Distinctive Bathrooms & Kitchens

Super happy with our renos. Highly recommend Distinctive for quality of work and products and especially Design Consultant Vida Kiani. Highly professional quality of work done for kitchen cabinets, flooring, granite countertops, etc. Expensive but worth it. Project completed on time and as per budget. Great follow-ups for post-project minor adjustments or issues. Have already recommended to friends, neighbors and colleagues.

Excellent experience! Kitchen renovation started July 7/14 finished July 18/14. Renee Marcil great designer knowledge, courteous & professional staff. I like the fact they use all their own staff. Would definitively recommend to family & friends!

In the fall of 2013, I went to Distinctive Bathrooms and Kitchens' showroom on Lantier Dr. in Orleans to get ideas for a kitchen renovation, and met designer Vida Kiani. She was very helpful, explaining how the company used their own people rather than hire other contractors, as well as the various steps in getting a project underway and completed. When I made the decision to go ahead, Vida understood my needs, respected my budget and never put any pressure on me regarding decisions. She made several suggestions that I would not have thought of, and those made a huge difference in turning a tiny, cramped condo space into something that feels much larger and spacious. My friends all say "Wow!" when they come in the door. It is truly lovely.

The reno started right on time, at which point Sheilagh Crombie, the company's project manager, took over coordination of the work. She called me each evening to ask if things were OK, if I was happy with the results, and to let me know the schedule for the next day. This was definitely NOT a reno nightmare. The installers were all super courteous and respectful of my place, cleaning up and being on time. Any glitches were minor, not my problem, and Sheilagh managed to smooth those over so the kitchen was finished as scheduled.

All that was good, but best of all has been their follow-up. With any renovation, there will be things that need tweaking, and this company has delivered 100% satisfaction on those. The installers told me that if anything was bothering me, do not let it fester, call the company and they will be sent out to deal with it. Very true, and reassuring.

I will definitely go back to Distinctive Bathrooms and Kitchens for my next renovation, and have recommended them to my friends.
Judy Logan

We have had the opportunity to contract DBK for two major renovations at our house. First in September 2010, with the renovation of our ensuite bathroom and second, in June-July 2013, with a major renovation of our first floor which included separate kitchen, family room, dining room and living room and which now offers a large, open concept, kitchen/family room and a den/library at the front of the house. This last renovation included major redesign and structural changes to our living area. Parts of the renovations were also done while we were out of the area due to work commitments. Because of this, many changes were incorporated verbally and conformed to our original requirements while respecting our contractual agreement.

We are totally satisfied with all work completed and with the professionalism of the design coordinator, Renée Marcil, and the work team who kept us fully informed. The work was completed on schedule and to our full appreciation for a job extremely well done.

We would never hesitate in recommending the services of DBK and have done so on numerous occasions.

Merci!

Brad White et Thérèse Canuel

How would you feel if, after paying a contractor more than $37,000, you were subjected to the following indignities? You are constantly harassed, by telephone and in writing, by a collection agency that threatens your credit rating. When you refuse to be bullied by the collection agency, you are served with a lawsuit, which you then have to defend. This is followed by a Settlement Conference, in which the Settlement Conference Judge strongly urges the contractor to settle its claim. Finally, the contractor agrees to dismiss its claim. After the $100 filing fee, the contractor comes out ahead a grand total of $113.48! (minus whatever it paid out in legal fees, etc.) to pursue its ridiculous claim.

In the summer of 2012, we contracted with DBK to install two bathrooms (the demolition was done, and paid for, separately). There were key delays in completing the bathrooms. There were numerous deficiencies that required us to contact DBK on many occasions to come and fix. Here’s a sample of other problems. DBK damaged our guestroom wall by riddling it with holes. After considerable prodding, they reluctantly repaired the damage. DBK and/or its subcontractors damaged our floor by leaving a lengthy and deep gouge in the hardwood in the master bedroom just outside the ensuite bathroom. Not only did DBK not repair this damage, they refused to acknowledge that they were responsible. In addition, we had purchased a rainshower floor model from DBK that they insisted had nothing wrong with it. After we informed DBK that the rainshower continuously squeaks every time you take a shower, and seeing the problem for themselves, their response was that the only thing we could do is to replace the rainshower at our expense.
We are not in the habit of providing reviews, let alone poor ones. We have posted one other review on this site, and gave the contractor a review of 9 out of 10.

