Valentini Kitchens

What more can I say about Piero and his team from Valentini that hasn't already been said? My experience over many years with them has been nothing short of phenomenal. Our relationship started in 2011 with my 1972 formica nightmare of a kitchen. With a wave of their magic sledgehammer, we moved on in 2014 to complete my entire second floor, where my laundry area was relocated, and the size of my now spa-like bathroom was tripled.

Its now 2017, and time for phase three - the final phase. Piero introduced me to Marty, and together they reconfigured my ground-level basement, which had previously housed the laundry area, and a large family room with wood burning fireplace. It was always cold and damp there and had turned into useless catch-all space. Enter the Valentini team, and in a day, demolition was complete, and the walls were stripped to the concrete. The plan was to install a 3 piece bathroom in the basement, so that the space would serve as a guest suite, as well as my home office. This involved cracking concrete, and installing entirely new plumbing.

Of course when opening walls and ceilings, surprises abound, including the discovery that there was zero insulation or vapour barrier in the walls, and several other issues that were from the original build. The wood burning fireplace was removed, and replaced with a gas fireplace, also installing a gas line to my bar be que outside. The bathroom was roughed in by Yuri, walls were framed by Andrew, Joe and Sebastian, and finished meticulously. Frank the electrician (who also worked on the 2nd floor reno) not only completed the new installation of electrical, he identified several potential problems in the old wiring, and fixed them so that they were safe. We relocated the air conditioning unit in my yard, so that it was closer to the house, and he re configured the electrical outlets so that they were to code.

Andrew finished off the ceilings beautifully, created a bulkhead with the ductwork and water/gas lines, and finished the basement off with ceramic tile at the exterior door, which continued up the fireplace to look like barnboard. The utility area was closed off into a closet (furnace and water heater), and the closet under the stairs was updated as well. The final touches were the custom vanity installed by Anthony, who, ever the perfectionist, made sure everything was finished on point.

The basement is now very cosy, the drafts are gone, and my guests have a lovely private suite, with gorgeous ensuite bath to themselves. I'm looking forward to moving my home office to that space soon.

I can't thank Valentini enough... and I tease Piero that I'm going to have to sell my house now, and find another one, as I've run out of spaces for him to renovate!