What Does a Kitchen Designer Do?

We’ve all heard the running jokes about interior designers and how they’re a bit like an eccentric wedding planners. Yet kitchen designers are some of the most Down-to-Earth likable people in the design industry. Sure, they understand architectural design and have interior design training, as this is part of the education and background. But the most important part of kitchen design above all is personality and excellent client skills.

Kitchens are very important locations in your home where functionality and attractive design is the strongest. There are very basic principles to getting the right level of function to work effectively but adding style to that helps transform ordinary kitchen designs even further. Since your kitchen is essentially a workspace, kitchen designers add creativity and practicality to these spaces, making them more effective for a client’s needs.

They work very hard at listening to your thoughts and making suggestions that are in tune with what their clients are looking to achieve. Once ideas are shared and many notes are taken, kitchen designers start the real work of planning a layout of a kitchen using measurements for their client’s actual kitchen. With all of this information, a layout is created using computer software to show what can be created.

Often, these designs have options to modify anything within this virtual sample and are tweaked until the client approves what they see.

Materials are then chosen that best match the budget a client is looking to spend, while the designer further gives helpful suggestions on what can work best. Of course, many people do not realize that all kitchen designers do need to stick to fire, safety, and building codes just like any other building or construction contractor.

A Complete Ringleader

Not exactly like what you might imagine at a circus, but just like the director of a major film, a kitchen designer is in charge of an entire team. They communicate with woodworking craftsmen, electricians, painters, cabinet makers, plumbers, stonemasons, glass crafters, and many other contracted service experts. All of these professionals work around a kitchen designer to provide specific elements that go into a kitchen.

Obviously, this is where it’s the job to coordinate all of these people and determine when they are needed to install something during the installation process. It can be quite an impressive balance to make sure that these experts are not stepping on each other, so all of these combined work schedules blend without problems. All of these services are billed by the kitchen designer who works directly with them or is outside specialty contractors.

The most impressive part of the installation is that an experienced kitchen designer will plan ahead to secure the time needed to make everything happen. There are always unseen delays with something, but little do most homeowners know that they’ll never see these happen because of the careful planning to prevent delays from breaking a completion date.

A Master Of Their Craft

Kitchen designers are very skilled at listening and knowing when to help in the process of realizing a dream kitchen. Since a kitchen is just one room, that focus must be razor-sharp on the needs of the client. This process is made easier with plenty of conversation that’s to the point and luckily very enjoyable despite so many details to go over. These details are calmly and carefully discussed with plenty of enthusiasm.

As you can imagine, going over colors, themes, building materials, patterns, and room layouts might seem overbearing, but for a kitchen designer, each of these elements is covered step by step. They are also natural problem solvers and can see through potential design restrictions and offer a variety of solutions. They also work wonders with any kind of budget, yet provide everything that a client needs to be based on what needs to be included.

Even when kitchens are limited with space, their understanding of kitchen layouts can optimize available unused space. All of these steps involved are leading up to a finished kitchen design that the clients approve of long before anything is changed. In the end, a finished kitchen that a client sees appears exactly as they were presented so nothing is left to chance. It won’t be too uncommon that a kitchen designer will also suggest further tips to help blend decor items within the kitchen.

This not only helps with the finished installation but helps creates more beauty and harmony within a kitchen so it can be more practical. One more aspect is being featured on their website or social media platform to show off the transformation. Since each project is a custom design, kitchen designers are obviously proud of their work. If there’s something unique that makes a kitchen design stand out, your kitchen designer will want to feature it.

A kitchen designer is not a single job that is defined in one single sentence but to be very honest, a kitchen designer is not a contractor. Many contractors are doing this kind of work, and is similar to kitchen designers, but are not the same thing. The primary role of a kitchen designer is to provide services that encapsulate the development of kitchen designs through a client and then through contractor services.

This process is carefully managed to ensure that a client that’s looking for kitchen remodeling services will see the development of their ideas started and completed by the same designers from start to finish. They will work with many contractors (as needed), per budget, and co-ordinate and manage the construction and installation of a finished kitchen. But before anything is actually built, a kitchen designer starts with a client’s needs.

