When an Upper West Side homeowner decided last summer to finally give her kitchen the refresh it had long deserved, she was told the job would be wrapped up in about two months. What she didn’t count on was that the project would stretch long enough to turn a straightforward renovation into a months-long headache — and force her into a daily routine no one who loves to cook should have to put up with.
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That homeowner is Carolyn Hearn, an 85-year-old co-op resident who set out last summer to update her kitchen and add a little value to her apartment. A self-described cook who can’t stand takeout, she hired a Manhattan-based renovation company, which got started in August 2025. The original timeline put the finish line somewhere around the start of October.Instead, the calendar kept turning. Roughly nine months and about $53,000 later, the kitchen still isn’t usable. The electrical work hasn’t been completed, the stove isn’t connected, and the plumbing isn’t hooked up — which means Hearn has been making her coffee, brewing her tea, and washing her dishes in the bathroom while she waits.
After getting nowhere on her own, Hearn turned to “Better Get Baquero,” the consumer segment fronted by reporter Lynda Baquero. According to NBC New York, the station tried reaching the company repeatedly by phone and email and never heard back. But once the cameras got involved, things started moving: the company brought in a new managing agent, architect, and contractor, and final plans to complete the work have now been approved.
Hearn says she just wants her kitchen back as soon as possible — and she plans to keep paying in installments as the project nears the finish line, which happens to be exactly what consumer advocates recommend. Anyone weighing a home renovation should confirm their contractor holds a valid license, verify insurance through a local consumer agency, ask for references, collect at least two estimates, get every detail spelled out in the contract, and release payments in stages as the work actually gets done.
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