Home Depot Kitchens

Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Kitchen designer/center; Home Depot vs. Lowe's

Feb 2007

We are looking to remodel our outdated kitchen and don't know where to start. We need to upgrade electrical and plumbing, put in a gas line and break through a wall for a pass- through/bar. I have looked at Home Depot/Expo and like the idea that they can coordinate everything. I am wondering if anyone has used them or Lowe's for a kitchen remodel (the comments in the BPN archives are old) and/or if there are good alternative kitchen design centers that don't cost a fortune. We would love to hear who you would recommend, what the pitfalls may be etc. Thanks! Petra

I've not used Lowe's, but we have worked with the Home Depot Expo in doing parts of both a kitchen and a bathroom remodel, and in general I have not been impressed. Some of their sales associates are fabulous. Some are not. Their contractors have not done particularly good work (a couple of times they've been awful), and often the communication between the sales departments and the contractors is less than ideal. I buy stuff there because it's easy. I find my own contractors, or my husband and I do the work ourselves. Karen
We used Expo a couple of years ago. Our finished kitchen looks great. HOWEVER: We did not have a good experience. We too were excited by the one-stop shopping idea. The product selection and prices seemed comparable to what you'd get by looking in several different stores, so that part was good. But the project manager was truly off in space, they installed all the electrical work and then had to tear it out and start again because they hadn't bothered to check to see if it would meet code... They estimated that the project would take 4 months. It took a year! And no one at Expo ever seemed to care. I could (and have!) go on and on. Perhaps they've hired a better caliber of project manager by now, but I'd be wary! anonymous

Home Depot kitchen remodel

Nov 2004

Has anyone had a kitchen installed by Home Depot? How was your experience? Thanks. Maggie

We recently had just a new floor in our kitchen installed by the Home Depot Expo (actually, by the contractors they hired), and we thought they did a pretty lousy job. Jammed the ends of boards under the dishwasher rather than trimming them neatly, did something weird over the top of the stairs leading up into the kitchen, such that there was little support under the top step, took no care at all in tapping in the final finishing nails (left some pretty visible bent tops of nails). In short, wouldn't use them again, wouldn't trust them for other projects either. Karen

Home Depot cabinets

April 2002

We are planning a kitchen remodel and are thinking of using Home Depot cabinets. I have heard that Home Depot has some good kitchen designers and some mediocre ones. Does anyone have the name of one of the better kitchen designers at Home Depot? (preferably at the Richmond location) Also, does anyone have experience with either KraftMaid or Schuler cabinets from Home Depot? Thanks! Emily

We are in the planning stages of remodeling our kitchen and are considering using the Expo design center. Has anyone used them for designing a kitchen, and if yes, what did you think of the service they provided? How competitive were their prices? Would you use them again? Many thanks, Laurie
We're starting a kitchen remodel and have done a lot of footwork pricing kitchen cabinets. We found Home Depot and Expo Center to be the most expensive - you'll pay full retail price there. Century cabinets in San Francisco (off of Bayshore) quoted us a great price on KraftMaid cabinets. More than 50% cheaper than full retail!! All of the cabinet retailers we met with have the manufacturer's software, so can help with your kitchen design. Most will do this free. I think Home Depot charges $250. Ellen
We recently used Home Depot El Cerrito/Richmond and bought Kraftmaid cabinets. The woman we used there was great. Her name is Shelia. Very personable and responsible. the cabinets came on time and we love them. Thumbs up for the experience. Jennifer
I highly recommend Home Depot for kitchen cabinets. Two years ago we purchased Woodmark cabinets for our newly built home. We were able to do a very large kitchen, three bathrooms and a laundry room for less than $15K (cabinets are maple wood with a clear finish). Installation and ordering was handled by our contractor so, unfortunately, I don't have the name of the designer at Home Depot (but it was Richmond). Susan
I had a good experience with Maxine at Home Depot Richmond, but she has just retired. John (I believe that's his name) was the only other one there who seemd to know his stuff. If you know what you want they can lay out the plans, but most of them don't seem to have much ''design'' input. I eventually had an independent designer draw my plans and bought Kraftmaid cabinets from Home Depot. Kraftmaid is less $ than Schuler. I did pay extra for the full wood construction and am very happy with my cabinets. They are only 6 mos old but they look and work great. Lynn Bradshaw
We recently renovated our kitchen in our 100 year old victorian. We used the beadboard cabinets from home depot. We put in tiles as the countertop and backsplash. We sat down with the home depot sales pepople in Pleasanton and designed the whole thing- all we gave them were the measurements and our needs. We hung them ourseleves. We did it all for $3,000 including Restoration Hardware hardware and glass from the glass store on 4th st. Good luck! Juliette

Home Depot for kitchen design

2001

Re: Good design/build firm for kitchen remodel?
I have redone 2 kitchens in the past 5 years. Both were total redesigns. With the first I worked with Home Depot. They have good and mediocre kitchen designers. I had a pretty good one. They work hard and have a very decent selection of cabinets. It was all very smooth. The second kitchen was with General Appliance and was truly a nightmare. The kitchen designer was unfamiliar with the cabinets, had terrible ideas, and was very difficult to work with. The order was 9 weeks (yes, 9) late -- which meant an extra nine weeks without a kitchen. They never corrected several problems and were hostile to work with. If I do another kitchen I will surely go back to home depot. Good luck.