We embarked on a major renovation project for our house from last July to December, and worked with a total of 7 different construction companies. With 6 of these, we had very positive experience in more ways than one, and we would have no hesitation hiring them for future jobs. However, we cannot say the same for Kitchen & Bath, the company that we hired to renovate our kitchen and bathroom. Our experience with this company was a nightmare! Narges, their designer, came to our house to take photos of our old kitchen and bathroom, and the next time we met her was at the end of a long working day when she presented the design she had for us. We were then told that we would only get their promotional discount, which would save us thousands of dollars, if we signed a contract with them right away that evening. She then left us 5 minutes in her office to make our decision because she has to see another client immediately after that. This should have been a red flag, but we signed on with them anyways.
The worst part of our painful experience with this company was the complete lack of communication throughout. There was no site manager. They had a project manager called Ali, but we quickly learned that he is also one of the workers who spent the largest part of his time installing cabinets. He also told us that he is a part-time lecturer at a local college and works part-time for the air service; it really makes us wonder how he has any time to do his job properly as a project manager.
The first day of work was promising. Arash came in and demolished both our kitchen and washroom, and did a bit of other work. Then the nightmare began. The house was in a mess. We did not hear from Ali anymore. Days passed and no tradesman appeared, and no calls came in from Ali. We started calling, leaving voicemails, texting and even emailing Ali to let us know what was happening. Phone calls were not picked up, voicemails not returned, our texts and emails were ignored and sometimes we were informed that his voicemail was full! On one occasion he was completely inaccessible for more than a day, and later he informed us that he was actually flying to Iceland for a part-time job. On the occasional lucky day, when we were able to reach him and get him to assign someone to our site, we were often disappointed to find that the workmen failed to show up and nobody even cared to call and inform us. Early every morning, we would drive down from the apartment that we had rented for the renovation to our house, hoping that some tradesmen would turn up, only to find that it was another day empty of work.
But our struggles with K & B did not end there. On the surface, the kitchen and bathroom that they left us with were nice enough, though nothing truly exceptional. But flaws soon started to reveal themselves. The work was rushed and there were scratches on many of our brand new cabinets. When we pointed it out to Ali, he left us with a bottle of touch-up paint to fix them ourselves. The paint was not even the right colour and our cabinets now have patches in many places. Even before they collected their last cheque, we found that 3 of the kitchen drawers were not even properly attached at the back. They fixed this quickly enough as we had yet to make our last payment. But after the winter, we had to approach so many different people (Amir and Narges) for help before Ali sent a couple of his men to spend half an hour re-aligning and re-caulking the kitchen cabinets.
Later, we found that the sliding door for our bathtub had been installed crudely, leaving cracks in the ceramic that allowed water to seep inside and rust the tub itself (see photo attached this was taken 2 months after the renovation). When we called K & B in for repairs, their workers did a rushed job and simply splashed some silicone paste around the cracks; the area was rusting again a week later. The caulking around the walls of the bathtub also keeps breaking off, and weve been making constant repairs ourselves. But the biggest problem was with our kitchen sink. Only a single trap was installed in the plumbing, causing soap suds to flow down the drain of one sink and then up the drain into the other. This is a constant pain every time we do the dishes. Since K & Bs contract came with a guarantee, we called Ali to send his plumber to fix the problem, but he brushed us off, told us that the problem cannot be fixed, and refused to communicate with us further. We called Narges for help in May. Her latest email response was Ali will advise the warehouse to look into the matters. Thank you for your patience. We dont know what the sink installation has to do with the warehouse. Obviously she does not even care to know our problem. Weeks passed without any further communication, and at last, we had to call in an independent plumber ourselves; he repaired the problem without any difficulty, and we had to pay him on our own in spite of the fact that we have an active Guarantee to fix any faulty installation. So dont believe in their so-called Guarantee. It sounds reassuring, but unless you want to spend thousands of dollars suing them, it isnt actually worth anything. They are not going to honour it.
This is a company that scores 0 for integrity, professionalism, attitude, respect and communication. You dont need the headache we are still experiencing from a renovation that went so wrong. We were fooled by the positive reviews. That was why we went to them in the first place. Read the negative ones. We know that every one of them is true because they align perfectly with our first-hand experience with this company. We have written many 10/10 reviews for the other contractors we have worked with. This is our first negative. Kitchen & Bath scores zero in professional integrity, communication, work quality and punctuality. Most of their tradesmen are far from being skilled and their work is very careless and rushed. Stay away from this company. Be warned. Dont live our nightmare.
By Raymond & Maggie, North York
