Empire Cabinet & Marble Inc

I recently had cabinets fabricated here… i was a little nervous because of some of the reviews… but i went with it and it turned out perfect… I gave lucy some of my not so good sketches and she went over every detail with me and even added things i forgot. she was super helpful. they where also 3k cheaper then every other place i went too and a very fast respond time… from leaving the deposit the cabinets where done with in 7days
i will 100% use them again

Excellent work! I am very happy with the counter top and a special dining room table top they made for me. A very responsive and responsible crew!

very professional, good advice, very pragmatic and practical. the only (tiny) complaint is the language impediment, but the counters came out beautifully, were installed without any difficulty, and are the pride of the kitchen.
would recommend them to anyone– and consider using their design services from the beginning.

I love the showroom, the materials are gorgeous! I think the staff was really nice and knowledgable, which is super important because I know nothing about this stuff. I think their prices are very competitive too. Would definitely recommend them for cabinets and counters.

Cheap cabinets are cheap. We bought our cabinets here because we got a good price and the service seemed good, and it was up until the point that they cashed our check. Just three years later the cabinets look like absolute crap — not from actualy wear, but because they are delaminating (the veneer from the core). Empire basically told us to fix it ourselves, but the fact is there is no fixing this problem. The cabinet facing needs to be redone at a cost of thousands of dollars. Empire won’t take any responsibilty. My advice; don’t go cheap on cabinets in the beginning, it will only cost you in the end.
Oh, and beyond just the actual cabinets, they did an incredibly poor job with installation as well. The cabinets are uneven which completely threw off the alignment of our backsplash tile. We didn’t realize it until it was too late. Don’t make the same mistake we did. I’d rather have Ikea at this point.

We recently completed our bathroom renovation in a 1946 building in Jackson Heights. It was a full-​scale renovation — we took it right down to the studs. The centerpiece was a deep soaking tub with a marble tub surround and deck that I designed myself. For marble fabrication, I turned to Empire.
Empire had a remnant of just the kind of statuary marble I was looking for at just the size I needed. There was even some leftover that they cut into pieces for my shower niche, threshhold and window sill. And because it was a remnant from a kitchen they had already finished, they quoted me a really good price.
Their installers were excellent. It took them about 5 hours and they were very patient and diligent. (The corner where the double apron meets the deck was a tricky bit that they had to hone on the spot.)
Before going to Empire I had read the mixed reviews here — and having worked with them, I think I understand the issues that the reviewers are reporting.
Empire did a great job for me. I have no complaints.
But Lucy, the owner, as has been mentioned many times here, is prickly. I chalk it up to a cultural barrier. Really, she should not be dealing hands-​on with the public. She just doesn’t have the customer service talent. Anna in the front office is a sweetheart. But in the end, Lucy calls the shots, and she is rough. I heard through the grapevine that she has been burned a few times by clients who didn’t have the vision to understand what their choices would look like — until they were installed. So now she takes every precaution not to be on the losing end of a job gone sour.
I would take some bad reviews with a grain of salt. Many many people do not have the vision to understand what their product choices are going to look like — until it’s too late. It’s an industry wide problem, and why its so important to employ a designer to work with the public who has that talent for customer service.
As for my experience? I would use Empire again. For their great prices and great quality of fabrication and installation.
My one word of advice is to negotiate your contract up front. Read it carefully. The industry standard is ¹⁄₃ + ¹⁄₃ + ¹⁄₃ payments. That is, ¹⁄₃ up front. ¹⁄₃ after inspecting fabrication. ¹⁄₃ after installation. But Empire will try to get you for all but a few $ before installation. This happened to me and it felt like swinging in the wind to pay Lucy almost 100% before final installation. My experience turned out okay, but if I had it to do again, I would have made sure it was the standard ¹⁄₃ at each phase.
The other thing that happened that I would caution about — nearing the end of the installation, one of the installers said he was running out to get something from his truck and asked my contractor for the keys so that he wouldn’t have to buzz. My contractor handed them over without thinking.
Did you know that if the fabricator has your keys and the job goes sour, Empire is legally still in your apartment and can rip the whole thing out? Yep. So, word to the wise about that.
In the end, my renovation turned out great and I would use Empire again. But forewarned is forearmed.

I’m in the middle of a nightmare with these people
. I had a completed order for countertops, and everything was pretty OK with that, so I decided to purchase the remainder of the slab.
I used to deal with a young woman named Anna, but it looks like she is no longer there. I had to talk to Lucy, speaking to her is not pleasant. She acts like your bothering her when you ask her anything.
Anyway, it looks like they told us it would be a Saturday delivery just to get us off the phone because when we called after the time it was supposed to arrive, I was told that we were never scheduled. Lucy actually told us she was stressed out and hung up on us.
Still at home waiting… think I’m going to get a refund.

