Albany Cabinets and Design

I just want to thank Isabel for continuously going above and beyond for our kitchen remodel. She is in demand so she may be a bit challenging to get a hold of initially, but we were lucky enough to get her time! She was super timely in her communication and helped me out with so many decisions — listening and providing good guidance when I needed it. She was committed to helping us align our kitchen with the rest of the style of our home. It’s now a centerpiece. She also was able to help us find our other vendors and provide great discounts. I could not be more thankful to Isabel!

We wish we had another kitchen to remodel so Isabel could work her magic again. When we thought of remodeling our kitchen we went to the «Big Box» stores and spoke with designers and looked at product. In our mind an independent designer would have been out of our price range. To our surprise Isabel was very respectful and realistic of our budget, but more important was her vision for our kitchen… our kitchen is perfect. The balance, the beauty, the practicality and the design; she thought of every detail. It was so much more than cabinets and counter tops. She made sure the sink, faucets, lights, hardware and type of appliances all fit together. She worried about the trim and how it would line up with the transition to the rest of the house. She was very accessible and when she visited us to view her finished design she was so proud that her vision was completed. It was beyond our expectations and within our budget.

I read previous reviews and thought I would try consulting with Albany Cabinets. I dropped by, but unfortunately the owner was leaving for an appointment. She referred me to her husband. He suggested that I email her and said she was good about responding to email messages. In an email, I summarized that I was looking to upgrade a small bathroom, included pictures of the bathroom and looked forward to her assistance. She never responded to my email. I waited a month and sent a follow-​up email. I received no response.
I am very disappointed that they did not take the time to even let me know whether my job was too small for them to consider. If it had worked out, I did want to replace my kitchen cabinets. It is a poor business practice to ignore potential customers.

Bought 2 more cabinets from them and it worked out perfect.

I wrote a Unilocal review for Albany Cabinets and Design back in 2007 when I remodeled my kitchen. It recently came to my attention that my Unilocal account had disappeared (what’s up with that?) and along with it, the reviews I had written.
So coming back now to say again that I had a wonderful experience working with Isabel on the cabinets for my kitchen. She was very helpful coming out to look at the kitchen and then aiding me in selecting the cabinets that would work best. She had a good grasp of the style I was looking for and got me a great deal on everything. She even suggested some little details that made it all work better.
And I can add now, years later (which I could not have said at the time), that to this day I am thrilled with how the kitchen turned out. The quality of the woodwork has held up exceedingly well. And every day as I spend time in the kitchen, I find the cabinets a pleasure to look at and the space a pleasure to work in! Thank you, Isabel!

Overall, I would not use her again for my countertop installation or anything else due to the aggravation factor.
We picked out a slab and got quotes on fabrication. She was a little bit less than another fabricator so we went with her against my better judgment based on email communication.
She is really hard to communicate with via email and a bit snotty. Albeit I don’t think she means to be snotty on email, but it really comes off that way and is extremely aggravating. I got emails like– you need to go to Hayward on this date and time to check on the design of the countertop. I’m like ‘huh’? I thought that was what I was paying you for? She didn’t seem to understand the difficulty of doing that with a toddler. Also, when the countertop wasn’t installed to my satisfaction, she’s like ’ you signed off on the template’. Instead, she could have said ‘let’s talk about it and I’ll check in person and we’ll find a way to fix it.” Like other reviewers she seemed more interested in getting paid than your satisfaction with the work.
She never once came to our house, supervised the work or checked on it in person when we had issues with the installation. She’s basically the go-​between person with the company that cuts and installs it and frankly she’s not a great one.
In sum, I think her communication skills are lacking and that is probably why you see many reviews on Unilocal about her ‘attitude’. I even told her that I felt that way. I hope she can honestly take a look at her customer service to help her business.

We highly recommend Albany Cabinets. We recently bought cabinets here, and since we walked into the showroom, we knew this will be the perfect fit for us. The showroom is stylish and welcoming. Isabel, the owner guided us through the entire process. She is knowledgeable, professional and friendly. Her expertise made things go smoothly.
Isabel made the design according to our needs and wants and worked with us in getting the best cabinets within the budget. We are very happy with our new cabinets and already recommended Isabel to several neighbors.

