Thanks for the review, and glad it worked out for you.

logastellus, where do you live? I'm in Austin, TX & considering ordering from them. I've been talking to an Albert there & he's been pretty good so far. I'm still not 100% sure I want to go w/ them, but am seriously considering. Would like to hear from someone that has had delivery in TX, if at all possible. May start my own thread to see if I can get anyone to respond if they don't on this one.

Thanks much.

Bicyclegirl1 I am also in Austin and thinking of placing an order with AJM. I would love to know if you ended up buying from them. I am finishing up a new build and buying appliances for the whole house, so the sales tax savings alone is substantial.

txcyn, I ended up not going w/ AJ Madison. The guy was very nice, but they didn't have every appliance I wanted so I ended up going to ?Pacific Shore?....I can't remember the exact name, but it's the appliance store inside Best Buy...Pacific something. I went to the one in the Arboretum. I worked w/ Scott, who doesn't work there anymore, but they were all very nice & very accommodating. And, their prices were matched from other stores that had the same item but cheaper, so do your research so you can get them to match it. Even online pricing. The deliveries were good & the guys brought them in, took the packaging off & took it w/ them. Very nice. I did have one problem w/ the refrigerator. My problem, but they were very good w/ it. I had ordered one particular fridge, but when my carpenter was installing my cabinets, the fridge surround was going to be too big for that fridge. I had already had it a couple of weeks, not plugged in or working yet tho. I went back to the store & talked to the guy to see if I could return it & get a bigger one. No problem, they came & got the 1st one & brought the new one. I had ordered the fridge w/ an ice maker inside the freezer. but the wrong one had been brought, so they had to come back another day w/ the correct one & installed it then. That might have been an inconvenience for some, but it wasn't a big deal for me. Sorry I can't help you w/ AJ, but would recommend Pacific ?Shore?! Good luck!

Thanks! I did go into the Pacific Kitchens in Best Buy and they were very nice and matched AJ Madison prices. The hangup for me I guess is the tax. If Igo with pacific I pay about $1100 in taxes :(. After reading the problems some people have with delivery, it seems it might be worth it to have a local contact to deal with.

Also, who did you use to fabricate countertops? My guys need 4 weeks after measuring, that seems like a long time.

That is a lot of $ to have to use for
taxes, txcyn. And it takes a big bite out of your budget! I must not have considered those in the equation!! I had a great experience w/ Pacific Kitchens, but
I probably would have gone w/ AJ had they had all of the appliances I
wanted. You'll always hear a lot of negative feedback when ppl are
unhappy. They want everyone to know about it. It's rare that you
hear from the happy ppl. Maybe tell the person at AJ's that you read some
bad reviews & get their thoughts on it. Maybe they'll work hard not
to have anything go wrong w/ your order. Just a thought!

I used Renaissance for my countertops. I wasn't as happy as I would have liked to have been. I went thru 2 slabs of marble w/ them...1st one was delivered & leaned up against a stone w/ iron in it, & it rusted all over my slab! Big disappointment! But, they did a great job cutting the 2nd slab. It's beautiful. No seams & a simple ogee edge. But....there's always the but...they did a horrible hack job installing my sink. I think the guys were in way over their head. Here's a link to a post I did when I saw how badly it was installed: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2827352/personal-preference-or-function
Not pretty! I had stopped them from doing anymore & called the owner. He saw what a bad job it was & said he'd come back & do it himself & anytime I wanted him to. I just needed to say when & he'd be there. I didn't want to have to take another day off work, so we agreed that following Saturday. Guess what? He called on Friday & said something came up, of course, so for me to pick another day. He showed up on Monday w/a new crew, they stood around & talked about it pulled the whole countertop on that run out & told me they'd be back. They had to take it to the shop. The crew came back about 2 hrs later, but the owner was a no show the rest of the job. I had to kick the guys out at 8:45 PM! They drilled the faucet holes at the very end & unfortunately, they weren't centered perfectly! I don't think most ppl would notice it, but I do! And, the holes weren't the most even apart or in a straight line! Again, it's not that bad, but it would have been nice for them to finish w/a cherry on top after all of the other mistakes! The sink looks great now & they put a sink harness on it like Treb recommends on here for situations like mine. Again, the counters are beautiful! I've been talking to a designer about paint colors & she has a couple of fabricators she uses. I can see who she suggest if you'd like me to. I noticed I can't private message you. I'm not sure I can be private messaged to either, but I'm trying to figure it out. I posted a message in Kitchens to see if anyone could help me w/ that & I see there are suggestions on there how to do it. I'll message you w/ the names if you get yours set up too.

I had an OK experience. I bought an open box double Dacor wall oven from them at a decent price. Shipping was fine, and the oven and box looked fine when delivered. Unfortunately when the oven was installed and the blue plastic covering was removed there were several scratches and dents that hadn't been apparent before, obviously from when it was uncrated previously. It took a couple of weeks and several back and forth emails and calls but AJ Madison stepped up and gave me modest, appropriate refund.

Thanks, chazas, it's nice to know. I'm getting almost all dacor kitchen stuff, do you like your oven? I think if I can arrange to inspect everything before accepting it, it may be ok. I'm glad to know AJM stepped up and took care of the problem. My sales guy was very nice, and seemed knowledgeable but the pushy sales kind of put me off.

bicyclegirl1, I checked out your link...what a nightmare. I had no idea that anything like that could happen with countertops. Thanks for the heads up, we're using Alpha, my designer says they do a great job, and I think they will work with our timeline (Easter). Fingers crossed.

I swear, I have learned so much building this house! When we started a year ago, I made 20 million mistakes. Now that we're in the home stretch, I still make them, but fewer (thankfully). As I become more educated about the process, I'm able to really communicate better with contractors. My poor husband, I tell him the next time we do this...I'll be a pro!

txcyn, glad to hear you have another fabricator to work with. And, if your designer recommends them, hopefully they'll be good, but if they don't do a good job, the designer will also have to be responsible for the work. I was a lone wolf in mine!! If you read thru the kitchen forum, you will find many horror stories about botched fabricator & installations. Mine was pretty mild compared to some.

Building/remodeling is not for the faint of heart! When we don't have the knowledge of all of this, we do end up making mistakes. I've made my fair share, for sure. I wish I had found GW about a year prior to starting mine. I think I would have been armed with better education & what to do & not do. Live & learn....& hopefully not too expensive of lessons learned! Good luck & post some finished pictures when you're through!

txcyn, I haven't used it yet. It's the previous model. It's for a house we're putting on the market the moment we move into (don't ask), so the most important things were (1) price and (2) matching the existing Dacor cooktop. It looks nice, but if I were choosing what I really wanted for myself Dacor probably wouldn't have been the brand.