We have experienced 3 kitchen renovations prior to this one; we have had 2 bathroom renovations AND we have gone through an expansion of a second home that included additions, included a brand new bathroom, etc. so we are not novices when it comes to home improvements, contractors, installation, etc.
THIS kitchen renovation was a NIGHTMARE that lasted nearly 2 years. There was NO QUALITY CONTROL on the construction of the cabinets. Some cabinets had curved routing others had square. The color of the cabinets were not what we ordered. New doors kept being made to try to match some that were there. None of the doors were ever the same color white that we had already installed and the filler pieces were always much whiter which is what we wanted. We were convinced by Lucy to buy MDF when we actually came in looking for wood. MDF is ABSOLUTELY GARBAGE — it does not hold up, the paint chips off. We finally ordered all new wood doors (for extra money of course).
In addition, large filler pieces and side panels on exposed cabinets kept cracking. Lucy did send her people twice to fix this. Unfortunately, each time the paint on the same areas continued to crack and chip away.
Lucy wanted a price that would have included a profit over the original profit. We felt that we had already paid for doors and installation of the job should not be something that we should pay for again for their defective product since they messed up the original order. After much negotation we agreed to a price we were not happy with nor was she but we were ready to take them to Court at this point. So another 4 months later and the new doors are up — are they perfect — NO — a couple of the doors are longer than they should be — and 1 door has a crack in the paint and unfortunately it’s a door that is easily seen — Their painters came in and painted some of the exposed filler ares so it would now match the new paint and once again repainted the areas that keep chipping away — Where they painted does match — Other areas we will need to touch up with the paint they gave us. The interior of a cabinet that has glass doors was not done as it would ruined the hinges and of course it is not as white as it should be. We were explicitly told that if ANYTHING happens to the new doors or areas that were painted they are not to be held responsible and we have to pay additional money anytime they come to fix these things. In point of fact, we do not even touch the areas that are absolutely defective. The side of a top cabinet up the wall should never have a problem, should never crack as it is nowhere within reach. Clearly this is shoddy workmanship.
Would have given ZERO stars but that is not an option. There are some very nice people currently working there. Lucy will YELL AND SCREAM at you in person and over the phone is impossible. She gets on a roll and doesn’t get off.
If you think you are getting a bargain and want to test the waters — do so knowing that what happened to us could easily happen to you.
UPDATED — MARCH 2015 — Well you guessed it. After spending several thousand dollars to replace the doors, the finish is ONCE AGAIN coming away, the doors are not straight, the finish overall which was white no longer looks white (too short a time to have lost it’s true color), and of course we are left with no recourse. In order to fix this job — we will have to start anew — ripping out ALL of the cabinets which will DESTROY or glass tiled back splash — perhaps the only salvagable item here will be our floor — but who knows what will happen when we pull out the bottom cabinets.
Truly the worst and most costly experience with a contractor/​supplier that we have ever experience an we do have 2 homes and have undergone MAJOR expansion and several kitchen and bath renovations.
BUYER BEWARE!

I found them to be unhelpful and unresponsive in terms of getting back to me after an initial inquiry about their ability to complete a job. I emailed pictures and descriptions, never received contact and after calling back a couple of times found that it was very difficult to communicate with Lucy and I wasn’t getting my questions answered.
Unfortunately not a positive review and not a pleasant experience.

We got our kitchen cabinets from Empire after pricing 3 custom places. Empire Cabinet & Marble were priced in the middle, but we could tell that their quality was better and they would be easier to work with than the lowest one. We brought Lucy and Philip a picture of a kitchen we had seen online on a design website, and they were able to match it — no easy feat. Lucy was also very patient and helpful in planning our kitchen, and dealing with quite a few changes in concept along the way.
After the cabinets were installed, Lucy sent someone to make adjustments, and Philip even authorized a change that was due to a mistake on our part. They really went above and beyond to make us happy.
We also used them to do a bathroom vanity and counter top for us — which is also turned out so much better than anything we were seeing in the big box stores or online.
We get many compliments on our kitchen and bathroom, and highly recommend Empire Cabinet and Marble.

The young man that was there to help us, Jason, is no longer there so Ii don’t recommend them any longer. Service is just terrible now.
My husband and I were in the market to renovate our entire kitchen. We went to Lowes in South Brooklyn and priced our dream kitchen. On our way home around the corner from Lowes, we drove by Empire Cabinet & Marble. We gave them our measurement and they priced and drew up the same cabinets and island for almost ²⁄₃ the price. They have a great selection of cabinet styles and they also do counter tops as well. The project was done in less than 2 weeks and the overall job came out gorgeous.