HawthorneVillager.com

We wanted dark cabinets so that's exactly what we decided to do... not that we're 100% sure it is the cheaper route in our case, because we're using the opportunity to have it all done with real wood and a lot of custom drawers and shelves, but what convinced us was the discontinuation of the dark stain we liked as an option.

We're going with Glenn @ Concept Cabinets in Milton on Steeles, my family has used him for many different jobs in many different houses so we recommend him highly.

That's what we decided to do. We got a quote from Rona (we got our other kitchen done through them as well) and we are customizing it big time and that's WAY cheaper than what Mattamy charges. Plus, we will now have a set of cabinets we can use for the laundry room, the study, and the game room.

There's a few things that Mattamy won't do with our kitchen. For example, we wanted to raise the upper corner cabinet up so that it is higher than the rest. They said no to that.

For us, it's all or nothing. It's either we do it all through Mattamy now or all through a 3rd party after closing.

I agree that doing it through Mattamy is much more convenient and will not create a mess that we would have to deal with after and I would've liked to do it through them, but due to certain limitations and the price, it's a much better option for us to do it outside of Mattamy.

So ya, unfortunately we'll have to deal with the mess and the inconvenience of having no kitchen for a few days, but that's the sacrifice we are willing to make to get the exact kitchen that we want.

We are currently throwing around this idea.
I'm not comfortable going w/ Rona or HD, but wonder what kitchen manufacturer to really trust w/out ending up on Holmes on Homes.

Anyone recommend a good kitchen manufacturer w/out using a big-box store?

When we renovated our previous kitchen, we decided to go with Rona instead of another kitchen reno place (and we looked at alot of different places) because we wanted to make sure that we got our kitchen done properly and on-time. Rona has a reputation to uphold and it wouldn't be a very good idea for them to mess up. We are probably going to get our kitchen done through Rona again for several reasons:

1. Price was good - also, we got wood, not veneer.
2. If we had any issues we could go back to them without any hassle.
3. The contractors were very very good and committed. They were there when they said they would be and got our kitchen done on a timely manner.
4. Kitchen designer was excellent and experienced, we worked extremely well with him.

I can't say enough good things about Rona, at least where we got ours from (Heartland Centre). Unfortunately the kitchen designer we had moved to another store so we are going to have to track him down.

Here's before and after pictures. Didn't really get the whole kitchen though - the counter against the wall has pot and pan drawers and a wine rack. And we already sold the house, so unfortunately we can't take any more pictures.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/slideshow?a=67b0de21b350398fe4cd&auto=1&idx=-1&m=1&d=1188133475216

Hmm...that's strange, it works for me when I click on the link.

Try this link instead: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcOG7Ju3cs2LzY

If that doesn't work then I guess I can't share my kitchen pictures