Thread: Kitchen design

Originally Posted by flennwagner

Since this will be our first kitchen remodeling project, there are a lot we don't know. Right now, we're searching for someone to design our kitchen. Home Depot will do it for $50 or $100, but I don't want to use them since there are lots of limitations working with mayflowerva. There is a local appliance/cabinet place that charges $500 for the design and I believe we will be credited it back on what we spend if we go with them. Is that reasonable? so please share any suggestion you have on where we can get our kitchen design at a reasonable price.

thanks in advance for any help

Sounds reasonable to me if it is credited back on the new cabinets they build. I would want to get a quote on what their cabinets would cost me when completed

Seems reasonable to me as well. Define your scope of the project and price everything you want before designing and read the fine print.

So when I remodeled ours the original had 3 drawers, 3 uncovered wall cabinets, 4 covered lower cabinets. Nothing worked meaning you must have a central work area be it Triangular or ours Square. This is so from the work area you turn either direction for tools, ingredients, refrigerated goods, etc. Most designers work on the Triangle, if you really throw down like we do here the Square is awesome. That extra "Within Reach" point allows my prep speed, cooking speed, and plating speed to fly. I took out a wall incorporating a bedroom into kitchen doubling our kitchen space. Being a long rectangle the "Work Space" had to be either on one end or the other. Choosing the original kitchen space for the work space was my first decision. So after that both refrigerators, a upright full size freezer, ice maker, mixer, meat grinder, vacuum packer, toaster oven, pizza oven, 2 ranges, work spice rack, Island, pantry, etc were all drawn, cut out, and placed on a accurate to scale blank floor plan. When you actually see where things go it really helps. So one refrigerator is really a commercial Blast Chiller. Positioning the equipment taking into consideration how easy it was to move (big swivel wheels) and shortness in width of the door it went closest to the Island. The door just clears the Island corner. Food for Thought. Once I had the floorplan, equipment layout, sink had to stay where it was, icemaker has to be next to the sink, etc I went to a local custom cabinet maker to build the cabinets and install them. Doing this myself to where the cabinet guys walk in, install their stuff, and leave my cost was $9K. I tipped the guy $500. We now have 27 drawers alone, Cabinets everywhere, too much to write here.

A well designed kitchen is awesome. I certainly do not have one. We are in need of a remodel foe sure

I would be happy with just new counters and cabinets. Whole kitchen remodel is in my dreams…..lol.

So happens my son is a Florida licensed building contractor who specializes in kitchen and bathroom remodeling.
He has a 4000 sq. ft shop with all the expensive machinery required for turning kiln dry lumber and cabinet grade plywood into beautifull cabinets. All the design work is done in house with a cad program which provides a virtual walkthru of the new kitchen.
Unfortunately he is located in Vero Beach Florida.
I would be going on line and searching for custom cabinet builders in your area.
And i would reccomend you visit their location before getting very far involved.
First impressions are usually good ones.
As for the large box stores, they will offer several different lines of cabinets, each having a different price point.
By and large the designers are in house trained, and will have little to no actual construction experience.
The installers will be sub contractors, not direct employees.
They will as a rule not be willing to visit the site where the kitchen is to be installed during the design process.
But will rely on the homeowner to supply all the information as for measurements, window locations, etc etc.
So the more you know the better off you will be when dealing with them.

We used stock cabinets and countertops and did all of ours all by our lonesome…..
It’s pretty basic , but gets the job done well ….
Added 10 cabinets to the 8 original , 3 drawers to the 2 originally there and 16 foot of new countertops. A new fridge and custom bar in between the dining and kitchen area and 2 barstools….
A few steps involved and lots of sweat, but it wasn’t really pricey…
Around 3000 total , new lighting and fresh paint and trim too …