The Cabinetmaker

Highly recommend

Perfect from beginning to end. All deadlines were on time or early. He came out and took measurements and most of the work was done off site. He built a raised platform for our coach. An entire media center and custom cabinets. I had some special requests and solutions to all of them were planned out and implemented. We will definitely be using him again.

Rafael's work was true craftsmanship. He: (1) accurately took the measurements to build the new cabinet (2) helped me determine the contemporary design (3) helped me select the best type of wood for long-term wear and care (4) helped me choose the type of finish (color stain) (5) used high quality drawer and door components and (6) made a third trip to install the door knobs and drawer handles (once I finalized the choice). The installation went very well. Overall, I was satisfied with the final cabinet.

Rafael made beautiful corner cabinets for us. He did a terrific job. We liked one so much we had him make a matching cabinet. He does very good work.

I did a complete remodel in Timbergrove Houston. I gave Rafael the 3D design that we had completed by a third party. Rafael came out and took measurements and then provided us a detailed quote. His pricing is really competitive and materials are much better than the larger Houston Cabinet Shops. Rafael installed the cabinet bases after my floors were installed and walls were primed and painted. I had the granite installation scheduled after the cabinet bases were installed. Then Rafael came back to complete the drawer and door installations. I would highly recommend him to everyone in the Houston area. I've seen a lot of cabinets recently (including a few ~$1MM listings) and nothing compares to the quality of his construction. Rafael even completed the bathroom cabinets which were part of another contractors scope who couldn't complete their scope.

Mr. Ortega did excellent work! The finished product was better than expected. He was on time and professional. I would definitely hire him again.

Work went very well. Communication was easy, transparent and frequent during design and installation. Excellent quality materials with a reasonable price. Benefited from the tips/design insight that was offered resulting in a high-quality finished product.

Work went very well. Communication was easy, transparent and frequent during design and installation. Excellent quality materials with a reasonable price. Benefited from the tips/design insight that was offered resulting in a high-quality finished product.

Rafael came and met with us to learn exactly what we wanted. We needed a large built-in bookcase and a table behind our couch. He made several valuable suggestions to improve our design. The craftsmanship is impeccable. He arrived on time to install the bookcase and left the room spotless. The sofa table didn’t need to be fancy, since it was designed to be invisible, however it’s a beautiful piece of furniture that i could proudly display. Rafael’s price was very reasonable for the quality he delivered.

Work was performed as promised , they were very professional and , I am totally satisfied with final projects ! will use them again .

STAY AWAY!! RAFAEL ORTEGA STOLE $10,700 FROM US! We paid Rafael $10,708 as a downpayment for kitchen cabinets in July 2017, and, as of January 2018, we have yet to receive our cabinets. As of November 2017, Rafael stopped communicating with us entirely. We’re currently pursuing legal action against Rafael to recover the money that he has essentially stolen from us. The following is a detailed account of our story… After reading reviews on Angies List praising Rafael for the quality of his work, my wife and I decided to hire him over other contractors we spoke to, and, on July 25, 2017, we entered into a contract with him to build kitchen cabinets. Rafael informed us that he would be able to begin our project at the beginning of September and finish in 6 weeks, so we agreed on a delivery date of October 12 and paid him a deposit of $10,708. It’s worth noting that, due to some of the reviews on Angies List stating that Rafael was slow to meat deadlines, we added some terms to the contract that would protect us in such an event. Our additional terms stated that, barring any reasonable unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, we would deduct a percentage of the total sum of the project for every day that the project was late. Rafael agreed without objection and signed the contract. Because of that, we felt comfortable with the amount of the downpayment. As we neared the October 12 deadline, I contacted Rafael to confirm our delivery/installation as we needed time to prep our space for the cabinets. This was the first time Rafael “went dark” on us. After repeated texts, phone calls, and emails that went unanswered, I finally called his wife and spoke with her. She apologized and assured me that Rafael would contact me soon. We spent the next 2-3 weeks going back and forth with Rafael over specs like the thickness of counter tops and appliances and such. Specs that he should have asked for at the beginning of the project, but did not. Around the first week or so in November, our concerns began to mount as we still did not have our cabinets. It was at this time that Rafael informed me that he was behind and needed more time. He assured me that he could have everything finished and delivered by December 7th. At this point, I should have just cut ties with Rafael and requested a refund, but I remembered that he had agreed to our terms of deductions if he was late, so we moved forward with the additional time. While we were waiting for the December 7th delivery, Rafael went dark on us agin and stopped communicating with us altogether. the day before December 7th, Rafael’s wife, Liz, contacted me and said that they would need an additional week and that they would only be able to deliver and install the base cabinets and that they would also need an additional $5000.00 to finish the project. This is where everything started to fall apart, and we began to realize that Rafael was not only behind schedule, but that he was no where near finished with our project. At this point, we’re almost 2 months behind schedule. We spent the next couple of weeks going back and forth with Liz only to get no resolution. Finally, they agreed to met us at his shop so that we could see what had been completed on our project and try to figure out a resolution. Rafael only had a few cabinet boxes built along with side panels for the island. The rest of our project was in pieces on a cart waiting to be assembled. Rafael assured us again that he would work to make everything right, but shortly after New Years, his wife called to inform me that he would not be completing the project beyond the few pieces that were already built. Contractually, we were within our rights to terminate our agreement with Rafael long ago, but we tried again and again to be patient and work with him. Ultimately, we got screwed in the end. He got our money, and we still have no cabinets (see pic). Rafael is a terrible business man. He makes promises that he doesn’t intend to keep and then makes excuses when it comes time to deliver. Save yourself a mountain of headaches and do not hire Rafael Ortega for your project. update 8/29/2018: This is an update for a review that I posted on 1/3/18, in which I gave a score of F. As per the last review, we filed a case against Rafael in civil court in an attempt to get our money back for work that we paid for but did not receive. After filing our case, we were notified that Rafael had filed for bankruptcy, leaving us with a loss of more than $10k. To date, he has made no attempt to refund any of the money he stole from us. Folks, you've been warned. Stay clear of this guy!

