This guide helps you understand what to expect when working with a designer.

A kitchen designer can pull all the pieces of your puzzle together. The designer will keep you from getting bogged down in details that can throw your planning off track. You’ll be free to dream, while the designer thinks through all the measurements, material coordination, and construction logistics. 

You might want a kitchen island, for example, but can’t quite figure out where it would fit so you decide to go without it. If you were working with our experienced kitchen designers he/she might know exactly how to make the island work most effectively based on their experience with similar kitchens. Or you may have always wanted but assumed that your kitchen couldn’t support the size of a butler’s pantry. We can show you how to make these effective changes. 

In other words, a good designer will help you do it right the first time, see possibilities where you could not, make your kitchen more functional, and enable the entire experience to go more smoothly.

When you work with a kitchen designer, you don’t have to give up control of your plans or turn all the remodeling work over to other craftsmen. Think of yourself as the movie producer and of the kitchen designer as the movie director. You can be intimately involved in every detail of the project and even do some of the hands-on work. But when you do need someone to handle logistics, whether it’s ordering products or coordinating contractors’ schedules, the designer can step in. 

A designer will typically: 

• Visit your home to take measurements.

• Create a functional kitchen for your home.

• Develop a design and produce a full set of floor plans.

• Develop a product budget and schedule.

• Order products and materials.

• Coordinate work and installation team. (If one is necessary for major modifications.)

• Your designer will oversee the installation and placement of your cabinetry and countertops.

 Before meeting with a designer, consider:

• What you and your family like and dislike about your current kitchen. Bring a rough floor plan of your kitchen with you.

• What general styles you like – contemporary, traditional, or eclectic.

• Whether you want your kitchen to reflect the architectural style of your home.

• What designs have caught your attention – bring photos or magazine tear-outs for your wish list.

• When you want your new kitchen to be ready.

• How much you want to spend.

• What questions you have about the designer’s work & about the remodeling process in general.