Orders

Remember that you and/or your contractor may be ordering products, appliances, and materials. You should have a checklist and an envelope to keep track of all of your purchases and receipts. It should list the order date, delivery date, manufacturer, model number, description, serial number, and cost. You may even want to include the warranty period and any rebate offers. The Personal Project Organizer includes an oversized envelope and checklist for this specific purpose.

Evaluate the current state of the economy. In a very good market, orders may be backed up--so keep this in mind. You should be able to ask your salesperson or Designer what the lead-time is for your products and appliances. If you run into a major change/delay, some product and appliance showrooms will store your items until needed--for a price.

Depending upon your chosen financing option(s), you may want to purchase some items by using a credit card with frequent flyer mileage or some other benefit.

We received the following request from a concerned homeowner that illustrates the absolute need for you and all of your kitchen professionals (designers, general contractors, and architects, etc), to sit down together and go through your contract(s) and subsequent order(s) line item by line item. The products and appliances (with Quantity, Model, Style, Size, and Material/Finish/Color) listed on your contract are what you should receive and the prices listed are what you should pay. Please see the items listed on our Include Details topic page for additional details to review and include in your contract(s) and/or order(s).

"What if there are still disputes between the home owner and kitchen remodeler? For example a trimline refrigerator was not placed as was noted in my contract? The contractor refuses to take back the new refrigerator stating a trimline refrigerator will not fit in the space he allotted for the refrigerator. How do I settle this?

The contractor stated he would take $500.00 off the balance. He said to place a trimline refrigerator would require tearing down cabinets and even reordering new ones--which he will not do. He said because I wanted a larger cabinet that there was no room for a trimline refrigerator, but he never informed me that a larger cabinet would not allow for a trimline refrigerator. Instead he just ordered a smaller refrigerator without telling me (although he said he did, he really did not inform me!!) my contract states refrigerator--trimline. No other specification with regard to this.

I asked an appliance store and they also said that a trimline would not fit in the space. So what do I do now? Do I go to small claims court? The contractor refuses to discuss it with me and is asking for his balance due which is $2000. Should I continue to withhold the $2000? He said things would "get nasty" if I did give him his balance due minus the $500."