Michael Kaake Construction

Dark, dreary and salmon pink.
My wife and I bid farewell to our old kitchen this past March and embarked on our first *major* home renovation (yay adulthood). We had been saving up for this renovation for several years now and were finally ready to bite the bullet and move forward. We ultimately decided to use IKEA cabinetry with Semihandmade doors. And when looking for someone to help do the install, Mike Kaake’s name came up as a recommended IKEA kitchen installer via Semihandmade’s page. We took a look at several installers in the area and settled on Mike based on his online portfolio and pricing.
Kristiaan did the measuring and prepared our kitchen plans (which were precise to a T) and made himself readily available to assist with the ordering process. During the few weeks leading up to the cabinet installation, we had a major issue come up – a wall that was originally supposed to come out could not be removed as it contained pipes that ran to other condo units in our building. Kristiaan came out in person to assess the issue and, after talking it over with Mike, came up with a genius solution to build out the pantry that was supposed to go there and encase the wall that had to stay. Problem solved.
Come install day, Mike and Kristiaan did top-​notch work and quickly and efficiently installed our cabinetry, including effectively making a custom pantry due to the wall issue. Moreover, our general contractor had failed to properly read the original plans that Kristiaan prepared and did not move a doorway and build a pony wall. This created another stressful hiccup in the installation process and required Mike and Kristiaan to work in a tight space while a subcontractor worked to get the pony wall and doorway moved. Despite all of that, they: (1) got the job done (2) did the job beautifully and (3) still finished on time. Complete rockstars if you ask me.
If you’re looking for an IKEA installer, we highly recommend Mike Kaake and his team. We would definitely hire them again in a heartbeat.

I wish I could rate this company a zero. Went into it with high hopes, but it devolved into a nightmare. It was estimated to take three weeks, which turned into four months.
They told me I wouldn’t need a permit, and explained why. I trusted the explanation, but it later turned out we did need one. The owner then blamed me for not wanting the permit and dragged his feet until we essentially forced him to get one. He wasn’t even licensed to work in our city!
The «project manager» told me five weeks into the three week job that he wasn’t being paid to be the project manager, thus no one was coming to the site to manage anything. There were many, many problems. I hired them to manage the project, but ended up paying them for the dubious experience of doing the managing myself, instead.
The only thing they are good at is sending invoices for work that is not even completed yet and adding on exorbitant, unauthorized change orders retroactively. I could go on and on. Run while you can!

We had a huge kitchen remodel to do, and wanted a custom look but had a smaller budget. Michael Kaake made it happen. He and his crew helped design the kitchen, knocked down walls, did the electrical and plumbing. They made IKEA cabinets look like high-​end custom cabinets. The tile work they did on the backsplash is amazing, and they even created a pantry for my spices that’s really innovative. Their carpentry work, drywall work and tiling is second to none.
In short, every tradesman that Michael Kaake brought on board was absolutely the most skilled, reliable and easy to deal with. They showed up on time, worked quickly, and they did the job for the budget, with no overage charges. And they made my kitchen look like a million bucks. There isn’t one thing I would change. Thanks Michael, Brad and everyone! I would recommend them to anyone.

Michael and Brian are the best… I was referred to Michael Kaake Construction by two different friends who said that they had done an excellent job on their kitchens. I wish I had saved myself the $ 199 I paid the designer at IKEA to design out my kitchen… Michael made some minor changes that made a world of difference for storage purposes and just overall appearance of my kitchen. I am grateful to him and Brian for doing such an awesome job on. I highly recommend them for the design and installation of IKEA kitchens… They are trustworthy and great guys!

So, it’s been a couple of months since you and your crew left us with
our new kitchen. It all happened so fast that we can’t believe it is over.
Now that we have lived with it for awhile, we wanted everyone to know just how
happy we are with the results. Cooking in our new kitchen is nothing
short of a joy for us, we comment every day how much we love everything about
the design, the construction and how easy you made it for us.
We are very grateful for you and your most professional crew.
We would recommend you to everyone (and have — we are hoping at least
one of our admirers calls you)…
The craftsmanship & professionalism is top notch. When Mike says it will be done, it gets done. We gutted our kitchen and replaced all the cabinets, counter tops, plumbing and electrical work and we were done in 31 days.
No one does it better.

UPDATED: Michael did a fantastic job on the first renovation he did for us, but the second was not as well-​managed.