Consumer Alert: Do Not Hire This Man
We Paid George Vlamakis Over $30,000 For Luxury Custom Cabinets. This Is What We Got:
George Vlamakis was doing business as Akpon Custom Cabinetry (now permanently closed). This is a detailed record of the shoddy work he did for us.
Jan 2022
From far away, the kitchen looks great. But a closer inspection reveals unsightly cracks on all the outside doors of the cabinets.
Problems started showing up within a few months. Cracks appeared on EVERY cabinet panel:
When the cracks appeared, less than 3 months after completion, George was informed immediately. He was also told that a piece of the vanity base was missing. He said he would fix it, promising to drop by to look at the issues and take measurements for the missing piece. He did not show. We called him many times to complain. Each time he promised to come by, but he was always a no show.
I assumed that when I hired George Vlamakis in 2020 to design and fabricate the custom cabinetry for the kitchen and bathroom of a 1 bedroom condo unit that the quality of the work would be the same as the custom cabinetry he had done 4 ½ years previously for our classic six unit. Unfortunately the superb work done on our primary residence was nowhere visible in the second, much smaller apartment as is evident in the photos.
Even after 5 years, the work in our primary residence shows none of the cracks which started to appear three-four months after the job was completed in the second renovation. Now, ten months after the installation, the cracking has continued to get worst on all the door panels in the kitchen and bathroom.
As soon as the cracking appeared I contacted George to see if he could come up with a solution. I also discovered at this time that there was an entire piece of the bathroom vanity was missing. It wasn’t obvious until one was low on the floor looking at the front base under the vanity doors. Again I contacted George to ask it the missing piece could be installed. Phone calls and text messages went back and forth over a four month period. He constantly assured me he would get answers regarding the cracking and would come in to measure for the missing piece. He blew me off time and again.
His promises of showing me a mock up of the cabinets before they were installed in his work space never occurred. His promises of the delivery of the cabinets in the beginning of 2021 was delayed by more than two plus months which impacted the entire renovation. And then the installation was so rushed since he said he had to go to Florida to see his mother. Some issues were corrected during the installation such a changing several doors that hit the window still, or the shifting of a section of the counter cabinets since they stuck out too far and didn't allow the back door to open completely. One door had to be replaced when one of his workman attached a handle too close to the top of the door. I had to ask for the inside shelves on a whole wall of cabinets on the stove side of the kitchen that they simple didn't bring during the installation of the doors. And the space for the microwave was so tight, that instead of redoing it one of the cabinet workers just hammered the feet on my microwave so they were flat and the microwave could be shoved into the space. But these were minor in comparison to the actual painting of the cabinet doors.
Initially the cabinets looked ok, although I was concerned there were spaces evident where the outer frames of the Shaker panels and the back panel met. I asked him how that could be corrected. No clear answer, just a lot of promises that he would get back to me. And then the cracks started to show up. He couldn't even give me an answer when I asked about the color of the paint that was used to paint the cabinets. The Shaker cabinets in our primary residence never had any of these issues.
George did tell me that the previous summer in 2020, he had sold his business that fabricated / painted the cabinets and he was only doing the designing of cabinets. I have no idea who fabricated / painted the cabinets, but George still should have made sure that whomever he used did a quality job. They obviously did a very shoddy job in the painting of the cabinets. If the fabricators who created the cabinets and painted them were sub contractors, George is still responsible for their work.
The lack of quality control is mystifying since his previous work was excellent.
Unfortunately because of the painting disaster of the second custom cabinetry I would never recommend George Vlamakis to anyone. I have spoken to other contractors and have been told that George should have dealt with the issues, even if it meant having all the cabinet doors redone. Obviously that is not going to happen as evident by his actions. He has left a very dissatisfied customer who feels ripped off.
More images of the paint job on the cabinet doors are below. Each image is a different door starting on the cabinets over the long counter space, moving to the cabinets on the sink side and finishing with the cabinets on the oven/ refrigerator side of the kitchen. Every large cabinet door has issues with cracking paint.
Tall cabinet doors #1&2 above the long counter side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #3A above the long counter side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #3B above the long counter side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #4 above the long counter side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #1 on the sink side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #2 on the sink side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #3 on the sink side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #4 on the sink side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #1 on the stove side of the kitchen.
Tall cabinet door #2 on the stove side of the kitchen.
The entire paint job of the kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanity will have to be redone at some point. George Vlamakis' total lack of responsibility for the poor quality of his work is not only disappointing, but also appalling. Beware if you are considering hiring him.