Kitchen Renovation: Lowes Cabinet, Countertop, & Installation Review
Everything you need to know & expect when buying your kitchen cabinets, countertops, & installation from Lowes
Y’all… I don’t know how long the Great Wall of China took to build but I believe our kitchen renovation might give it a run for it’s money!
We moved into our forever home in May & immediately gutted the kitchen.
It was really small & didn’t have a lot of functional cabinets or good working space, so we decided to start from scratch.
& by start from scratch I mean we ripped out all the cabinets, countertops, & the back wall that was the laundry room in order to make the kitchen larger.
This project was naturally a huge undertaking, especially with a toddler & the two of us living in the house… with now, no kitchen 😅
Once we had our layout & general floor plan, it was time to our cabinets & countertops!
Today I am going to share with you everything you need to know & what to expect when ordering cabinets, countertops, & installation from Lowes.
Initial Meeting
When you are ready to get serious about designing your new kitchen, your first step is to contact your local Lowes to set up a meeting with a design professional.
This meeting was not short y’all, it was a few hours so get yourself a babysitter!
This is the first meeting of probably two or three depending on your situation.
Here you will chose the brand, color, general idea of what you want.
Some tips for being prepared for the meeting:
- Know your rough kitchen measurements (full room) & make a rough drawing
- Decide on a general color scheme
- Figure out what type & size of appliances you will have (built-in microwave, cooktop or range stove, French door refrigerator, or double)
- Also know the measurements of where any windows, doors, & openings are in the room
- Take photos of the space to bring with you in case something is unclear
Having those items prepared will help you at the meeting big time!
BIG GIGANTIC TIP: Find reviews on the Lowes representative you are designing your kitchen with. If we had done this before we started I can guarantee this review would be a lot better…
It is very important you work with a design specialist that has
You can see our design board for our new kitchen here!
Measurement
This is step #2 when working with Lowes.
They will have someone come out to measure your kitchen so that they can have exact dimensions.
At this point we had already ripped out all our cabinets & taken down the wall which I believed really helped them to get accurate dimensions.
Second Design Meeting
After a few days Lowes got our drawings back from the measurement & we were ready to make the final choices.
Again, not a short meeting by any means…
In this meeting we nailed down all the final decisions & chose our final upgrades.
We also chose our countertop! We went with a very pretty marble quartz called Miami Vena.
Upgrades We Chose:
- Soft Close Drawers
- Taller Crown Molding
- Real Wood Opposed to MDF
My main complaint is that Adam & I asked for some of the cabinets to be deep drawer cabinets.
We expressed this extensively & thought it was understood, but when you are reading the purchase order it’s very hard to tell exactly what you got.
Deep drawer cabinets were NOT in fact delivered.
Instead we got regular cabinets with a small drawer up top (first world problems I know).
We also wanted our microwave to be built into a cabinet & even showed a photo of exactly what we wanted, but we ended up with a regular cabinet that supposedly the
That story doesn’t quite have an end yet because we still have no idea what we are supposed to do with the microwave…
Installation
22 weeks later…..
No I’m serious.
I know that this is not Lowes fault, all cabinet makers are extremely backed up but still….
We were told 12-16 weeks so 22 was a bit of a shocker.
Living in a home without a kitchen is not for the weak especially when a toddler is involved.
I shared my survival tips for how to do it gracefully-ish here!
The install team was really great & fast but we did run into a few issues & 97% were our fault.
Issues On Us:
- First, the outlets that were located in the old laundry room section of the kitchen needed to be moved to countertop height. Duh, we just didn’t even consider that when we were preparing the room.
- Two, we had to move the main breaker box up which we knew & did, however, we moved it up but not over so it would be behind two cabinets instead of one like we planned. We sent out an SOS to our electrically qualified friend & it took him & Adam a few hours to correct.
- Three, the plumbing for the dishwasher needed to be rerouted because we moved the location of the dishwasher & apparently forgot we did that. Slap me now…
- Ditto the above for the refrigerator.
Issues On Them:
- We were sent one wrong lower cabinet. The cabinet they sent was too small. Where this mix-up occurred I have no clue but thank the good Lord the installer had exactly what we needed on his truck!!!!!
- We were also missing an upper corner cabinet which meant that series (4 in total) could not be installed until its arrival. This left us staring at this terrible electrical box hole for another 3 weeks! I think that one cut me the deepest y’all.