We wanted to remodel the kitchen in our condo and had a limited budget, and after going to Home Depot and experiencing terrible service and having trouble getting a contractor that would comply with our HOA requirements, I decided to do a Unilocal search for local businesses that provided kitchen cabinets. I read the reviews for Albany Cabinets and it seemed that the only bad reviews were from customers that didn’t like the way they were treated when they walked in the store, and sometimes that can also speak of the customer as well as the staff, so I decided to give Isabel a try anyway. I was very clear about the budget that we had and what we wanted to do, and yes, Isabel is very frank which may not sit well with some people; she did tell us that with our budget we were going to have to make some compromises and she would only take our job if we were willing to work with her to meet our budget, otherwise we would all be wasting our time. I actually appreciate when people are clear like that, especially when we are talking about thousands of hard earned dollars, and a substantial amount of things that can go wrong. You want someone like Isabel, a business owner who cares and who is going to be clear and diligent, not a salesperson who is all nice until they get your check and then wishy washy and hard to get in touch with afterward.
We were in a hurry to get our kitchen done because our condo was without flooring due to water damaged, and Isabel helped us make decisions in the order that would expedite the job the most. Choosing the cabinets was key because they have the longest lead time, and then we could take our time making the other decisions. She also helped us find a great contractor who could comply with our HOA’s requirements. Even with the hiccups that are bound to occur during a job of this kind, like things arriving damaged from the factory and having to be replaced, etc., we had a working kitchen by the promised date, which according to everyone else who I know that has had a kitchen remodel, is almost unheard of.
The key is that when problems do occur (and they will occur — buying a kitchen is not like buying a blow dryer, you are buying parts and pieces and hiring people to put them together for you and there are lots of things that can go wrong), you want the person you bought your kitchen from to be responsive and help resolve them, and Isabel did this for us. Albany Cabinets is great because it provides an option for people who maybe have a budget above home depot but not the huge amounts of money that it takes to get a custom built kitchen, and it’s a local business with an owner who cares and takes pride in her job. I recommend that if you decide to give a visit, just be clear about what you want and what your budget is, and Isabel will be clear with you.

It was by accident that my wife found Albany Cabinets and Design. I wound up going to one of Isabel Tsang’s workshops on a Saturday and learned a great deal about different types of cabinets and different price points. We also saw a friend’s kitchen that she did the design for and supplied the cabinetry and hardware and were amazed. Isabel came over, took a look at our very dated and inefficient layout in our kitchen and came up with a wonderful design layout, which included opening up a wall and in the process, opening up the house. We wound up having her do the remodel on our bathroom as well. Isabel was very good at showing various designs and the pros and cons of each. We wound up going with custom cabinets, quartz type countertops for the kitchen and an engineered marble in the bathroom. While one can choose to buy sinks, bathtub, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, flooring options, and cabinet handles elsewhere, it was very convenient to sit with Isabel and go over the various options. It would have been overwhelming for me and my wife to do all of this on our own. We wound up buying everything but appliances and kitchen exhaust fan from her, and I can say that I have no regrets. I liked the fact that Isabel double and triple-​checked the measurements and made some key adjustments as well, before ordering the cabinets. The end result was well worth the wait on both the kitchen and the bathroom. The kitchen is a large one and now it feels spacious, instead of claustrophobic. The bathroom in our house is small, but having all of the new components has made it much nicer to use. Also, while Isabel did all of the large areas of designing the two rooms, she did have us make the final call on everything, from cabinet color, countertop materials and colors, paint, floor materials, etc., all while trying to keep it in our budget (no problem there). I would recommend Albany Cabinets & Design to anyone who is doing a major overhaul on a kitchen or bathroom. We went from a very worn-​out 1950’s kitchen and bath to something that is completely up-​to-​date and beautiful to look at, as well as very functional!

