Portfolio Kitchen & Home

I have had the pleasure of working with Geri Higgins and her team for years. They are a talented, inspiring, and creative group who goes above and beyond for each of their clients. I do not think I could say enough positive things about the work they accomplish! An absolute staple of the Kansas City community!

I had a horrible experience with Portfolio designing and executing a kitchen remodel from beginning to end. It started with the new kitchen cabinets not fitting and having to have my existing wood floor extended to cover their mistake and ended with having the countertops replaced 5 times because the color from adjoining areas didn't match every time they were replaced. I had to pay a plumber to remove and replace the sink each of those 5 times! Literally every single thing Portfolio did was so unprofessional and handled so poorly it was hard to believe. This was an excruciating experience.

Wait, are there more stars?? Portfolio has done 2 kitchens for me and I would never consider anyone else. Geri Higgins, founder and owner, is one of my favorite people personally and professionally on the planet. She has built such an extraordinary team that create the most beautiful, functional and high quality kitchens. Let me be clear, I am not an easy client. I always come into a project with quality demands and budget/time restrictions. They always come through with a smile. I often see their yard signs and think to myself "Oh, that lucky family. They will be so pleased."

What a wonderful experience it was to visit the Portfolio Kitchen and Home store! My niece goes to school nearby and has visited this store a few times to get inspired. I was thrilled to hear how welcoming they were to a college design student looking for ideas and inspirations. The minute we approached the front doors it felt like home - or should I say how I want my home to look and feel! I loved the way they were interested in our lifestyles, and when I mentioned my niece was a vegetarian they had the coolest ideas ever as to how to configure a kitchen for this lifestyle.The Thermador kitchen that was functioning was beautiful and functional, and I now HAVE to have one of their steam convection ovens.Thank-you so much to the wonderful Portfolio team - I will be recommending them to anyone wanting to make their house a home.

We interacted with a blonde haired lady at this office and from the moment we got there she treated us like we were dirt. Sorry we didn't fit into the box of people you think can afford your work but your judgements cost you business.

Wow. Geri and her team are rock stars. My wife and I were buying a new home and knew we wanted to do some remodeling. Geri took on our project, expanded our horizons on what could be done and they exceeded our expectation. We remodeled the kitchen from a boring dated design to a stunning beautiful kitchen, we remodeled the master bathroom to a beautiful spa like experience and updated two bathrooms, plus much more. During this time, they took the time to get to know us and what the style we were looking for. Further they wanted to help us create a home that was an expression of us. Geri shared and educated us on how the details from sconces to cabinet hardware can really elevate a space. Geri and her team went above and beyond with us. We had a big project and a short timeline to get it done. She helped us with finding and negotiating with a contractor for the project to spending many hours in meetings and watching over our project to making sure everything was done right. The entire Portfolio team from Geri to Kelly to Brian were fantastic and always there to answer our question, listen to our concerns and to make sure that we ended up with a house that we loved. We are so happy with our new home and we love showing it off. Thank you to Geri and the Portfolio team for giving us a home we love.

Over the past few months of spending significantly more time at home, I am continuously reminded how much we LOVE the renovations that Portfolio has helped us make to our 1930s Brookside home. Geri and her team have come into our home twice over the past 4 years (kitchen and more recently the master bath). Originally, my husband and I walked into Portfolio not able to clearly articulate our exact vision for our kitchen/home. By our second meeting Geri and her team had our wish list and general vision figured out. By the end of the project they had helped us curate a totally renovated (5 small spaces combined into 1 open chef's kitchen), uniquely functional to our family and stunning kitchen that maintains the character of the home for us to enjoy.4 years later, when we decided to renovate our master bath, returning to Portfolio was an easy decision and felt like returning home. 3 spaces combined into one, a new layout and gorgeous finishes later--we finally have a true master suite that we love.

I feel like I should warn people about this place. I had a very unfortunate experience and I feel others likely have the same kind of story. So, please use my experience as a warning to stay away from this place.First and foremost, they are not a full turn key design and install studio. They are simply a retail shop that design enough design to sell you product. Our designs on multiple rooms lacked a lot of finishing detail as well as lighting and other layout considerations. This caused huge issues later with lighting placement, ventilation in multiple rooms, and electrical overages because of poor and lacking design. the lack of finishing design also added additional costs to the project that should have been included in the overall bid of the rooms. Functional design is very much lacking. The overall layout seemed fine during the build out. but once we got in there we found out how much was missing from a functional perspective (this was because they were focused on designing to just sell you product.) Now that its complete and we are able to use it. the functionality is just horrible. everything from poor walk lines, underutilized space that could have been used, and poor placement of lighting. the biggest functional issue is still our shower, the layout does not allow us to use the main shower head; we have to use the secondary shower head; which is pretty confined and only uses a small portion of the large walk in shower. Product overages: Told them a budget. They "designed" to that budget. Signed off on project, when it was time to start writing checks for project, they did not add up to amount money initialed by PM for overall project. First revision came back 20% more that project was supposed to be. Only thing do to then was to "value size" the project which meant I got cheaper product and less functionality with drawers/cabinets, etc...still got shaken down later for other items that were missed in the initial design.Over ordering material. Again, their profit is based on ordering lots of product for your job. I received enough trim for the kitchen to do a second kitchen. Tile was over ordered by about 30% on a very basic rectangular room. Two other rooms had the exact same problem with over abundance of ordered material. At their prices and no return policy for their over ordered items amounted in huge $$$ I could have saved if I had ordered it my self.Outsourcing their contractors. Had I have known I was going to have to pay a separate contractor. Both contractors they gave us were sketchy at best. I only picked one because of timelines...Both contractors put in separate bids but included so much waste, that my decision was based on who would at least remove the wasteful tasks within their statement of work. Product: While its good quality so far. It was very expensive. cabinets are really just wrapped manufactured press board. Tile was marked up 3x over retail. Faucets could be purchased for half from a local retailer. $500 toilet. Who sells MSRP?? This place does!Employees: Had several issues with their "architect" from fundamental items like being able to use a tape measure to basic structural code items. Items were measured and priced based on certain size cabinets. when they were remeasured, certain cabinets shrunk by 25%...but the priced stayed the same. During the duration of my project; I had 3 different PM's assigned to me. The turnover there is really high...Timeline: Dont believe anything they say. I had a very established timeline. They agreed to to it and then overshot it by 12 weeks, causing massive headaches for my family. The owner blamed it on me.I should have blogged this experience, I still struggle with how much I spent and how little I i got for those expenses. I could go on for pages about other items. just please, please use my example and stay away from this place.

