We spent $25,842.52 on custom Diamond cabinetry through Lowe’s Rancho Cordova store on May 4. Nearly four months after closing, we still cannot move into the home.
We bought this house so our family could live together and help care for my father while he battles cancer.
On May 1, we asked the Kitchen Specialist what would help her prepare. She said photos and measurements, so we immediately took general measurements and sent photos. At our design appointment, Lowe’s designed the kitchen and selected the cabinet sizes. We chose colors and door styles. We told her we were relying on her expertise.
She knew we had our own contractor and that our appliances were not necessarily coming from Lowe’s. We were never told our contractor had to verify Lowe’s design or that using a non-Lowe’s installer changed Lowe’s responsibility.
Timing is why we chose Lowe’s. The sign said 6–8 weeks, but she told us the Diamond cabinets were realistically expected in about 3–4 weeks. That 3–4 week representation is why we moved forward. Our receipt and online order status showed June 1.
June 1 came. No cabinets.
We had to chase Lowe’s ourselves. We then learned the manufacturer had sent Lowe’s a clarification question needed to move the order forward. The specialist was supposed to ask us. She never did. She apparently thought she had, so the order sat stalled while we had no idea anyone was waiting on us.
By the time Lowe’s rushed the order and delivered June 24, we had lost the renovation window our contractor had reserved. He had other jobs scheduled, turning Lowe’s delay into a much larger renovation delay.
The cabinets then arrived with missing pieces, broken/chipped components, defective doors, staining/finish issues, incorrectly ordered items, reorders, and delivery items we had to help track down. We also had to chase promised refunds and credits.
Then we got to the oven.
We told the Kitchen Specialist we had a 30-inch double oven. We did NOT tell Lowe’s to order a 30-inch cabinet. We did NOT select the oven cabinet. Lowe’s did.
Our contractor made the oven fit, but it looked terrible, so we brought a photo to Lowe’s thinking we had an aesthetic problem. The Kitchen Specialist pulled up the oven specifications and told us there was not enough ventilation clearance and the oven was not safe to use in the cabinet Lowe’s selected.
We are not cabinet designers. That is why we relied on Lowe’s Kitchen Specialist.
On September 1, for the FIRST TIME, Lowe’s told us that because Lowe’s did not perform the installation, responsibility for measurements supposedly rested with us/our contractor. No one disclosed that before the sale. No one told us our contractor had to take specific measurements or verify Lowe’s selections. No one offered Lowe’s installation as necessary for Lowe’s to stand behind the design.
We offered practical solutions: Lowe’s can properly correct the cabinetry, or we will even accept a smaller 27-inch oven with replacement cabinetry just to get this finished. Lowe’s refused.
We closed May 6. It is now September 1 and we STILL cannot move in. We are carrying roughly a $6,000 mortgage on that home plus the mortgage and expenses on the house we still occupy, along with duplicate utilities, HOA costs, insurance, and other carrying expenses.
Lowe’s sold us on speed and expertise. Its employee failed to relay a manufacturer question and let our order sit stalled; the delayed cabinets arrived defective and incomplete; Lowe’s selected an oven cabinet its own specialist later said was unsafe; and now Lowe’s is relying on a policy it never disclosed before the sale to avoid responsibility.
We want Lowe’s to make us whole: provide a safe oven/cabinet solution, cover the corrective work, finish outstanding cabinet issues and credits, and provide meaningful compensation for the ongoing loss of use and financial harm.