- Also missing molding & trim pieces
Countertop Final Measurement
Once the bottom cabinets are all in place they countertop people came out & took their final measurement.
This went so smoothly & I really needed this win!
I was warned that our countertop installer had worked with said Lowes designer before & there might be a
This did not happen however & we were in fact charged the right amount!
Countertop Install
They were back out in about a week with our countertop & install took about 2 hours & it went amazing!
The smell from the glue was yucky but I could have been in a cow pasture for all I cared I had countertops y’all!!!
Missing Cabinet
This one gets its own section because it took several phone calls, emails, & prayer to track down our missing cabinet.
No-one knew what was going on & our Lowes designer was no longer working there…
Finally after endless calls the cabinet was tracked down as being backordered.
This was slightly strange because it was said to be on our delivery list the day the rest of the cabinets were delivered but whatever…
Adam ended up going to the delivery warehouse the day they finally called saying they had it & picked up our cabinet because our installer agreed to come back out the following day & finish the install!
If you didn’t think a cabinet could make someone’s day let me tell you I was ecstatic!
Conclusion
This was one of the most painful processes of my life & I had a natural childbirth…
I have never had to make some many calls, emails, meetings, etc for one project before, granted this was a big one.
My #1 takeaway is: choose your design specialist carefully!
The cabinets themselves are gorgeous & exactly what we wanted (minus the drawer situation)!
Countertops are even prettier than we imagined & clean up so much better than the granite ones in the old house.
So far we are about a week out & everything has been able to withstand our toddler so that’s a good sign!
I will do a complete review on how well everything is holding up after we lived with them awhile.
Would I Choose Lowes Again?
I absolutely would, but I would choose my design consultant more carefully next time.
Still On The To-Do List:
- Backsplash
- Install Gas Stove
- Install
Microwave - New Lighting
- Add Cabinet Hardware
- New Flooring
- Plank Ceiling
- Trim Out Window
- Add Breakfast Nook Built-in Seating
- Hang China Cabinet
- Finish Built-In Cabinet
It’s just my POV, but I’d never go with Lowes or Home Depot for ANY remodel. Yes, they have all the options but they’re also significantly more expensive. Word of mouth is the way to go. We went with a local man that’s done kitchens for years and years. No, his selection of cabinets isn’t a lot but for someone as indecisive as me, that’s a good thing. And if you specifically wanted & asked for certain things and didn’t get them, why didn’t you immediately stop and contact Lowes? Never mind the idiot you unfortunately had to work with (you could’ve went with someone else too even during the remodel), I’d have contacted the Store Manager. Anyhow, it was a valuable learning experience. And if this makes you feel any better, we’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel as well. My husband is doing 98% of the work which helps with costs but he works 2 FT jobs and he does things in our kitchen when he has time which is little but the biggest issue has been our countertops have been messed up 4❌ FOUR❗️ 4😡 4🆘 4 😩(first time-wrong design, 2-wrong edge cut, 3-cut the sink opening 2 inches off, 4-cut the sink opening to small), resulting in months of holding us up. I told my husband to just get our money back but he won’t. 😡🤦🏼♀️🙄 At this point, I hate the countertops and I was so excited to finally get a new kitchen after 15+ yrs in our house with the ugliest darn kitchen you could ever image but I’m so fed up that I’d rather have my old ugly one back.
Hi Kelly!
I hate that you are having a bad remodel too, sometimes I think it’s just part of the process. What doesn’t kill us… It was a very valuable experience & I am glad I can at least share it with y’all! Remodeling isn’t for the faint of heart for sure 😉
Thank you to share your story. We are in the middle of a kitchen reno from Lowe’s and would never recommend anyone to use them. The store designer is almost impossible to get a hold of, there’s been delays. The process has been going for over 4 months and we’re still waiting for our counter, few doors and some finishing.
Just a really stressful experience.
I feel your pain Marc! It was a very stressful part of the process but hopefully it will be done soon & you can enjoy your new kitchen!
My daughter and I both had a kitchen remodel from Ikea. Yeah they are not real wood, but great price and kitchen design dept was great. It did help that mine was just a straight run and our installer/contractor for the kitchen reno was great. She is very happy with her cabinets as well. I would highly recommend them and they also do the installation as well.