In closing, dealing with the owner and manager of this company was an extremely unsatisfying experience.

We worked with our designer Vida for a number of weeks before we finally came up with a design that would give us our dream kitchen and within budget. The final product was A++. They always showed up on time and always cleaned up after themselves each day. The complete job included all new ceilings, granite island, counters and peninsula, custom maple cupboards, plumbing, gas, electrical and tile work. We were extremely pleased with the end result and have had numerous compliments. We are often asked who did the job and are happy to make referrals. They are certainly not the cheapest around but we feel we received the quality work and materials we expected. We are also receiving a quote for the bathrooms to be done.

We hired Distinctive to install a bathtub and the tiles around it we purchased these items from them also. They arrived when they said they would, they respected my home by taking off their shoes and putting down drop sheets etc. I am very pleased with the work they did for us.

After a major home renovation where our contractor left us with thousands of $$ in unfinished work when he ultimately walked away from the job we hired Distinctive to complete the work. This seemed to be the logical choice as we had purchased all of our bathroom requirements from Distinctive and worked for a year with the bathroom designer to build our dream ensuite bathroom. The designer reassured us that Distinctive would complete our bathroom in a timely and professional manner. They were to start the bathroom June 13th, 2011.
A job that was supposed to take 6 weeks or so is mostly complete almost 2 years later except for a tile that was supposed to be fixed a year ago and still not done. At the end of the project when we were very excited to finally use or bathroom and use the shower we realized that the plumber had not attached our shower valves correctly and our shower would not function. The owner of the company came out at this point to meet with us. He advised us that although his plumbers completed the work it was not them that attached the valves incorrectly therefore not his responsibility if we had water in the shower or not. Although it was one of his plumbers that actually attached all the plumbing fixtures he did not verify the work had been completed correctly. After much discussion the owner finally agreed that perhaps it was their responsibility to fix the problem which they did by opening up a closet wall to access the plumbing and patching the wall back up leaving it for us to repaint of course.
This was just one of many issues we had with hem. Another issue was no shows - many times they would just not show and not let us know or show up at the wrong dates or times Although the workers were excellent the management is severely lacking. We spent over 40k for our dream bathroom every penny of this paid to Distinctive and the garbage they left is still in our driveway. It will be picked up by us this spring. They agreed to take it away for $300.00 - this after spending that much money. I asked the owner when he met with us exactly how much money do you need to spend on a bathroom with them to have them haul away their garbage left from the project. We were not difficult customers as our bathroom designer would agree I am sure. Susan was wonderful and did her best in the design and the workers were for the most very good. it is strictly management we have an issue with as they just don't seem to care about client service. While the bathroom was being done we met with a kitchen designer with he intention of redoing our kitchen. That was over 2 years ago and we have not heard one word back from her even after our meeting and leaving her with detailed descriptions of what we would like in a kitchen. We are about to now embark on the kitchen project but will be having this project done but not by Distinctive.

We hired this company in the fall of 2010 to redo two bathrooms. We moved into an older home with two grubby bathrooms that needed two new tubs, fixtures, some other upgrades. We simply could not be more pleased with the sales team and installation. The estimate was clear and comprehensive. The selection of materials, finishes, and fixtures was fantastic. Most importantly, our designer was understanding and NEVER ONCE pressured us to exceed our budget. She made helpful suggestions where we could cut costs in some areas to splurge in others. The installation was seamless. They started on Monday morning at 7AM and had both bathrooms gutted by 10AM. Garbage was picked up several times a day. The crew was polite and kept us informed. The work was finished by Thursday, keeping us (a family of 4 with two small children) without a bathtub for as short a time as possible. The tile work in particular was lovely. I would recommend this company highly to others. They are truly "one stop" shopping for bathrooms.