Where to buy kitchen appliances/fixtures/countertops

I have used the following suppliers over the years several times and have always been impressed and pleased with the quality of the products and service. Both have been in business for many years and treat their clients well. For countertops: Sullivan Countertops in Emeryville at 510-652-2337 (Closed Monday). For appliances of all kind: Galvin Appliance in Albany at 510-527-2244. Both locations have a showroom where one can look at the products available.

We had a good experience with Galvin Appliance on San Pablo in Albany. Stay away from Custom Spaces on Solano. Horrendous, inept service!

We did this 3 years ago and remain super pleased with the results. It's such a great investment that pays dividends every day of the week.  

Here are some deets:

Scope: we had a wall removed as well as a chimney that had been boxed in.  This changed our galley style kitchen into an open plan with a big island.   Added 2 skylights, extended the hardwood floors out; resurfaced stairs; replaced pony wall with pickets; added sheer wall; new cabs, appliances (kept our Bosch DW), and surfaces.  Our look is transitional-glossy white, birch, Carrera marble.  We looked into the very cool Semi-handmade for custom veneers for our Ikea cabs, but stayed with the stock finish.

Architect: at first we thought we didn’t need one, but we were happy that we used Kathy of Sogno Design in Berkeley.  An architect can help you make simple but important, pivotal decisions.  They really can help your contractor.  Almost: we asked her for a rec. on some small puck lights to place inside the light wells of the skylights. She came up with some beautiful $200 fixtures.  For something we a- rarely use and b- rarely see?  Natch.  My contractor found a pair of LED lamps for $27 from Home Depot.  Done.

Range:  We did a lot of searching online, including Remodelista, and The Gardenweb, I think it's called, which has since been absorbed by Houzz.  Like here.  I did a lot of searching on Chowhound to decide on our slide-in induction range (GE PHS-920).  It got good reviews online, and we've been pleased with it.

Sink:  Blanco- from Amazon.  32".   Pretty tight corners (1/8” radius?)- not industrial, but quite sharp corners for a more modern look. I think this is it, but we def. didn’t pay so much- more like $250.

We got a Brizo (Delta) faucet- OMG I spent so much time agonizing over this and Grohe and Hansgrohe.  I checked Ashby Lumber for these.  Ended up getting the Brizo from Amazon.  We also have some faucets where I work and I knew we wouldn't like them- they didn't have aerators --> splash.  The web is amazing- I didn’t think I could find this again- but here’s MORE than you ever ever wanted to know about faucets.

Surfaces: Since we saved on cabs, we splurged a little for our countertop and backsplash and got marble.  We used Sullivan Countertops, who've been around a long time. They're not the cheapest, but they have great service and do good work. They also do quartz (our 2nd choice) and other types of stone and engineered materials.

Fridge: For our counter-depth fridge we got a KitchenAid.  Again- I think I chose it from Gardenweb or Chowhound.  We went to Airport Appliance at first but got steered to Friedmans in WC. Got our range there too.

And somehow we found the name of a good salesman to go with- Jason Bodnar. Not sure if he's still there, but I would seek him out. I think he used to be at Airport. It was helpful to have someone you could continue to work with.

We had a lot of fortunate outcomes that seemed to result from no planning at all. One was that we had enough marble to do a waterfall effect off our island. Also we chose a square (not convex) fridge- matches the rest of the look.

DM me if you’d like to talk more about this.  I hope you have as an awesome a project as we did, and that you’re as happy with your results.

Hello and good luck to you on your remodel adventure!

We used Kitchen Sync off Solano to design our kitchen layout and sell us our cabinets. (http://kitchensyncdesigns.com/ -- website not so impressive). We used their services for our home in SF 5 years ago, and for our recent kitchen remodel in Berkeley. Jeffery will come to your home and do measurements and then suggest a layout for your kitchen. They are a reseller for KraftMaid, Ultracraft (what we purchased for both kitchens), and Crystal Cabinets. The "showroom" is not super big, though he does have lots of samples. The proof is in the 3d design of your kitchen that he cooks up. They also have many countertop samples and will coordinate that purchase for you as well. Jeffery also connected us with our contractor which was a godsend given how hard to book they were at the time (one year ago).

I also visited the Berkeley Design Center (http://www.berkeleydesigncenter.com/) on Adeline on several occasions -- big showroom and lots of samples they will let you take home to see in the space. We just didn't happen to buy anything from them. Other places we went to/purchased from: Moran Supply on 40th in Oakland (faucets, sinks, anything plumbing), Heath Ceramics (their annual sale is coming up soon in November I believe. I got 20% of seconds tiles meaning super cheap Heath tiles!). Belmont Hardware in Walnut Creek for knobs and pulls.

We bought our range and dishwasher from Airport Appliance on Shattuck. I liked them and was too lazy to go farther afield, though our contractor suggested Galvin Appliance in Albany and Pacific Sales in Pleasant Hill. 

Good luck and send me a message if you want more details on our remodel or pictures.

-Kate