Studio41 Home Design Showroom

We had an issue with our shower situation during our guest bathroom reno. Blake (in the downtown Chicago office) helped us out. Very fast, efficient, knowledgeable and prompt communicator. Highly recommended!

Our design firm had the pleasure of recently working with Bridget Schams on a bathroom project in the River North area. Bridget was nothing short of exceptional with her product knowledge, recommendations, and timeliness with responses and requested information. And, the icing on the cake was that she was so darn warm & pleasant. We're going to start another bathroom project in Wrigleyville and are very much looking forward to working with Bridget again. Studio 41 should feel very fortunate to have her on their team!

TLDR: If you’re a first-time home remodeler shopping directly with Studio 41, the burden clearly falls on the buyer to ensure fixture compatibility and accuracy of materials.

Summary: What we thought was an efficient, positive sales experience turned out to be extremely frustrating. We had to deal with wrong orders, unsuitable items, an unresponsive sales rep, and more. Our Studio 41 experience was ultimately only redeemed many thanks to Karen Gasiamis, the customer service manager. If you decide to purchase from here, especially special-order items, I highly advise going through the product specs of items you want to order (that require installation) with your contractor. That way, you can be more confident whether or not the items are compatible with your home/remodeling project. Also, pay careful attention to the finishes, materials, and quantities of the items on your quote. Returns are a pain, especially with Studio 41’s average 30% restocking fee.
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We ordered a variety of items from Studio 41 — from toilets, to sinks, to bathroom fixtures. Initially, we found our purchasing process with our sales rep, Keith Milne, smooth and efficient. He even stayed late on a Friday evening, our very first interaction with him, to amass a list of items we were interested in purchasing. All in all, we were happy early on in the process and even praised his efficiency and responsiveness.

Unfortunately, we learned many hard lessons slowly, at different stages throughout our almost 4-months-long process of receiving our items. Our sales rep:
- Didn’t ask us the type of material required for the Infinity drain collar we ordered. He ordered cast iron for us; turns out our pipe was PVC.
- Wrongly ordered a showerhead that had to be ceiling-mounted, when we had wanted a showerhead compatible with a shower arm, which was also on the order.
- Ordered a shower arm in the wrong finish (polished), when all other items in our order were in a brushed finish. We ourselves should have also further scrutinized the order to avoid this.
- Didn’t order a required part for our faucets — handle inserts — leaving us with “open” faucets without lids for a long time because the inserts required over a month for special-order manufacturing.
- Didn’t order sufficient units of hoses required to connect our handheld showers to the wall outlets. We had 3 handheld showers; there was only 1 hose on the order. We should have also scrutinized and caught this ourselves.
- Ordered only 1 pair of handles for our two glass shower doors (which actually required 2 pairs), only to find out they were meant to be installed on cabinets, and weren’t suited for glass installation.

While it was also frustrating to deal with shipping timelines that were much longer than they informed, which in turn impacted home remodeling timelines, I won’t harp on that aspect of our experience since those can’t really be controlled.

Ultimately, our sales rep eventually stopped responding to our queries and I had to lean on Studio 41’s customer service staff for support in handling and processing returns (including wrong items) and ordering additional items.

We are in the process of renovating our entire luxury home, so thought we would stop in here to see what they have and were looking for floor tiles and drawer pulls, hoping to leave with an order placed. We planned to spend at least 4-5 thousand dollars. When we entered, the receptionist was friendly. That's about all I can say that is positive. After I looked around at tiles that aren't labeled at all, I asked two employees if there was someone that could assist me. They looked at me as if I had just insulted them and was not welcome in the showroom at all. They were exasperated and annoyed. I'm sorry that your cushy little "design" job is just SO excruciating that a customer/client asking for assistance puts you out SO much. Grow up and do your job (even though these ladies were likely in their 50s). One of them YELLED at the receptionist to assign me someone without even actually addressing ME. The receptionist requested someone to assist us and it took ages - at least 15 minutes even though there were only a couple other people in the showroom. Once I was assigned someone, he wasn't very committed to helping. He answered my questions about the one tile I was most interested in and then didn't care to help me look at anything else. He did direct me to a tile gallery across the street where they can order from - we did go there but definitely won't place the order with Studio41. I went downstairs to look at drawer pulls and they do have a huge selection with some great options, but I had finished looking through most of them by the time anyone noticed me or bothered to offer assistance. Honestly, the whole experience felt lower class than going to Home Depot. I will never set foot in this place again and advise everyone else that cares about service to avoid it.

I spent a couple thousand on drawer pulls at Restoration Hardware instead. The service was outstanding and friendly and they truly care about assisting with the design of your home. Their selection isn't large but I felt totally welcome there and valued and their smaller selection is well-curated so I felt I had several options.

I purchased my kitchen cabinet hardware here. They have lots and lots of variety to chose from. The sales associate was very efficient and pleasant when I was ready to place my order. On the door when you walk in there is a sign suggesting you make an appointment. I didn't know this, nor would I, considering I was only looking for kitchen hardware. I point this out, because while I was looking for a LONG time no one offered assistance, thus I gave them a 4, rather than a 5 rating. Also because there aren't hardly any prices listed, so you may need assistance.

Huge selection of faucets, sinks, bathtubs, vanities, showers, sprayers, filters, etc, etc. Koehler is what I was looking for but they have all top brands in every fixture and appliance. 2 locations down by the Mart. Garrett has a great eye, I highly recommend him.

We have had an outstanding experience working with Emily. She is very knowledgeable about products/brands and was quickly able to identify multiple product options for our new kitchen that met our style and pricing criteria. Emily was patient and professional in educating us on products and answering questions. Moreover, she is extremely prompt to respond with substantive information, and was very courteous in keeping us updated and informed regarding delivery timing and communications with the manufacturer. In addition, when encountered a problem one of the products (manufacturer issue), Emily was willing and able to quickly troubleshoot to find a resolution. She was proactive in contacting the manufacturer, explaining the issue to them, and promptly obtaining a replacement product which she quickly had transferred to the most convenient pickup location. She was even able to efficiently connect us with the right technician to uninstall the old product and install the new product. Highly recommend working with Emily for your home design needs.