then they just walked away without even a "sorry we couldn't make this work" text message. We never heard from them again.
So, here we are, one year later still limping along with a kitchen that's in desperate need of a remodel, grateful that our circa 1997 side-by-side fridge at least made it through the holidays before it came disconcertingly close to causing a fire (thankfully, it did not).
If we could rewind the tape to January 2024, we would; and we would do everything differently.