This is the second time we’ve worked w/​Isabel on a bathroom upgrade. The first time was 4 years ago and was a back-​to-​the-​studs big deal that involved a contractor. Isabel is charming and has good ideas. She also knows when to step back and let me organize things when I have a clear idea of what I want. I have never felt unwelcome in the store, which has expanded since we first worked w/​her. I lived in jeans and a sweatshirt on w/​es when I was working and she never treated me as if I was too scruffy and should go elsewhere. We ran into some problems that last time when the cabinet maker, who was based in the Northwest, made a series of mistakes which frustrated me greatly. We finally had to hire Jesus Espinoza to make everything right and Isabel picked up the tab.
This bathroom upgrade is less major. It involves a new sink cabinet, medicine cabinet, a wall-​hung cabinet over the toilet and a new floor. We chose a different style of cabinet this time and it’s manufactured in Iowa, I think. The first bathroom cabinets are bamboo. The ones in the front bathroom are red birch. They are gorgeous and well made. Handyman Rick installed the cabinet over the toilet last week and Frank the plumber installed the sink cabinet after moving the cold water shutoff. The sink top and faucet assembly were just installed and look gorgeous. The water will be hooked by by Frank tomorrow morning and the bathroom will be painted Monday.
My only area of discontent is that the sink cabinet is larger than the old one and crowds the bathroom a bit. I will have to move the clothes hamper elsewhere and put the waste basket under the sink. I see the responsibility for this as shared between Isabel and me. Although she’s officially the designer, I was organizing this and should have been more mindful of the effect of 3 or 4 inches. As Alan says, we will get used to it and its beauty will go far in making us forgive its size. It’s really looking great.

My experience was not unlike Kitty L.‘s I am planning a remodel of my kitchen, and decided to stop by to check out the vetrazzo counter tops, since they were the closest dealer to my home.
I was not dressed fancy, I had spent most of the morning ripping out my kitchen cabinets and I tend to not wear an evening gown for that. I went to the store with my husband and contractors in tow, and was greeted with the rudest, snobbiest attitude I had ever experienced in a place of business. I should have expected as much when I discovered I had to be buzzed into a store, on a busy street, in broad daylight, on a Saturday, IN ALBANY.
When I asked about the price of the Vetrazzo counter tops, she responded that they were «very expensive.» As if that weren’t enough (and honestly, it was enough) she then asked where exactly my house was located (not in Albany where she prefers her clients) and how much my budget was. When I was finally able to get the actual price out of her, she told it to me with such disdain that she may have well said «Even if you were capable of scrounging up the money, Id much rather sell it to anyone else.»
Naturally, I hightailed it out of there in a bad mood, (and ended up buying my very expensive counter tops elsewhere). I didn’t think of a good come back to her «It’s very expensive» dig until later at dinner with friends. Just in case she’s reading:
Maybe it’s very expensive for you, since you work here, but I’m sure I can afford it. Instead, I will be taking my thousands of dollars of business elsewhere, and leave you to your non existent fancy clients in your empty upscale store. Enjoy the recession!
Now I’m thinking I should pull a pretty woman and show up with my receipts and exclaim «big mistake”– but I doubt she’ll buzz me in this time.

My wife and I went to Albany Cabinets after pricing kitchen counter tops with several other stores in the Berkeley area. Their price was well below the competition (over $ 1000 below…) and the service is excellent.
Isabel made sure the counter tops were measured/​installed right on schedule. We were doing a whole house remodel and timing was crucial. I was worried that we were going to «get what we paid for» but that was not the case, we got much more than we paid for. Excellent service, excellent price, highly recommended.

I met Isabel years ago when I was doing remodel on my old house, she helped us design a beautiful and functional kitchen that everyone admired and loved. Years later she opened up her own business in Albany, I had her design another kitchen for my new house in Pinole. We are very happy with the design and features that she suggested for us. The quality of service that we received was superb! I highly recommend her to anyone that wants to remodel or create a new kitchen.

