Hancox Kitchens

Hancox Kitchens is a one-person kitchen shop in Wilmington, and its reviews all circle the same person: Tara. Homeowners describe her walking them through cabinetry, tile, granite, lighting and paint, then landing a kitchen they didn't quite know how to ask for. On Google it sits at 5 stars from 7 ratings. The business is small and rooted in town. BBB lists it as an LLC started in October 2013 with a single employee, managed by Tara Hancox-Sweeney, and grades it A+ without accreditation. The company says it works by appointment from 60 Concord St, serving communities north of Boston up to the New Hampshire lakes region. The written history is warm but shallow — six reviews, all between 2022 and 2024. In a September 2024 review, a homeowner who had bought a dilapidated Wilmington house with "the world's most awkward layout" said the redesign reshaped not just the kitchen but the main living space. Another 2024 reviewer, who brings her in on client projects, credited her with getting the work done on budget and on time. A May 2024 review covering a kitchen and bath pointed to her knowledge of cabinetry, tile, granite and lighting as the reason they wanted her. Its Houzz profile, by contrast, carries no reviews at all. Two things deserve a direct question before you sign anything. The Massachusetts registry shows the home improvement contractor registration tied to this business — number 160970, held by Frederick Hancox — as expired, and BuildZoom lists that expiration as September 14, 2022 and scores its profile zero for the lack of an active license. Ask who would carry the registration on your job. Separately, an undated complaint on a Yahoo Local listing accuses the company of piling on extras after a professional-seeming start, which is reason enough to get the scope, the finish allowances and the change-order terms priced in writing up front. For a Wilmington-area homeowner who wants a designer's eye on a kitchen — someone to make the layout and finish calls and stay reachable through them — the praise here is specific and consistent about exactly that. Settle the registration question and the change-order terms first, and you're hiring on the strength of what her customers actually described.