KMS Kitchen + Home

This will be my second review for KMS Kitchen and Home. We had the privilege of doing a large remodel with Kristi in 2013. The project has stood up in both aesthetics and durability (typical young children now teenagers taking a limited toll). We have recently completed a large Tahoe rebuild with Kristi. It was such a relief to have someone this knowledgeable and dedicated to guide us through a rebuild of a project at a distance. Kristi managed to work around our busy lives through the process, all the while managing a crew of contractors and subs across the state. The end design is perfect and ready for ski season. Kristi honored the original structure, but has made it uniquely ours. We had a few tricky requests in order to meet the demands of our family, and she managed to deliver on all fronts. Every element of the rebuild was considered. I never knew there were so many ways to detail a wall or ceiling!! In the end, it all makes sense. She was able to tie in the architecture of a room to the lighting plan down to the furniture layout. Yes Kristi…you were right, the fireplace is perfect there - lots of heat on Christmas! Thank you! As an aside…we have just signed up for a couple bathroom “refreshes” that were missed on our original project in SF with KMS for the summer. Can’t wait to dive in!

We had the costly misfortune of hiring KMS Kitchen and Home to help with kitchen and bath tile and cabinetry and some lighting consulting in the custom home we designed with our Architect. During installations, Kristi was frequently unavailable and “not to be disturbed,” which meant our sub-contractors had to make sense of Kristi’s elevation drawings themselves. Including their mistakes. The drawings, our seasoned General Contractor said, were the worst he’s ever seen, fraught with mistakes and missing details which caused botched installations, cabinets having to be remade, a finish carpenter to walk off the job, and countless additional time and labor to fix her mistakes—some of which proved to be unfixable. It was clear that managing many details for the scope of work related to cabinetry and bath tile for a high end custom home was outside of Kristi’s experience and expertise. KMS took unauthorized photos of our home and posted them on social media, tagging vendors she played no role in sourcing. We spent hundreds of hours curating unique finds and designing all of the interiors of our family home, only for KMS to claim the work as her own. For a subsequent client, KMS copied our interior finishes, which might not be that distasteful, if it weren’t for the fact that the house is 5 doors down from ours. Everything from the great room ceiling, to the fireplace, to the mudroom, to the exact same kitchen range hood, to the cabinets (design and color), to the light fixtures, to the bathroom tile, to the wood detailing, and the flooring throughout is a replica of our personal designs. We are also aware of one other home where our designs were copied. Needless to say, we cannot, in good faith, recommend KMS Kitchen and Home.

Kristi did beautiful work on our total house renovation - this included tearing down walls to allow for a jack & Jill bathroom, a new master bath and a new powder room. We could not be more pleased. She was easy to work with, responsive and importantly everything was seamless. I shared my visions and she made them a reality.

Kristi rates high marks from us. We were given her name as a referral from our tile contractor, and, right from the start, her ideas, suggestions, punctuality and professionalism were impeccable. She is driven to deliver the best possible product for the homeowner, all performed with a courteous and polite demeanor, yet, when issues arose (as they often can) Kristi handled it. In fact, we have hired Kristi to complete yet another phase of our renovations!

Kristy has been an invaluable asset on several projects we have done in our home. She has an incredible level of understanding in how to complete a given project that often involved contractors, electricians, painters, etc. She presented us with as many options as we asked for without overwhelming and paralyzing us. Has wonderful resources and knows how to get exactly what you want. She is extremely well organized, respectful of your time, flexible for meetings, and has the utmost respect for your budget. I have dealt with various designers over time but was not even slightly impressed until we worked with Kristy. Then we were astounded by what she was able to accomplish.

We loved working with Kristi ! She designed a beautiful bathroom for our remodel, gave us a line by line budget description and spreadsheet, was timely and I just adored working with her !

Kristi was a pleasure to work with and was able to design our bathrooms, laundry room and master walk in closet from the conceptional ideas we presented to her. She is very professional and timely. We were extremely satisfied with her work and would highly recommend her services.

One of the things I find priceless about working with Kristi is her eye for detail and attention to it. Kristi does not cut corners and is very knowledgeable with the the most intricate details that make your kitchen and bathroom function as you need it to in your day to day life, as well as ensuring the sustainability over time. She is professional, hard-working and a pleasure to work with.

