Signature Kitchens NY

G _{on ChamberofCommerce.com}

Mar 25th, 2022

Signature Kitchen
Buyer beware !!! Horrible experience.
I’ve waited over year to write this review because that’s how long it took them to complete my kitchen.
You walk into their showroom on Hylan Blvd. Staten Island and that’s exactly what it is “a show” they come off so professional, fancy, high end but all they are is a fraud.
Richie Cleft (owner) sits with you with his thirteen pencils and sheets of white drafting paper, sketching designs without knowing measurements or even visiting the job site.
Damn me !!! Because that should of been the first warning sign.
He sends out a old time carpenter to take measurements, which he was unable to do and needed my assistance. Needless to say measurements were wrong, I’ll get back to this in a bit.
Richie creates a kitchen design that includes a peninsula & wall to wall cabinets, on paper all looks beautiful. I notice that his choice of dishwasher location is close to the entrance of the kitchen and when opened it would meet the end of the peninsula, not allowing one to walk by. I share my concern & explain that when dishwasher is opened you wouldn’t be able to enter the kitchen. He reply’s in his arrogant know it all tone “there’s plenty of room, don’t worry I’ve been doing this for 30 years” a quote I will end up hearing time & time again during this nightmare.
They require a deposit of 1/2 the sum of the job then upon delivery of cabinets, I’m to pay the full balance, mind you job or install hasn’t even begun yet.
So….a few months later I receive delivery of cabinets. Delivery is incomplete & some pieces arrived damaged and or incorrect.
Signature design says they will communicate with the cabinet company and correct the issues.
In the mean time enough pieces are sent to at least start the job.
I am told that full payment needs to be made in order for them to start the job, mind you I haven’t even received all cabinets and now waiting on replacement pieces.
Because I am anxious to start the job, I agree to pay the balance.
Job starts a week later and same carpenter that took the measurements begins laying out and installing some of the cabinets.
As he gets to the last piece he realizes that it doesn’t fit because there is a water waste line that was not factored in when they took measurement.
At this point Richie (owner) still is yet to visit & view the job site.
His carpenter & myself make calls to the office explaining the situation.
Now we need to remeasure & reorder a new cabinet based on the correct measurements.
Work continues slowly…..the base cabinets for the peninsula are put in place & I realize that my very first concern of the dishwasher is in-fact true. When you open the dishwasher door, you can not enter the kitchen.
Thankfully the peninsula cabinets are not yet set and a change needs to be made. I myself take a measuring tape, pencil & paper and reconfigure the layout. I realize that instead of a peninsula, we can fit a center island which would give us much more counter surface, more cabinets space and most importantly does not interfere with the dishwasher and kitchen entrance. I share this decision with Richie, because of this unexpected change due to their negligence additional cabinets need to be ordered and a larger counter top needs to be made….all adding more expense & time.
A few weeks later replacement parts arrive and once again Richie contacts me that I need to pay for them before they will be installed.
I explain that these are replacement parts and I’ve already paid for them.
His response “no you haven’t, these are the cabinets that needed to change due to the original not fitting, therefore you need to pay for them”. Once again, ridiculous, frustrating & infuriating, But !! I wanna get this done & over with.
Job continues and they once again realize that the measurements calculated for the refrigerator space is wrong (I told them time & time again, that we have a large commercial refrigerator and shared the size, make & model) The cabinet that was intended to go above refrigerator does not fit.
Need to scrap that & make another change.
Now the job is on hold because replacement & correct parts have yet not arrived.
Few weeks later, I receive another call from Richie, that the additional base cabinets for the island have arrived. Once again I am required to pay for them before they are given to me and or installed.
I’ve now paid the original agreed upon price, I’ve paid for extras & changes due to their mistakes and my kitchen is far from complete.
Richie (owner) still has not stepped foot in my home, even after all these issues. But it’s not over !!!
Parts arrive and carpenter is finally back on the job and guess what?three of the cabinet doors arrive damaged and the pantry cabinet is missing the roll out shelves.
Another call to the office & I share my frustration with his employees.
I simply say…..this is ridiculous, why can’t we get this right, why can’t we compete this job ? I’ve now paid over and beyond and yet it’s still not done.
They respond, putting the blame on the cabinet company and it is out of their control. Yet all these errors, incorrect measurements, design flaws were their fault !!!
A month later replacement parts arrive again. This time rollout shelves arrive but no replacement doors.
A few weeks later replacement doors arrive and two of them are the wrong design and don’t match my cabinets.
I have no control, I’ve already paid over & beyond….I am at there mercy.
Finally the replacement doors arrive & once again one of them is damaged. I CANT MAKE THIS UP !!
A few weeks later that door is shipped and Richie (the owner) demands that I come to the showroom to pick it up. I say “why would I come pick it up, if you need to come & install it” he tells me, “because I want you to inspect it first” Doesn’t make any sense as they could’ve inspected themselves & save me the time to go there.
Now I have the door sitting in my house waiting 2 weeks for it to be installed. Finally after several phone calls they send the carpenter’s helper to install the door….to no surprise the guy has no clue on how to install the door and level it, so it would close correctly…..after an hour or so, I call the office to explain what’s going on, they tell me “ask the guy to leave & we will schedule to have the real carpenter come back” A week later, the original carpenter returns & installs the last & final part of this horrible ordeal.
As exhausting as it was to read this It’s know where close to how frustrating and exhausting this experience was.
I definitely learned a lesson & shame on me for not seeing the warning signs sooner. I’m sharing this because nobody should experience something like this & Richie, Signature Kitchen design should not profit off of peoples hard earned money.