We ordered windows from our entire house from Thermo World. They are not energy star rated, so we did not qualify for the rebate, however, apparently these windows and the hardware and better than the average materials. We got brick to brick and we did our own trim to save costs. No problems with the windows after 1-2 years and the screens, glass and hardware have been excellent quality.
Bought our kitchen cabinets (KraftMaid)
We bought our kitchen cabinets from Home Depot, the Kraft Maid line. This is a more expensive line, compared to others such as Orchard Park, etc. Our kitchen is quite small, but we did end up spending $13K on the cabinetry, not including installation, however including roll-outs, maple doors, and a painted finish. We worked with the kitchen designer, however, since we were installing our own cabinets, we had all the measurements and the design prepared. We found that HD was pretty flexible in terms of finding us 'cheaper' options, such as not doing the glass doors and getting the glass for cabinet doors done by a 3rd party, etc. The main issue was in the quality of the cabinet doors (not the drawers). When the cabinets were delivered, we inspected them very carefully and reported back issues such as chips, knicks in the wood, and improper painted finishes. They had to send a Home Depot manager + a rep from Kraft Maid to come to our home to inspect what we had reported. This was done approximately 4 times before we were happy with all the doors! So, in the end we were happy with what we go, however, it took an awful long time to get to that point.
Kohler Bath Fixtures, Toto toilets
my husband and i went to Dupont Plumbing as recommended by our friend. we already knew what piece we wanted (e.g. vanity, 3 toto toilets, 1 kohler bathtub, kohler rain shower) and Ash sold us all these items to us for cheaper than what we saw them for at retail stores. we even cancelled a bathtub that we thought wasn't suitable without any problems. the delivery was smooth - except that there was only 1 delivery person - so my husband had to help him bring the bathtub upstairs.
Spray stucco ceiling throughout house
Mr. Stucco did our house in 1 day - they sprayed the ceilings on our 2nd and main floors and covered everything up with plastic. They only thing that seemed to go wrong was that it appeared the light fixture in one of our rooms seemed to be crack after their job.
