Cavallini Kitchens

This summer ordered a Kolher Cimarron Toilet installed. Received phone call few days later to set up installation.
Install went perfect, friendly polite installer, disposed old toilet & cleaned up so well couldn't even tell he had been here!
Great job by all & we just returned Nov. 25th & ordered same toilet installed for main floor bathroom.
Highly recommend this company.

We had our kitchen completely renovated by CKB and were delighted with the finished project. Other than a few timeline issues the project was to our satisfaction. Our many thanks to Wally the installer. Very professional and a delight to work with. CKB is now in the process finishing both our upstairs bathrooms. Once again , excellent craftsmanship by Wally. Thanks again Rick, Mike and Wally.

We agree with previous reviews, do not hire this company. It has now been a year since we signed a contract with Cavallini's to do an enitre bathroom reno.We have been luckier than others, in that for most of that time, our children were at school, just two of us were home to use another bathroom. Also, one of us was often home while the workman was here, catching numerous mistakes before they were installed.
All the complaints others have noted, we too had problems with. THey would show up one day a month, and then have either the wrong products, or not have required items with them at all. And calling them was never easy. We almost always had to leave messages, which were mostly not responded to.Finally, in February, we expected all the remaining installations to be finished, and they expected the second of the large payments. When I tore up the statement in front of the worker, and left a very angry message on their phone, we got some action. It was funny, though, that the owner claimed he could not trust us for the payment, when they had been telling us all sorts of stories since the beginning.The next week, most of what was missing was finished, and we felt it was fair to procede with the payment. Of course, we have not seen them since then, we hear story after story as to why our missing vanity drawers are not available, blaming it on the supplier, as is so often the case.. You would think that if they have problems with suppliers for every job, they would find new ones. \We have now given notice that we no longer expect them to finish the project, and will not be paying them the final, relatively small,amount.
If we were not retired, able to live farily easily without the use of that bathroom, dedicate hours to calling them, and being here when they did show up, we would never have ended up with the bathroom that we wanted, which I will admit, we pretty much have.

Early on, they did, however rip up some river stone from the shower floor, after it was discovered two different lots had been sent, and they did not match. They fired the workman who passed that info along to Rick, and we were given a bogus reason as to why and we have always wondered if it was because he stood up for us.

I hired Cavallini Kitchens to do my kitchen renovation and after six months they were fired. I was told to pay cash becuase I would get more product by not paying the HST and a better deal. THis ia a ploy by Cavallini becuase by paying cash you have no rights in a court of law and they know this. The company kept delaying the project and the products was never what was ordered and incorrect. Their employees would use my tools and rummage throught the house. Whenever I tried to meet with Rick to address my concerns he never showed up and would not meet me. By the end of six months I just gave up and hired somone else to finish the job.
I would not use this company again.

First of all, I need to let you know that I am a Professional Engineer and currently licensed member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario. As a member, I am held to the highest standards and code of ethics. I can be held accountable for any false information or misguidance that I herein provide.

We made our decision to contract Cavallini Kitchens & Baths in April of 2012 after receiving quotes from what we believed to be three reputable companies. At the time, Cavallini had a "B" rating with the Better Business Bureau. The owner of Cavallini, Rick, explained to us that our bathroom renovation would be completed in approximately three to four weeks and the starting date was to be mid-July of 2012. Our first indication of there being a problem was that the project did not commence until mid-August, and only after a couple of calls on our part to the company.

An unusually large deposit of 50% was requested and unfortunately paid by us without question. Upon commencement of the work, another unusually large second deposit of 40% was agreed to and again unquestioned. The smoke-screen reputability of the company due to it's proximity and length of establishment, combined with a very smooth talking owner, provided the false sense of security leading to us paying this ridiculous amount of deposit.

The first two weeks of the project (the easy part including demolition) actually went very well; however, everything went downhill after that. Workers from the company failed to show up for two weeks with no communication or reasoning for their absence. After several attempts at trying to get updates over the phone, I finally paid a visit to the owner only. I was giving a song and dance story that the cabinets had been ordered, and that they would be returning to complete the project shortly.

Over the next several months, promises were made nearly daily that workers would be in 'the next day' with stuff to complete. Rick was called in by us to review the project in November and given a deficiency list. He stated that we only have about three working days left of work to complete the project; it was clear to us that this was not going to be the case. In total, nine days were worked in the period between September 2012 through March 2013.

By the end of February 2013, we still had no cabinets. We were told by Rick's brother Mike, that the cabinets were complete and would be picked up the following day. When they didn't show up, I contacted Mike who tried to explain that their truck had broken down so they could not pick them up. The following day, the cabinets could not be picked up due to the "extremely bad weather". Funny though that this conversation took place while both of us were "at work", after having successfully made it in without incident! At the expense of sounding like a broken record, the following day, I spoke with Rick personally who then told me that the cabinets were NOT ready to pick up as the corner cabinet was not yet ready. I called this bluff by calling Mike again directly and told him that he was more than welcome to bring in only the completed cabinets and that we could wait a little longer for the corner cabinet. This is when I was told that, in fact, none of the cabinets were actually ready and I was left with the impression that they had not even been ordered yet.

