A plan to create a dream kitchen turned into a nightmare, a homeowner has claimed.Karen Cross said she had been left without proper cooking facilities for months after she signed up with Warwick-based home improvements firm Baptiste to remodel her kitchen. Ms Cross said: “I’ve been so stressed. My daughter who lives here with me and my grandson, we’ve been at each other throats — and we’re not like that.” She added: “I’m 70 years old. I shouldn’t be going through this.” Ms Cross said she had been forced to use her bathroom sink to wash dishes and set up a hotplate in her living room. She explained her ordeal started in autumn 2018 when she contacted Baptiste for a quote. She added that she later met a designer who took measurements in her kitchen and gave her a quote of about $16,300 for new cabinets. Ms Cross said she put down a 50 per cent deposit for the work last April. She added: “I was told it would take six to eight weeks for my cabinets to come.” The Spanish Point resident said that a contractor ripped out her old kitchen last July. But she said it was not until last October that she was told that her cabinets had arrived. Ms Cross said that she paid 40 per cent of the balance after the cabinets were delivered to the island. She added: “There was only 10 per cent remaining, and that was to be paid when the cabinets were in and I was satisfied.“That hasn’t happened.”Ms Cross said that when the cabinets were delivered to her home she found they were not what she ordered. She explained: “There were like four cabinets missing and there were others that weren’t the right size.”Ms Cross said she had discussed the problem with Sacha Bearden, the owner of Baptiste, but was unable to resolve the issues. She added: “They are satisfied that their obligation to me has been satisfied.“I don’t know how she could say that.”Ms Cross added: “We see on the TV MPs encouraging us to ‘buy Bermuda’. Well that’s what I decided to do. “It’s businesses like hers which make us take our chances with businesses overseas.” Ms Cross said that she had contacted Consumer Affairs to complain but that all she wanted was the job to be completed as promised. She added that it was the first year the family could not celebrate Christmas at home. Ms Cross said: “We’re not used to living like that.” Ms Bearden said that her company “could have done better”. She added that “this mess is all of Ms Cross’s making”, but declined to comment further.