I cannot say enough good things about working with Kristi. From our first meeting when we scoped out the project, to the final day when our brand new kitchen was complete, Kristi was a true professional and always had a smile on her face. We had a huge project--total kitchen gut job, vaulted the ceiling, new everything--and I can say without a doubt that hiring Kristi was the best money spent on the project. She was incredibly organized, conscious of our budget, and very dedicated to our timeline (which was very tight because I was 9 months pregnant at the time!). She truly understood our vision and made it a reality. We could not be happier in our new space and I will continue to recommend Kristi to anyone who is looking for a top-knotch designer who is a true pleasure to work with. I am sure we will work together again!

Kristi made our extensive bathroom renovation and home decoration a truly enjoyable process, with an end result we love. Kristi was able to quickly understand our tastes and preferences and pull together creative, polished, and detailed designs for every room of our home. She's also a highly skilled project manager and oversaw our bathroom renovation with more attention to detail and quality than if we had done it ourselves. I'd highly recommend her and hope to work on another project with her soon. Here's more about our work with Kristi: Bathroom Renovation: Kristi designed an initial plan for our new bathroom (built from the studs up) and then managed the entire construction process. She sourced all the fixtures and materials, staying well within budget and bringing us a manageable and appealing set of options to choose from as we selected tile, countertop material, lights, and other items. She then coordinated the screening of three contractors and helped us select one for the job. For the four weeks of active construction, Kristi visited the job site almost daily to assure high quality work, coordinate inspections, manage subcontractors, and deliver materials. We traveled during the renovation and we could depend entirely on Kristi to ensure that work was happening on schedule and that nothing was going awry. Kristi also regularly went above and to make sure the details were absolutely perfect. As one example, after our painter finished his work for the day, Kristi traveled to our home at night (on her day off) to make sure there were no imperfections that might not show up in daylight. Kristi also went above and beyond to find us great deals on the many items for our construction project, sometimes driving all over the city and negotiating to ensure our project could stay in budget. Kristi was a stellar advocate for us and made what could have been a painful, messy construction project into a true joy. Home Decoration: Kristi also designed the interior of four rooms in our home: the master bedroom, nursery, dining room, and living room. She generated original, practical, and affordable designs for each room, showing us a range of options exactly in line with the style we'd hoped for. My husband is a picky architect, and I am difficult to please as well, and Kristi very capably helped us narrow down our choices and select furnishings and details (such as vases, art work, and pillows) that we both could agree on. I also wanted to find kid-friendly and "green" materials to furnish our home and Kristi steered us towards affordable and high-quality choices. She again helped us find great deals on items by watching sales and by suggesting a range of items from higher-end and everyday stores. Kristi even proactively spotted some perfect items for our home while she was out shopping on a weekend and brought them by for us to try out - she always seemed to have us and our project in her mind. On a personal note, Kristi is someone who you will feel comfortable inviting into your home and who you will likely call a friend by the end of the project. She's a consummate professional with a clear talent for design and a warm and friendly demeanor to boot.

Kristi helped us plan color schemes, choose furniture, and design the layout for our new house. I had a wonderful time working with her - she is extremely knowledgeable about nearly every aspect of design! I was struck by how she immediately seemed to understand what I was looking for and the feel I wanted to create in our new space. She was able to take a headache of a task for my husband and myself and make it fun! The end result was a beautiful, comfortable space I was happy to call home. I loved working with Kristi, and hope to have the opportunity to work with her again in the future.

My husband and I hired KMS Kitchen and Home to design the remodel of our main bathroom in our 1948 Cape Cod style home. From beginning to end, Kristi was fantastic. She listened attentively to our ideas, respected our budget constraints and was available for each step of the process-from design to completion. Her design for our bathroom was exactly what we had in mind and allowed us to be a part of the process, as much or as little as we wanted and had time for. She even helped us choose the finishing touches such as wall decor, towels, and other accessories! The completed project was gorgeous, functional and added such value to our home. I was also fortunate to work with her on another project for a non-profit business. Kristi planned and designed the office spaces for the business. Kristi's expertise and creative ideas transformed the old space into a design that fit our unique needs and gave us a beautiful place to work! I would enthusiastically recommend KMS Kitchen and Home to anyone seeking creative, attentive and thorough design work for any home or business remodel!