Let me start my review by stating my previous skepticism. I was opposed to the idea of paying someone to help layout my cabinets on a computer program. They do that for free so many places right? I'm also confident with home repair projects and I didn't want to be upsold on any subcontractors or spend money I didn't think was prudent. I went to Portfolio despite my plan to go somewhere else and the fact that we had already consulted with the Home Depot, Ferguson and Ikea layout folks. This experience is completely different than the alternatives. They don't simply open a blank canvas and ask you what you'd like them to put there - they listen to your goals, your concerns and the end results you want out of your project. They have a vast knowledge, access to resources and products others don't and they will absolutely stick with you until you're done. That's not an experience you get from anywhere else in KC. Geri, Samantha and Brian care more about my kitchen than anyone on this planet outside of me and my girlfriend. They genuinely care. We have done the construction, but they are living every detail with us as we ask questions, upload photos, need advice and get stuck. If you aren't 100% sure about every last detail on your next renovation, you should at least talk to them before you swing a hammer. And lastly, to directly address an earlier post about not being welcomed due to dress and/or appearance. They have treated me with the utmost respect and acceptance when I arrived in paint covered, ratty clothes. I think it's telling that the only reviews that are less than 5 stars are from folks who never actually employed Portfolio's services.

My boyfriend and I stepped inside portfolio on a whim one day after spotting it coming out of union station, having a replacement faucet on our backburner to-do list, and thinking it was probably something like a Ferguson show room. Once buzzed in and escorted inside, we quickly realized that this was not a "Faucet store," and dropped the mission, allowing the friendly woman who greeted us to give us a brief tour of their showroom, which was spacious and filled with beautiful kitchens, and explain that they were a design/architecture firm, etc. I did not get the judgey vibe other reviewers on here cited, despite both of us being our usual cargo-short, holey t-shirt Saturday hot mess selves. That being said- this is not a store, but truly a show room. Each 'room' showcases specific choices and displays the result of a well-thought out design. It's totally worth a visit just for inspiration, and yes someone will be with you the whole time, but it's not because they think you're a juvenile delinquent, they are just super into customer service, they actually want to answer your questions. And when they offer you coffee from the Meile coffee machine say yes because it's righteous.About a year later we found outselves with a kitchen that had been gutted after some water damage, and even though we are avid and experienced DIYers we could not nail down a good layout to get started back on the road to a functional kitchen. We did the Ikea thing, and the Home Depot thing. consulted with architect and design friends, and spent weeks playing "paper house" in a graph notebook, I was on Gardenweb's forums like 6 hours a day. There is a reason Kitchen Designer is a profession.I remembered Portfolio, and made an appointment, fully expecting that a.) they would not be set up to work well with our plan to do everything ourselves from demo through building our own cabinetry and b.) they'd be so far out of our budget that I would either cry, laugh, or puke, even though at this point we were willing to make some budgetary compromises to pay for a solid design. My first meeting with Geri, the owner, and Samantha, our designer, was so awesome. Geri cares about good design and about people, and shes very good at making a space work for its people. Early in that first appointment, when I was diving right into the finishes we were thinking about, and all the layouts we'd thought of she told me "Shush wait don't say anything else, I think I've got it but I want to guess and see if I'm right," at which point she proceeded to describe basically verbatim the traits of the "Dream Kitchen" my SO and I had been brainstorming. I was upfront about our budget, and that we were piecing together our appliances by cruising clearance sections, and that we had no intention of buying any of the big-ticket items like cabinets that are major points of revenue for most kitchen design places, and not only was Geri un-phased, but so genuinely excited to work with us and on our project, and to my intense relief and surprise, the design retainer was actually within reach. Fear not their intimidatingly pretty showroom and immaculately dressed staff, this is a place for anyone who wants quality design.The next appointment their architect spent an ungodly amount of time with me, patiently helping to hash out the most functional, balanced layout possible in our 110 year old house that matches its character and preserves and accentuates it's unique features. We're far from finished with our kitchen, but bringing Portfolio on board has given us invaluable direction, focus, and advice, and I am so much more confident now that the Kitchen we're building is going to kick butt.