Rafael Ortega is a liar and a fraud. He has taken our money and completely disappeared into thin air. Our contract date started in October and we still have a completely unfinished home. He has not answered our calls, texts, or e-mails in a month!! I can see very clearly from the previous review that he has been working at someone else’s home instead of ours. We have tried to be very patient with him, however, to completely and utterly disappear and to stop all communication with us is unbelievably unprofessional. Now, we are having to hire a lawyer and pursue this legally, which is even more added stress especially because I am pregnant. Rafael has been an absolute disaster to work with, and I would not recommend him to my worst enemy.

Our kitchen is 35 years old and needed to be reconfigured. We elected to modify the existing cabinets and pantry rather than totally ripping out and replacing. Rafael worked with us to redesign most of the drawers and cupboards - their size and functionality. Rafael then removed all the doors and drawers and reconfigured for the new arrangement. While we had the kitchen painted Rafael built all new drawers, new front panels and new cabinet shelves and doors to suit the new arrangement. The original cabinet structures had been built in place and had their "anomalies", things not quite square, not quite plumb. To make all the new doors and drawers fit properly, Rafael needed to do minute adjustments to his doors and drawers to make it all look exactly right. This he did. The kitchen looks great! Rafael and his son, Seth, would put in long days, working quietly and always cleaning up after each day's work. There was one hitch in the work. Rafael had the new doors and drawer faces made by another man who was set up to do this type of work. In the middle of our job, Harvey flooded many houses (not ours) and the other man got seriously backed up with new work; so our doors and drawers were delayed several weeks. The finished kitchen is now a joy to work in. It has a thoroughly modern look. We love it. I can highly recommend Rafael. He is very easy to work with and is a really nice man who is very honest and trustworthy.

Rafael and his assistant were a delight to work with. Their work was of extremely high standard and they spent extra time (at their expense) to make sure everything was a perfect fit. We are extremely pleased with the final product.

The shelving unit with cabinets is beautiful and very functional. Rafael is a very pleasant man to deal with. He takes on a number of projects at once and sometimes gets behind, but he is a perfectionist and his cabinetry is like a work of art to him and can't be rushed. As long as you are not in a hurry for a completed project, you will receive a masterpiece when it is complete.

Rafael Ortega is a true master craftsman. I hired him for two separate jobs. The first job required building two book cases surrounding the fire place, extend the fire place mantel upward to provide a custom encasement of a TV, build a free standing clothes closet hanging cabinet with shelves and cabinet drawers on one end. The CRAFTSMANSHIP was such HIGH QUALITY that Rafael was hired for a second job. This required demolishing an irregular shaped wall and removing a door, then construct a closet on the back side of the wall and in the formal study build a bookcase with desk and a free standing custom filing cabinet. Rafael and his assistants were dependable, honest, ethical and did exactly what they committed to do for the agreed upon cost. They thoroughly cleaned all demolition and construction debris and trash. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the Cabinet Maker for great Value and the Highest Quality. I will use them again. Rafael has laser focus on customer satisfaction.

This was a tough job. The contractor got a few things wrong, but responded well to the mistakes. My one complaint is that the job was very late. We selected this contractor as opposed to others based on his ability to get the job done on time. From start to finish, the job was completed about 7 weeks after it was scheduled to be.

Raphael was gracious, meticulous and his work is beautiful. I am beyond pleased with his craftsmanship. I will use him again come April 2016. Top notch and very much a gentleman

Rafael did really wonderful work. He obviously takes a lot of care and pride in his work and you can see it in the finished product--it's meticulously crafted. Very high standard of quality. He was easy to work with and let us know in advance that it was a busy time for him and that we should be sure to follow up with him if he didn't get back to us right away, which was helpful. The final product looks great and we are very happy with it.

Rafael did really wonderful work. He obviously takes a lot of care and pride in his work and you can see it in the finished product--it's meticulously crafted. Very high standard of quality. He was easy to work with and let us know in advance that it was a busy time for him and that we should be sure to follow up with him if he didn't get back to us right away, which was helpful. The final product looks great and we are very happy with it.

Rafael did really wonderful work. He obviously takes a lot of care and pride in his work and you can see it in the finished product--it's meticulously crafted. Very high standard of quality. He was easy to work with and let us know in advance that it was a busy time for him and that we should be sure to follow up with him if he didn't get back to us right away, which was helpful. The final product looks great and we are very happy with it.

Rafael did really wonderful work. He obviously takes a lot of care and pride in his work and you can see it in the finished product--it's meticulously crafted. Very high standard of quality. He was easy to work with and let us know in advance that it was a busy time for him and that we should be sure to follow up with him if he didn't get back to us right away, which was helpful. The final product looks great and we are very happy with it.

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He did such a beautiful, quality job, we ordered another identical cabinet.

The timing to complete the project was a challenge given that we had to coordinate between the granite professional and painters, but Rafael made sure that whoever he recommended would deliver the quality product that his cabinets have.   Furthermore, his calm and kind demeanor makes dealing with him a pleasure.  We are thrilled with his work and would definitely use him again for any future work.   <br />