If you don't like a paint color or even a light fixture in your new home, that's usually easy to swap out. But walking into your house and wanting the kitchen cabinets replaced, that's a lot tougher.
For a homeowner who reached out to NBC 5 Responds, it wasn't just a bad color.
"I wanted the nice cabinetry, granite counter tops," Suzanne Carbone said.
Carbone took time in designing her dream home in Sasche.
"I went to a gallery contracted by the builder, and they had all the items available I could choose to go into the decor in the home," Carbone said.
In a sample piece she received, she says the cabinets were solid and smooth. But in reality she says they were very different.
"I have a cabinet door panel that has a few gashes in it. It looks like someone took a knife and struck the door," Carbone said.
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She says the builder told her it was the style, somewhat of a distressed look on the cabinets. They said it was what she ordered.
But Carbone says she never expected the gashes. She also pointed out visible nail holes and creaky drawers.
Carbone called the builder asking for new cabinets, but says she could never get them to agree to replace them.
She says she went back and forth for months before calling NBC 5 Responds.
We reached out to D.R. Horton and quickly got an e-mail back, saying, "Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will look into it."
Shortly after that e-mail, Carbone called us to say the builder agreed to replace her cabinets.
"I'm a lot happier with the cabinetry now. The quality, the surface of the doors and the panels on the drawers. A lot better than it was," Carbone said.
She has new cabinet doors and drawers, and the gashes are gone, for the most part. Still, Carbone is pleased.
"D.R. Horton was very responsive at this point in making sure that everything got taken care of, and the cabinet maker was very responsive as well," she said.
Carbone says she feels like she can finally get settled in her new home and is looking forward to her first big family meal in her new kitchen.
"Thank goodness I'm at a point where I feel like I can move forward," she said.
A statement from D.R. Horton says:
"We are in communication with Ms. Carbone and are actively working to address her concerns. D.R. Horton is committed to customer satisfaction, and we encourage any homeowner to contact us directly should they need assistance with their home."
Carbone says the small cabinet sample she saw didn't include the distressing.
If you're in the market for "distressed" furniture or cabinets, ask questions about the distressing ahead of time and ask if you can see more than just the sample.
You can also read reviews of most products online. Ask for names and model numbers and try to find out as much as possible about cabinets, flooring and tile before you have them installed.