Breaking from the timeline of chronological events above, I'd like to touch on some of the other disappoints throughout this project. There were several problems with the accuracy of the product supplied or installed, just a few are listed here:
1. Listello wall tile (glass mosaic-like border) was installed on the wall before I could review it, and it was the incorrect style from what we had selected,
2. Toilet installed was similar but also the wrong style from what was selected, and written on the contract, as well as the trip lever was to be brushed nickel finish to match other fixtures but received bright chrome,
3. At one point, a vanity cabinet 'shell only' arrived, but was the wrong colour, did not have doors/drawers, drawer hardware was not 'soft' closing, and no consideration for mounting the sink was provided. Rick's solution was to laminate a panel over the side to change the colour.
4. Tiling of the floor had started and was going to be completed before I caught the fact that the ventilation ductwork that was to be relocated had not yet occurred,
5. Shower heads and tub plunger and drain overfill were supplied bright chrome and should have been brushed nickel.

In summary, after 28 VERY FRUSTRATING WEEKS of our 'three to four week bathroom renovation', we had no choice but to fire Cavallini Kitchens & Baths. The bathroom was still an unusable mess, with no cabinets and many other tasks left incomplete. We were out a considerable amount of money. From our experience, we highly recommend that when considering your choices for any renovation project that you always refer to the Better Business Bureau (where Cavallini currently has a failing "F" rating).

Stay clear of Cavallini Kitchens & Baths and remember, do not let ANY contractor take the majority of your money upfront!

Interesting company responses!!! Thousands of happy customers? Maybe he’s talking about the thousands in Mexico or Florida, since they have pictures of bathrooms on their website with palm trees outside the window? Number one seven years running - in the Flamborough Review – where anyone with an email address can vote, with no real validation process (they would never check to see that Cavallini is an “F” on the BBB. Yes, an “F”). Don’t buy this garbage at all, take these “awards” for what they’re worth. The rock bottom rating on the Better Business Bureau should tell you everything you need to know. Look it up! And, out of these thousands of happy customers, one of the best references the owner could provide to US were his brother’s mother, (he claimed he did her kitchen - when she told me it was the bathroom!). We found this out a little too late..

So getting to OUR “fun” experience… The excuses, poor product, no product, wrong product, (wrong range hood - owner claimed what was delivered was the “48 inch version”, and an arch could not be built – I called the manufacturer and was told they can do anything we imagined – not a problem). Owner didn’t even have the decency to tell us it would be different. Pics attached – you decide. Wrong measurements (didn’t bother to measure ceiling height), and terrible repairs on some doors that were sized incorrectly and were simply hacked on one side and called “fixed” similar to a previous post. Our hutch also had a big bow on the left side, scratches and water stains after being returned from it being “fixed”. We asked for several different cabinet pullouts, a dishwasher panel - all indicated on the approved drawing copy by the owner – and we got ONE pull out. We asked about the missing items and got a perplexed look like it was the first they heard of this! With all the delays and mistakes, there was NOT ONE apology from anyone with the company. Nothing but blame-shifting and zero accountability. Also, if we hadn’t been closely involved with the project from the beginning, we’d have inadequate duct work, and an inadequate gas line for our 48” range. They said they never had to deal with this before (REALLY? Out of THOUSANDS of super happy customers of the multi-award winning Cavallini Kitchens and Baths? Not one customer had a big stove?!?!). We also had a slope in our kitchen floor which should have been rectified prior to flooring going down, but the scratch coat for the tile was already on before we could even discuss it. The company didn’t want to bother fixing it obviously, as in our first conversation about it, the cost was $2,000 to fix. The next time I expressed concern about it, it was $6,000 to fix. I would’ve paid to do it right, however Cavallini was more interested in getting the job over with and leaving it wrong than making it right. I was talked out of it, claiming it would never be “Right” so I agreed figuring he knew what he was doing (boy was I wrong) plus I wanted the project done. Not everything is like on Home and Garden TV, but this was just complete negligence.

