Customers at Dream Kitchens write about a person, not a company: Nina, Jackie, Sabrina, Don, Gemma — whichever designer drew their plan. The Nashua showroom says it opened in 1989 and has stayed in the family, with one designer the daughter of the previous owner and granddaughter of the founder, and it claims more than 200 awards. The National Kitchen & Bath Association named it a 2011 design competition winner, and New Hampshire Home Magazine ran a river-view kitchen by Nina Hackel in 2018.
The design accounts are deep and specific. An August 2019 customer who had just moved asked for Nina, was given three layouts and reworked one into what they wanted. In April 2022, a homeowner described a full demolition and upgrade with Jackie — layout, cabinets, countertops, floors and lighting. In May 2020, another went in for natural cherry cabinetry and stayed for the design work Don Smith put in; a January 2020 reviewer said Don weighed function and looks together across a kitchen and bathrooms. In March 2023, Gemma planned a gas fireplace conversion with custom cabinets ordered and installed. Houzz sits at 4.9 from 49 ratings, Google at 4.6 from 43, and the BBB page is an A+.
Where it has gone wrong is the handoff from drawing to build. In March 2024, a customer with a nearly finished kitchen liked the materials, the deep drawers and the KitchenAid lift, but had expected more collaboration between the designer and the contractor hired through Dream Kitchens: that contractor did not know a pot filler was going in, or that some outlets doubled as under-cabinet lighting, and $1,500 of under-cabinet lighting went unwired. In June 2025, a bathroom customer loved the finished room but waited an additional two weeks for the contractor to respond and come back for a few fixes, and said their designer never called to ask how things were going.
Budget is the other thing to walk in knowing. In an August 2024 r/newhampshire thread, a commenter said Dream Kitchens quoted $80,000 to $100,000 for a total kitchen renovation — new cabinets, floors, appliances — and took the number as a sign the company didn't want to work with them.
The right showroom if you want a designer to sit down with you, draw options and specify cabinetry properly, and your budget matches a showroom kitchen. Before signing, get the installer and the designer into the same conversation, put the pot filler, the outlets and the lighting circuits on one written list both have seen, and settle who you call — and how quickly they come — when something needs fixing after the crew leaves.
