Artisan Kitchens & Renovations

I first heard of Artisan Kitchens from reading their articles in Renovation magazine. The articles were written by Lynn who has a degree in Interior Design and together with Dave who is the Engineering Contractor and the other half of Artisan Kitchens. Their ideas and business model made sense, so when we finally decided to renovate we asked them for a design compiled from a discussion of our lifestyle choices and the type of house we had, which was a 1970’s estate home that contained the standard tiny kitchen, dining room and low ceilings. Dave spent several hours with us designing a kitchen/​dining room open concept which would meet our needs. There was no charge and no pressure to proceed. Life got busy and we didn’t get back to him until a year and a half later. When we were ready to proceed, he found the files and we hammered down a plan and design that would work for us. The design was on computer and came complete with a video tour of the «vision». Ours was a big project that basically involved moving the entire kitchen into the dining room (with moved plumbing and electrical) as well as installing two huge cantilevered box windows. We made the decision to take the plunge and signed the contract which came complete with a binder full of subtrade information, product information, insurance and wcb information as well as payment schedule and contacts. It was a professional binder of all the information we needed to refer to.
Our kitchen/​living room renovation took four months to do. We were adament to avoid the typical renovation creep of «while we are at it…» and stuck to firm boundaries of the existing plans, unless there was obvious things to be fixed such as an exposed leaky plumbing pipe, and another pipe that really had to be moved. All the subtrades chosen by Dave were professional, efficient, came when they said they would, and stuck to the quoted amount. They creatively remedied any problem that came up. As one who hates surprises, I found that as time went on, I could trust Dave, Lynn, and the subtrades to do the job with the quality I expected, and the reasonable price they gave us.
Our project came out on time and on budget, and that is a rare quality in boom time Calgary. We are very pleased with Artisan Kitchens and would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone with a small or large project, kitchens, bathrooms, basements or any type of renovation, interior or exterior.
Judy and Peter Arnall