A Detailed Consultation

Everything starts with meeting a potential client who is looking to have their kitchen upgraded or remodeled. The first steps are simple and this involves looking at a current kitchen and starting to talk about what a client wants to change within that space. Many questions are brought up including the theme for your ideal kitchen, design concepts, a proposed budget the client wants to spend, and functionality. Often times the budget for the project will dictate the cabinetry type you’ll want to go with. A good kitchen designer can provide you various options for types of cabinets that will meet the décor needs and budget. Often times, custom style cabinets will be pitched to the client upon the initial consultation but there are many stock or simi-custom cabinets that will fit the bill.

The last part has everything to do with how a kitchen is used and how the client wants to use it. Any good kitchen designer will understand standard workflow setups and how they’re beneficial to making a kitchen efficient. But deciphering what a client wants sometimes involves an education on what works and what doesn’t. So if there are kitchen design ideas brought up that are trendy or unrealistic, a kitchen designer will advise accordingly.

These ideas are also written down as notes and most of the details of what the kitchen should look like are compiled by the kitchen designer. A designer wants to know as much about the vision of a kitchen as possible. Many questions about all of the kitchen furniture, cabinets, countertops, counters, and details that combine their usage are discussed. They also use their understanding of  kitchen décor history to make suggestions based on classic kitchen design styles.

These help to determine the overall look that a client wants and may possibly make rough sketches of the new layout for reference. When all of these ideas are collected, a designer will then be able to take all of this information along with measurements of a kitchen’s interior and even photos for reference to start the next process.

The Design Process

In a separate location, a kitchen designer will now recreate an existing kitchen layout using CAD development software. This is a computerized software program that kitchen designers use to create a 3D blueprint. This blueprint uses the same kinds of measurements that a 2D blueprint would use except that it can be rendered as a 3D model. This makes it effective to design a kitchen and work within a virtual room that the kitchen designer has recreated.

Any information that is taken during the consultation can help work within existing kitchen features such as overhead beams, kitchen shapes, and window placement. This 3D blueprint will also help contractors later when approved designs are then built to scale so everything fits together almost like a giant jigsaw puzzle. But before that, the design of the new kitchen is created from the clients’ ideas so it can be shown as a virtual 3D walkthrough.

Another meeting is then set up with a client to show the virtual mock-up of what the designer has created. At this 2^nd meeting, the 3D walkthrough presentation is given, and all of the points of what a kitchen designer presents are reviewed point by point. If there is something that a client wants to change at this point, this is when changes are further made and agreed to by the client.

After everything is agreed on the design, the budget is the next item on the list that is discussed. Based on what a client wants to pay for their kitchen is where a kitchen designer can show their dedication to budgets no matter how limited a project is to work with. Many homeowners will get at least three quotes from various kitchen designers to decide which design they like the best.

Many kitchen designers are picked because of their dedication and reputation which is often seen with kitchen projects that are sticking to tight budgets. A project timeline is also created and gives homeowners a clear idea of when the installation will happen. A work contract is then signed and the budget is finalized so the kitchen designer can begin the next stage of work.

This is when a final blueprint is created and is then will serve as the roadmap on how a kitchen is created element by element.

Starting The Work

This is when a kitchen designer will switch from being a designer to more administrative duties. They will start contacting and selecting the contractors within their team to work out who is doing what. Their main concern is coordinating all of the contractors to get each part of a kitchen built within a time frame so the installation process can begin by a proposed date. Based on their experience, the construction of everything can be done in-house or is ordered special.

Installing The Kitchen

When the time arrives to start work on a kitchen, everything is organized by the kitchen designer according to their work plan. This also is carefully managed with the help of a client if there are issues that come up during the installation. No matter what issue may become apparent, a kitchen designer will solve these problems so a project deadline isn’t delayed. This is where a designer will keep contractors from overstepping each other.

They will act as the project leader and smooth out issues that contractors aren’t used to dealing with. This is where it’s more obvious to see a seasoned kitchen designer handling the multiple tasks that go into the final stages of kitchen installations. When everything is completed, a kitchen designer will present the finished kitchen as it was originally presented using a 3D model.

At this point, the project is completed and both the client and kitchen designer are satisfied with the results. The kitchen designer will then move on to their next project and the client can enjoy their new kitchen.