I have been going back and forth about whether or not to post this review. Ultimately, had I had this information prior to hiring Kelle. I would not have hired her, and I would have saved so much time, money, and heart ache.
Short version: My kitchen is very beautiful. The project went $15,000 over our original budget, we didn't get everything promised, took three months to complete, and the design was based on looks only and not maximizing use of the space. Also, the contractor (whom she recommended) did mediocre to less than mediocre work.
Way too long version:
Kelle is a great person. The backsplash and countertops were excellent choices that incorporated my favorite color purple. These could not have turned out any better. She lacks the ability to take responsibility though. I'm not sure how many times I would say something and it would either be my fault, the contractors fault, or some other "designer" thing, as to say I wouldn't understand. This was very annoying, especially at times when she was clearly in the wrong. Towards the end, I had to have my husband with me during all conversations, so that she nor the contractor wouldn't turn things around on me. It was sad that it had to come to that.
Unfortunately, the project went $15,000 over budget. I told her my budget was $50k but we can be pushed to $60k if it meant we get everything we wanted done. She said we could get everything for between 50k-60k which included her fee. Great! Or so we thought. We didn't get our fireplace redone, the floors are squeaky and uneven, they didn't install the car charger, or add lights to the living room, they left some lights uninstalled, our "walk in pantry" only had half shelving, and no shelving was installed in the laundry room. Considering we spent 65k on the remodel, there was/is still a lot of work to be done.
We asked her multiple times throughout the project for a budget and she continually made excuses about why she couldn't send us one, or that she "fixed it". BUT once I warned her we were going beyond our absolute maximum budget, I needed to send her my list tracking the expenses. She also did not even let us know about budgeting issues until AFTER I gave her the check for the cabinets. Oh, so you didn't know two days earlier? Come on.
The lack of efficiency (which you can't tell in the drawings) is astonishing. The corner of the kitchen used two cabinets that met at the corner of the front of the cabinets which left about a square foot of space completely unusable. The floor cabinet was about two inches away from the wall and multiple spacers were used between cabinets to make it "look" seamless. The walk in pantry had the door swinging INTO the tiny pantry so only allowed half as many shelves. She blamed flow of traffic for this weird design, even though there is at least 4 feet from the door to the island. She also had the bathroom door swinging into the new tinier bathroom. My husband caught this one and spoke to the contractor who charged him $500 to flip the door. But also budgeting efficiency was lacking. She bought a $500+ butcher block for the laundry room counter, but couldn't get the $300 dream pantry door I wanted, even though she spent $175 on a pantry door.
Also, the design process could have used some work. The design she sends essentially says, this is just a general design, this isn't the final design. So guess what I, a first time home remodeler did, or should i say didn't do? I didn't nit pick. I took a look at the general design, made my preferred corrections about locations of major items and confirmed that the layout was what we wanted. Ultimately, that layout was supposed to be final design. Which, to be fair, I should have questioned when she asked me to drop off a check for the cabinets, but I was too excited since things seemed to be moving quickly. Dropped off my check and cabinets would be delivered in less than a week.
Even though others have said she is a fantastic designer who knew exactly what they wanted, I sadly did not get that experience. I asked for a pantry, her initial design provided for a wall full of cupboards, because people LOVE that. (sarcasm, I actually looked up mistakes designers make and not adding a walk in closet was on the list) I also asked about what color she was going to do the walls, I mentioned we don't really mind as long as it isn't green. She decided to go with a grey so light it was practically white, so I guess I should have also mentioned not white. I apologized multiple times for being a first time home remodeler, but had she actually been proactive, it would have helped.
There were at least a dozen times I told my husband we should fire her, but when promised with quick turnaround we stupidly didn't. We ended up moving into our home during construction because they took so dang long.
Honestly, there is more than this but this is already way too long. All I know is that in the future, I'm going with a move in ready home. read more