Hubby and I were just about resigned to choosing cabinets that weren’t perfect for us and then, like Dianne S, we decided to check out this small shop in our neighborhood! What a find :) We walked into the showroom and immediately saw exactly what we had been looking for (the olé’ «you know what you want when you see it» kind of thing) — the cabinet happened to be the one Isabel uses behind her desk! We were warmly greeted and Isabel did a wonderful job of getting us to identify and select what we wanted for a kitchen demo/​remodel. She even suggested a contractor, Dana Milner (another 5* recommendation!), that she has worked with several times.
Isabel set an appt to come to our home; she brought samples of cabinet doors and finishes, as well as countertops. She measured the space, talked to us some more about what we wanted and revised her designs numerous times until it was perfect! Isabel’s expertise was so useful in guiding us through the project. Her suggestions and recommendations were spot-​on and I would never have thought about them (whatever they were) without her. Her designer’s eye is awesome :)
Isabel was terrific at giving us opportunities to save money in one area so that we could spend more $$ on something that was more important to us.
Isabel «went the extra mile» in working directly with our countertop fabricator to make sure that the countertop was cut so that we could maximize the slab (it’s recycled glass and we wanted to be able to use every single inch!).
I am so delighted with her work that I’m using her skills again in helping me design a home office.
Isabel is a delight. You will enjoy working with her, I promise.

My wife and I recently purchased new cabinets, a countertop and a sink from Albany Cabinets and Design and had a very positive experience. I would say that our encounter with Isabel was quite the opposite of the one described by Kitty L on ¹¹⁄₀₇. Our impression of Isabel is that she is a hard working local business owner who is truly invested in satisfying each customer by helping them identify the product and price point that is right for them.
Even though we had a relatively small project, Isabel still gave us her full attention, expertly helping us choose from the range of options she provides. She then patiently developed a design with us, taking into account all of our requests and offering helpful expert advice on configurations, lighting, sink options, etc. She even went out of her way to accommodate our very short timeline for getting the project done, placing phone calls to her suppliers while we waited in the shop in order to determine how quickly they could deliver what we were requesting before we placed our order.
Everything came in either on time or ahead of schedule and the final product is high quality and looks great. We’d certainly go back to Albany Cabinets and Design again if we had future cabinet needs, and would recommend them to others without reservation.

We bought our beautiful new cabinets from Albany Cabinets and were very happy with the design Isabel came up with for us. We had a pretty tight budget and she was able to work with us to find the best bang for the buck, so to speak. We had our own contractor install the cabinets so I cannot give any feedback on that aspect. She also was extremely helpful in designing the kitchen to fit our specific needs and usage. Overall, I highly recommend Isabel’s design services and the Kraftmaid cabinets are beautiful.

my husband and i were in our usual tee & jeans. we walked into this place and we felt like we’re in ‘pretty woman’ — when julia roberts walked into a Beverley Hill boutique and got discriminated. the owner gave us a stare from top-​to-​bottom. told us that she only does high-​end design. only works with BIG kitchen. she then sent us to another place that sells cabinets across from Ranch 99. she said she doesn’t have problem referring clients to that place since she’s only interested in clients who can spend big bucks.
wow. quite an attitude. go if you’re ready to empty your fat wallet.

Albany Cabinets is owned by Isabel Tsang, a friendly, knowledgeable, and professional designer. We first came in with a smaller budget than Home Depot Expo would accommodate to redo our kitchen. We also had some design challenges in our kitchen and Isabel’s expertise really came in handy there.
Isabel offers an affordable but varied selection of cabinets, countertops, and accessories and appliances for kitchens. She designs the layout on professional software. She makes the design work within your budget, including labor. She works with a very good set of contractors. She cares about her clients and sees projects through to the end personally.
We were really pleased with our new kitchen and have gone back to Isabel for other work. If you are overwhelmed about starting a new kitchen remodel and aren’t sure where to start, Albany Cabinets is a great place. Isabel leads you through everything at a comfortable pace and answers all the questions.
We had gone to Home Depot Expo first and they quoted us $ 30k not including permits and the labor was merely an estimate. You knew it would go over that. We went to Albany Cabinets and Isabel said, what is your budget? We answered $ 20K and she did it within that number, labor and everything
We can’t recommend Albany Cabinets enough for the personal service, attention to detail, and great design choices.