Prior to us firing Cavallini, we saw a worker ONCE over the course of a month and a half. While we were waiting for our granite (over a MONTH since templating was done when it’s supposed to be a 4 day turnaround), we were asked for a payment from Cavallini as, in their words “we need to pay for the granite”. (ALARM BELLS ! – this was to be paid for with our initial payments. What happened to those funds???). We were then told we selected a Premium Granite and would have to pay EXTRA (it said Premium granite on the contract and he told us anything over a Level 4 was extra. That magically turned to Level 2 four months later). We eventually found out that the granite company was owed a pile of money and they weren’t releasing anything until they got a cheque from Cavallini. Cavallini tried to hold some materials back until they received a payment (payment that was owing for delivery of all cabinets – which we didn’t receive - and money for extras which was to be paid upon final completion of the job – which of course wasn’t going to happen in any semblance of a reasonable time). They actually demanded this while GUARANTEEING the granite was going to be installed the following day at a specific time --- not knowing we confirmed the granite hadn’t been paid for and wasn’t even in production yet! AN OUT AND OUT FABRICATION just to suck some money out of us! Knowing what we knew, we would have been crazy to give them the balance owing! So, fed up with dealing with this inept and unscrupulous company any longer, we had to purchase granite on our own, purchase a bathroom vanity (that was promised to us, yet all we got were blank stares when asked about it) and purchase all the materials to finish the kitchen and bathroom ourselves by a competent contractor (including replacing the dummy doors they hacked apart).
To top it off, upon paying a visit to the cabinet company, we were told that our kitchen “had not been paid for” and Cavallini was on a cash-only basis. We were four months without a working kitchen – no countertops, no sink. Regarding a previous company response on the J&G Bober post, how can you default on a payment when the company gets 90% up front before they even do one bit of work!! (45% initial deposit and 45% on the first day of work, 5% on delivery of cabinets - always stuff missing - and 5% upon completion (which means when the job is done, over, finished, complete, approved by customer, last day we see their faces). Despite this payment schedule outlined on his contract, the owner seems to think that payment in full needs to be made in order to finish the job. What a joke.

If you’ve signed up with this company recently and have a lump in your throat reading this – we feel for you. Don’t be fooled by the glowing reviews on the net, they are probably family and/or friends or posted by the owner himself. Interestingly, you’ll notice 3 posts below that all were posted on the same day removed for verification. One in particular starting with “First of all id like to say I am ” can be found , word for word, under DIFFERENT NAMES on several other review sites similar to HomeStars. Another post claiming a kitchen was delivered and installed in TWO WEEKS (?!?!!) when all the rest of us took MONTHS and MONTHS! You figure it out… We’ve stumbled across other Cavallini customers (word of mouth travels fast when you’re bad) and each one has either fired Cavallini, or they’ve had their job abandoned. Others, several months in without a finished job. By the way, a HomeStars review is based on the completed work. You get a ZERO for not finishing the job and not supplying the correct product!!! You don’t get an “8” for only doing 80% of the project!

If all this doesn’t sway you, be sure to ask for at least 3 references from the last 6 months and ask to see the work IN PERSON with receipts. Ask for licenses from the “trades” as we had the owner tell us leaving connected wires OUTSIDE of a potlight box is acceptable -which he said he CONFIRMED with an electrician. (I called 3 electricians in town myself to verify, and that’s a BIG no-no. Something else I have to fix…)
In summary, we feel embarrassed we got hooked by this company (they were a “B” on the BBB which we questioned, and of course given some story), embarrassed when others ask why our reno is still not done after six months, and embarrassed about showing the product and/or work.

Can’t stress enough – STAY FAR, FAR, FAR, FAR AWAY from these guys!
UPDATE - March, 2014. His response from the BBB a YEAR later: "The customer had been behind on most payments during the entire contract, while work continued. The customer had full intention to take advantage of payment structure and not uphold their end of the contract. The customer's intention all along was to get the material delivered and have an independent contractor install it. Work and the contract was terminated once Cavallini got wind of the customer's intention."
Recognize a pattern? He gets 90% and claims you didn't pay him?

Terrible experience. Rick Cavallini started the renovation of our kitchen on May 24, 2012 and we fired this people in November, 2012 when cabinets/drawers were still missing, the hood was not installed,basebords and other details were still unfinished. Unfortunately, on the day they begun, we paid the 90% of the kitchen. We gave them a check (the second one) and we did not receive any receipt back! The very first day of the renovation, Rick's guys came in, they wanted to renovate the bathroom... RED FLAG. Rick took wrong measurements of the kitchen so we ended up having extra-cabinets. Some other cabinets had to be replaced and some others had to be adapted to the appliencies. Rick was very nice to come and choose the appliances with me but he had no idea on how these modern european style things had to be installed...Cavallini people came to work one or two hours per week. After three month without a sink, we installed a temporary sink. We have been waiting for the countertop for ages and I went myself to bring the tiles for the backsplash to Toronto. The measurements provided by Rick were again wrong, and we had to wait for some more tiles. We fired Rick in November. The cabinet maker did not want to make our cabinets as Rick was not paying him. Luckily, we are able to know the name of the cabinet maker and, symply paying him for his job, we were able to get the missing cabinets in January 2013!!! We reported Rick at the BBB and they said he never replied..