Anything but easy

My wife and I waited a long time to redo our kitchen and to install bedroom cupboards. After checking reviews and getting a referral from a friend we approached ELK (Easy Life Kitchens) - Kenilworth to design and install our kitchen and bedroom cupboards. A job that involved close to 173k total.

Kick-off Due to covid-19, we decided to pay the deposit to book the job and schedule later in the year. Once we were vaccinated and comfortable to go ahead, we got in touch with Julia, our sales representative, to finalise the details. We have been to ELK and Julia has visited our premises to get started with the initial designs. This is where signs begin to emerge; emails went answered and almost 2 weeks to go design was not finalised; evident that the ELK designer, Julia was overwhelmed. We did not think much of this at the time and carried on with the process. The designs were simple, reuse our existing kitchen cupboard internals and add new doors and sides. We required a bit of electrical and construction work to be done. We decided after ELK recommended, to use Akon builders. This was a HUGE mistake.

Installation We prepped our house for the install. My wife has an autoimmune condition and even though we were vaccinated we wanted to ensure everyone adheres to COVID guidelines. We were adamant about these conditions and several times we had to mention this to the ELK workers. Masks were a mandatory COVID regulation.

On the arrival of the ELK installers and Akon team, we screened everyone with a thermometer and ensured everyone wore a mask and wore it properly, not just over their mouth only. However as the job progressed we had to ask workers time-and-time-again to wear their masks . This went on until the very end, even the owner of Akon construction Adenaan failed to wear his mask correctly on more than one occasion.

The installation kicked off with the Akon workers starting to tear down the kitchen without any care. I had to find my kitchen tap parts to wash and clean them after the plumber tossed it in the old sink. The Akon electrician decided to cut the wall without removing my dishwasher. Dust was everywhere. We understand there will be dust but at least move my 3k kitchen tap and 12k dishwasher before you start.

Easylife ensured that there would be a project manager on site. Yet we had to get involved. Time and time again we would be interrupted from work to attend to install issues between akon builders who were recommended and easylife installers. The so-called project manager would ask me and my wife about electrical and construction work instead of contacting Akon.

While working on our upstairs bedroom the easylife installer tore a stair nosing off the stairs. We were never informed and when questioned they said it was loose and that they heard we were replacing it. Fortunately it did not break and we could have replaced it. We complained to Julia on email without any further feedback. It was brushed off.

Then the big issue happened. When drilling into any wall, there are tools to ensure that you do not drill into electrical or water. Easylife installer decided that he was an expert and drilled into a water pipe. This flooded the kitchen and went under my laminates in the kitchen. I called easylife, Julia diverted the issue saying that this happens from time to time. I then spoke to Stacy who is the franchise owner after repeatedly asking. Stacy visited on the day and ensured that they would fix the wall and pipe. I asked them to ensure the area is cleaned up and dry. This was on Wednesday. They did not listen, we had a laminate flooring company come on Saturday to ensure the floor was done by Monday to finish the install. The floor installer took back some of the laminate and found that the water went all the way under the laminate between the laminate and plastic membrane causing our laminate to be ruined. We called easylife immediately and Stacy the franchise owner visited.

The laminate installer who was employed by me had very few laminate available due to us provisioning only for the small area of the kitchen. We laminated the house years ago and kept pieces for the day our kitchen would be done. The laminate was not enough. Stacy insisted that we try to use the laminate from the water logged section, in the end it was futile and Stacy agreed the floor had to be replaced. Stacy brought on Adenaan, Akon builders on Monday to assess the floor and we stated we wanted tiles as we did not want 3 different types of laminate in our house. Easylife tried to persuade us to use a laminate that we have in our house that I sourced for my now broken stairs. I refused and pushed forward with the tiles. After a week of working out the costs, Stacy agreed to the replacement and gave me a costing. I allowed Stacy to take the time and remedy the situation.

Snags and issues Throughout the process and regardless of the kitchen flooring issues there were constant snags. Misaligned doors, poor quality of workmanship and poor design decision making. On the misaligned doors, some were replaced after the installation was complete, a fault easylife said of the supplier. The doors were not straight when fitted and had a curve on it. This meant extra time added to the installation and inconvenience for us having to have easylife once again into our home. The poor workmanship continued with extra ***** holes for no reason, scratches and dents that easylife had to remedy. One that sticks is that they did not align a cabinet to the archway that I requested, which is a constant reminder of the nightmare.

The design issues were many, in fact most of the design was my wife diligent enough to pick up flaws and the details. Easylife with the number of years experience could not foresee design issues. For instance the bin drawer hitting against the sink drawer and we could not remove the bin to empty. We have a video demonstrating this. Another is the spacing of our drawers in our bedroom cupboard. The rendering did not match the finished product with enough space to add an additional 3 drawers to each bedroom cupboard. Easylife remedied the situation with each, the point is do it the first time correctly.

Lastly, Akon builders. Please do not use them. After all the mishaps the one that stands out is that after Akon electrician installed our oven and extractor, we were excited to use it. We discovered that the electrician did not secure the oven, my wife opened the door and the oven came right out. I was livid and got the electrician on a Sunday to ensure that the oven was secure. Making small errors is one thing endangering my family is another.

From this review, you would notice we are diligent and detailed. We did our research and if you check easylife reviews they have the highest rating. We spared no expense for our dream kitchen and cupboards. If you ever choose to use easylife, document everything, ensure that the smallest detail is covered and do not use the recommended builder ever.