In the fall of 2015, Donette Plaisance designed and implemented our new kitchen, installed by her husband and business partner, Eric Plaisance. As much as we looked forward to our long-awaited new kitchen, we were somewhat apprehensive, as most people are, about the disruption and inconvenience of living in the middle of a major renovation. We needn’t have worried. We were in the best of hands with Donette and Eric!
From the very beginning, Donette gently guided us through the dizzying array of choices in cabinetry, flooring, backsplash options, paint colors and cabinet pulls. She validated our decision to move our refrigerator to open up a bottlenecked area, and presented us with no less than three options for cabinet configurations. She listened intently to our feedback and immediately included it in subsequent design revisions. We especially appreciated her diplomacy when she needed to explain why something wouldn’t work, and she always came up with an idea to address the issue in a way that exceeded our original thoughts on the subject.
One of our biggest concerns was not being completely familiar with the many storage options available in kitchen cabinetry today. We knew what didn’t work in our old kitchen, and Donette’s extensive knowledge and ability to problem solve with functional design choices alleviated every one of our former kitchen annoyances. Another major concern was visualizing all the design selections working together in the space. This was another area where Donette’s expertise was invaluable; we learned very quickly that if we couldn’t make up our minds about something, Donette was a wonderful resource. Her unerring taste and design sensibility led us to the perfect choice every time and removed any angst we had been feeling about the decision!
With an exciting design concept on paper and materials chosen, all that remained was to demolish the old kitchen and install the new. One of the things we liked best about working with Eric in this endeavor was the flexibility he allowed us in choosing how involved we wanted to be in the project. To keep costs in check, we opted to perform the demolition and paint the room ourselves. It is hard to put into words how impressed we were with Eric; he made it all look so easy, and yet we have never seen anyone work so hard! By the end of the first day, it was obvious to us that there was a true Craftsman in our midst. Better yet, we had an organized Craftsman with good communication skills and a Master Plan! Eric arrived promptly every morning, worked quickly and quietly with no fuss, kept us apprised each day of what he intended to accomplish, and went out of his way to not be in our way. His work is meticulous, and his attention to detail was truly astonishing; he installed some trim and noticed that the color was incorrect. Even after showing it to us, we could barely see the difference, but Eric was right and the trim was immediately reordered. We used our garage and driveway as the staging area; every day the kitchen, garage, and driveway were swept, empty boxes removed, and remaining materials organized for the next day’s work.
Even in the hands of such consummate professionals as the Plaisance Team, Murphy’s Law can manifest itself. In addition to the aforementioned trim, when a cabinet door came in too long and could not be adjusted properly to its neighbor, it was reordered at their suggestion. When another cabinet came in the wrong size, it was immediately reordered (of course, the fault was the manufacturer’s; it had been properly ordered in the first place per the contract). We mention these problems because they can be part of the process despite the best planning; what is important to us is the manner in which they are resolved. With both Donette and Eric, every problem was handled expeditiously and competently. The lines of communication were always open; all of our questions were answered very quickly and always to our satisfaction. As mentioned before, they even noticed things that we wouldn’t have!
We could not be happier with the entire experience; throughout it all, we felt that Donette and Eric cared about our project as much as we did, and had a personal stake in ensuring that we received the kitchen of our dreams. We certainly did, and we would unhesitatingly request their assistance with any future projects, as well as recommend their services to anyone contemplating a home remodeling or improvement project.