Wilkes Architects - Princeton Design Guild

My husband and I hired Princeton Design Guild to remodel our kitchen in 2001. It was more than a remodel - it entailed moving rooms within the current footprint of the house. The result was spectacular and we enjoyed 19 wonderful years in that kitchen. In 2020 we have put our house on the market and are under contract. Every visitor remarked on the kitchen - it was timeless and elegant and what a differentiator it was!! During the sales process we did uncover a small issue with a door from the garage to the kitchen. Because this was a custom door I reached back out to Kevin and the team for help who not only helped me gratis, they came in a realigned all the cabinets and hinges. 19 years later and they still provide support and assistance to their clients. They are a first rate organization that designs high quality, beautiful spaces and they are a pleasure to work with.

Kevin Wilkes and his colleagues are terrific -- they have splendid judgment and taste, they know what needs to be done and how to do it, and they execute beautifully. Their professionalism and quality of work are outstanding. And they can solve problems of any and every kind. We had a major flood in our house, and they had to reconstruct a plaster and parquet floor front hall from scratch, rebuild/remodel two bathrooms, repair/renovate other parts of the house, and attend to many other smaller projects and details. We could not have been more pleased. The group Kevin has assembled at Princeton Design Guild is absolutely first-rate; and the many outside professionals whom he engages as subcontractors are excellent. My husband and I give them our most enthusiastic recommendation.

We absolutely loved working with PDG, a design-build firm. On the design front, PDG provided us with many options. The build phase was the best as the team walked us through every step and assisted in the many decisions that come up in a large renovation. My wife and I have recommended them to numerous friends.

We hired Wilkes Architects and Princeton Design Guild to perform a major renovation of our mid 1990's home. It was a big project that involved an addition and changes to the kitchen, bathrooms, garage and almost every room in the house. We are very meticulous people and we liked that we had access to design professionals and construction pros from the early planning stages through to completion. Everybody who worked on our project was fantastic. We are grateful they all had the patience and skills to help us bring our ideas into reality. In particular PDG's custom cabinet shop did a really great job creating beautiful and functional storage solutions for us. A big renovation is stressful, but PDG really helped us navigate the process including solving unexpected problems and advocating on our behalf. Sometimes it's tempting to just go with the lowest bid, but we carefully interviewed several other firms before making our decision. We've been really impressed with PDG's commitment to providing excellent customer service above and beyond.

In 2006-07 we did a major renovation of a barn in Hopewell, removing the existing interior and building a modern house inside the barn shell. Our son, Maitland Jones, was the architect throughout. I worked with Kevin as a Board Member of Princeton Future, and thought he would be the right person to direct this work. From the beginning Kevin and his team were enthusiastic, understood the project , and worked hard to make it a success. The men who did the work did a careful and often creative job. There were few standard elements in the process of fitting a modern design into an old structure. We are very pleased with the result, and the work has held up well over the 10 years that we have lived here. The project took about 15 months to complete. I completely recommend Kevin and his group for any other project.

We worked with Wilkes Architects & Princeton Design Guild (PDG) to design and build our new home in Princeton, NJ. We starting consulting with a few architect/builders while we were considering the purchase of an old unmaintained property. We were hesitant to get into the process due to a bad experience renovating our old place in Jersey City. It became clear to us early on however that PDG was different than the rest. We decided to go with PDG and had a fantastic experience throughout the design and build process. Over the course of the project, we had the opportunity to work with everyone at Wilkes Architects & PDG (Kevin, Mike, Rich, Jim etc.). The whole team is a pleasure to work with and all highly skilled at what they do. They patiently guided us through the design phase, helping us create our dream home while keeping us within our budget. I thought it was key to have the design and build under the same management to really keep the budget under control. The construction phase itself went smoothly once we settled on a design, without much need for us to get involved. Putting in the final touches to the home is where PDG really excelled, thanks to their inhouse custom woodwork shop. The quality of our custom kitchen, shelves, molding, exterior woodwork, etc. is topnotch and better than anything I’ve seen in other new homes. We get compliments on our home and all the thoughtful detail from everyone that visits. They’re very thorough in their work, ensure a top quality and it shows. It’s been two years since we’ve been living in the home and have had practically no issues or complaints. The few minor issues we’ve had were immediately addressed by PDG; they certainly stand behind their work years after completion. I would certainly recommend them to anyone looking into a full scale design/build project or a smaller scale renovation. I for one would definitely work with them again in the future.

We hired Wilkes Architects and its associated Construction company to handle a complex renovation/restoration of a 19th Century Victorian. The house was in very poor condition so extensive rehabilitation had to be done to the structure prior to designing and renovating the home. Throughout the process we were gratified by the extreme attention to detail, the interaction with the firm's design and construction professionals, and the thoughtfulness of the final product in creating the atmosphere that we desired. We ended up with a modern home that paid homage to and retained some of the vintage features that separates this house from new construction. Highly recommend these folks and will definitelyl be using them again.

We worked with PDG to build an addition onto our house. The addition included some unique characteristics, a dance studio with sprung dance floor and radiant heat, and a music room complete with modest stage area! There were also more traditional spaces, such as a full bath and outdoor deck. Kevin and his team did an amazing job of not only translating the architect's plans into reality, they also did an excellent job of helping us manage the process to make sure we got what we wanted. The team that did the work were always mindful that we were living in the house, even putting up with the occasional "participation" of our children in the construction process. I would absolutely work with them again. My only regret is now that I live in Indiana I can't get them to come do work on my house here!

Kevin Wilkes and PDG have completely redesigned, and rebuilt 2 houses and considerably modified a third in more than 20 years of my association with the organization. In every case I have been amazed at the ingenuity, the care, the thoughtfulness and the architectural and construction wisdom demonstrated (why else continue to use them for each new project?). Kevin is extremely insightful about his client's needs, ofttimes more so than the client, and has designed spaces, details, furnishings, cabinetry well beyond expectations. His eye, his skill set, his intelligence and his ability to understand the project design is wonderful to watch and in which to be a participant. His first project, at which time he was still only a graduate student at Yale continues to amaze, as from the outside (Harrison St, corner Sycamore) it is so unprepossessing, but the inside design and use of space astounds. I know this sounds like too much, perhaps, but PDG warrants that degree off praise.

Wilkes Architects and Princeton Design Guild designed and did the construction on our kitchen remodel. It was really easy to work with them on the design of the kitchen, and the communication was great through every step of the design and construction process. Our project had a hard deadline (the birth of our first baby), and they took it very seriously. They created a construction plan that would make the deadline and worked very hard to meet it. Everyone who worked on the project was considerate and did really meticulous work. This was a much larger renovation project than the others we have done, and we got way more of what we wanted and it was completed in a more timely manner. We couldn't be happier with our kitchen. It's absolutely beautiful. And we couldn't be happier with our experience working with Wilkes Architects and Princeton Design Guild. We wouldn't hesitate to hire them again.

We worked with Princeton Design Guild in both the design and construction phases of this project. We were extremely pleased with their attention to detail, their desire to work with all of our ideas and questions and the extraordinary quality of their work. We cannot recommend them more highly. Our project is simply gorgeous and came in exactly on budget. Everyone at PDG was a pleasure to work with and very professional.

From the design phase through completion of construction Wilkes Architects and Princeton Design Guild always has the client in mind. They truly appreciate the needs of their client and take that into consideration throughout the project. The crew is pleasure to work with and have in your home. The attention to detail and quality of construction cannot be surpassed. And the end of the project, we were back in our home and enjoying it on time and within our budget. We look forward to working with Wilkes Architects and Princeton Design Guild on our next project!