How to Work With a Kitchen Designer

Iyare I I swear the kitchen is the hardest room in the house to update/renovate. I decided to push mine to next year because its too frustrating.

Lisa Frederick It can be overwhelming, for sure. Maybe a kitchen designer could help you narrow down your options, at least...I know that's the only way I'd be able to remodel mine!

Pangaea Interior Design, Portland, OR I think Ivie's experience is common. There are so many decisions to make that people do get overwhelmed. I think one of the most important things I do as a designer is to set out a logical progression of decisions so the client can get out from under the paralysis that takes over when there are too many things to figure out all at once. The kitchen remodel I am currently working on was brought to me by a contractor whose client had not made a single decision in six weeks. Now we have a fantastic plan and she is so excited about her remodel. It's nice for me too, because every time I talk to her she tells me how I am worth every penny and then some. :0) She makes my day!

Magdalena Bogart Interiors If you are about to invest a considerable amount of money in a kitchen-remodel do yourself a big favor, use 10% of that amount to have guidance by a professional kitchen designer. Look at it as an insurance policy. It is totally worth the money.

15w12thst Adding on to my summer home. The kitchen will be 3x's the size it is now. Know what kind of cabinets and island I want but thats about it. Will definitely need help.

kmhcreations We're building a new house, so new everything & zillions of decisions. I have spent hundreds of hours on Houzz and other sites looking at kitchens, printing out pictures I liked, no matter how different the designs were. After a while, your preferences start to emerge...halleluiah. Good luck!

lilmikcali We saved a lot of time and money, and had all the details worked out by someone with experience,they also helped us through the permit process. I think it's well worth the upfront cost.

frenchdecor I could add, tell designer even small details such as: You want coffee maker, kettle, toaster always plugged in and on countertop, and microwave reachable for kids, or receptacles could be overlooked. Think before compromising, don't rush to agree. Talk with some big box store designers and custom designers. You'll better know your options. I started my kitchen design journey with custom designers only to feel "lunatic" because I didn't want open concept, or sacrifice dining room for big kitchen, didn't want dishwasher and island with bar chairs was big NO, hate stainless steel appliances and laughed about antibacterial property because it really doesn't matter on the surface cover. But designers didn't ask those questions before design discussion assuming all clients want exactly, or pretty much that. Open concept was actually gap between countertop and cabinets in my chest level which made me uncomfortable. I don't need very big kitchen because I don't use junk, canned food, juice in boxes... only fresh prepared meals and drinks. Dining room is a must have, as at least twice a month we have friend or family for dinner. Dishwasher for me is a waste of time to rinse, then fold in, then take out dishes, takes twice longer than regular wash, plus kitchen is too small to waste the space. Bar stools are not safe for kids, we had couple of accidents in our bar in the basement. In big store's free design layout I found 2 cabinet measure mistakes. But I learned from them all, did my own design, and had it happily after. Now from houzz I learned even more and dream about something better.

Studio NOO Design Every detail counts, your way of life counts, the cat counts, the children, etc...as a designer before even discussing style with a client I want to know what they want and need in their everyday life Then design becomes functional for that person because she or he will be the one, not me, cooking in there !!

Myers Constructs, Inc. Our design build remodeling company handles kitchen design and construction in house. We also work with outside designers on occasion. I will make a few observations which I hope he readers will find helpful.

A cabinet plan is not a kitchen design. Some prospects contact us with a cabinet layout they get from a showroom designer or even a certified kitchen designer. But major elements of the kitchen are typically missing from these cabinet plans. This can pose a big risk to home owners, and it puts their contractor in the position of having to either fill in the information and charge the customer to do so, wing it and guess, or eat the corrections later.

A proper complete kitchen design deals with intended space use, existing conditions, lighting and electrical plans, elevations, structural changes, and complete product selections. Sometimes it will include a framing plan and HVAC plan. The drawings will be to scale and have measurements and room dimensions on them. All this is required to pull a construction permit for a kitchen project. If you don't pull a permit, your house won't appraise to include the value of your remodeling investment.

A kitchen project is typically a very complicated room. Tolerances on our projects are 1/8 inch or less. And most rooms are not plumb level or square (PLS) no matter what your kitchen designers drawing may suggest. An experienced installer and their subs will know how to fit the new PLS kitchen into the skewed room so you never notice. It's like great tailoring.

A lot of major systems like HVAC, electrical, plumbing, make up air, structural components, all go into a kitchen. If the pipes and electrical work are being upgraded your builder/installer needs to know exactly where they have to go. If they go in the wrong place or are forgotten, it costs a hell of a lot to fix that kind of oversight. These elements should always be on a kitchen plan.

Product selections can be very complicated. If the products are not ordered correctly, the installers won't know where to rough in correctly. So a product schedule with cut sheets is a necessary component of the kitchen plan. A large professional styled vent hood or a dimmer with multiple cans on it are sized differently from simpler product installations. Cut sheets contain this kind of information.

So all this is to say a kitchen is more than a cabinet layout. You can learn more about what I mean here http://myersconstructs.com/?p=9483

Diane Menke
Myers Constructs, Inc.
myersconstructs.com

Artisan Kitchens LLC I feel as though I need to defend my profession here; you are painting kitchen designers with a pretty broad brush. I could do the same by saying that remodeling companies typically know nothing about kitchen design (and that statement would be accurate a high percentage of the time). It's one thing to know where to run the pipes, another altogether to take all contributing factors into account to produce a final result that is beautiful AND functional for the client, which is not a general contractor's forte.

If you were given plans by a certified kitchen designer that lacked mechanical detail it is quite likely that it was an early and/or preliminary plan not intended for construction purposes that the client is using to walk around and get prices. Having said that, if you got a plan from a big box store, the lack of detail would not surprise me.

One of the major reasons to use a certified designer is because CKDs are trained and tested on every component of kitchen design, to include knowledge of codes, structural elements, etc. In addition, extensive knowledge of products, appliances and current trends are required in order to maintain certification. ALL of the drawings will be to scale, fully dimensioned, and include pertinent construction notes, as well as electrical and plumbing plans as needed. For installation purposes there will be specific detail sheets provided on all appliances, plumbing fixtures, trim details and moldings so that nothing is overlooked or improperly installed.

You're right; a cabinet layout is not a kitchen plan. But going to a dedicated kitchen specialist is going to give you a far better shot at a desirable end result than going to someone with general knowledge but no specific education in the field.