Problems With Installers of Laminate Countertops

by Susanna
(Lakewood, Ohio, USA)

Sometimes the thing about an old house is that whatever you do to it, it’s such a vast improvement that you can’t be upset. This is the case with my kitchen counter tops. When I moved in, the countertops on the main counter and the side counter by the refrigerator didn’t match.

You would think that would be a big problem, but no. The biggest problem is that the kitchen counter tops weren’t level. Everything rolled off of them onto the floor! Clearly, something had to be done. In order to not break my budget, I went with regular laminate countertops.

I looked at the other options at the local home improvement center, but the laminate countertops were within my budget, and the displays looked just fine. I’ve never had the fancy marble or kitchen granite countertop, so I didn’t really feel like I was depriving myself. Plus, there was a sale, and I had a coupon. Can’t argue with that.

The local home improvement center has installation service for just about everything, and they’ve been in business for a long time, so I figured it had to be pretty good, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong! The first time the installer showed up to measure, he was curt and rude. Snide, even.

Many weeks later when the installers showed up, they did an awesome job – neat, level, nice guys. But as soon as the sun came up the next day I noticed a long scratch on the Formica countertops.

I called and many weeks later the same installers showed up again, and this time, they did a cruddy job – they used a brown caulk when they were supposed to use clear, they left the old clear caulk on the countertops, it just looked shoddy. I will make sure that they come back to fix it but at least they replaced the scratched top...

I’m currently waiting (and have been for some time) for them to show up again. But as I said, any improvement in this old house of mine is huge. I love the color of the Formica countertops. Taking a cue from that long scratch on the original ones, I’m extremely careful not to do anything to damage them, but they are pretty durable.

And best of all, they are level! Nothing rolls off onto the floor anymore. That in and of itself is a relief, and makes me like the counters even though the caulk is still messed up.