Kitchen Design DIY Or Interior Designer?

You’ve decided to renovate, or you are building from scratch, and the kitchen design is the biggest thing to tackle. You’ve amassed loads of kitchen imagery, so what do you do with it all?

Getting Started

Well, you need to break it down, start collating into groups – colour and style are good places to look for commonalities. You may find that you are drawn to more than one style and that’s OK. This is the discovery process; nothing is set in stone. 

Now you should have an idea of what colours and styles you are drawn to, or not… Traditional or contemporary, detailed Hamptons or coastal, etc. Make notes on the elements that keep showing up, start culling to make it manageable, you will start to see repetition in colour, texture, and style. The way is becoming clear. 

Now consider what works and doesn’t work in your current kitchen. Functionality is just as important as aesthetic, think about your storage requirements and how you work on a day-to-day basis. It’s important to be practical. Think about the school notes, lunch boxes, and remember bells and whistles add up very quickly in a kitchen.

So, What To Do Now?

Well, in my professional opinion, you should hire an interior designer (unless you have a lot of time on your hands, a keen eye for colour and material placement and a thorough grasp on layout and functionality!)

Remember, we’ve designed many kitchens, not just one or two, and not just for the developer market.  I’m talking working kitchens. The kitchen is the workhorse of the home, and a busy family spends most of their time here. You are investing the largest portion of your fit-out budget here. You need to get it right.

What Does A Designer Bring To The Table?

Well, it’s not just about aesthetics. An interior designer’s experience is not only in what is required for a functional kitchen, but also our ability to plan for the pitfalls is what is invaluable. We ask the right questions; we’re steps ahead all the time. We plan, refine, then plan some more. 

Then there’s material selections and everyone gets excited here, however there’s a lot to consider. Placement is key, where does each piece go, how do they connect with the other? Every time there is a change in material there is a junction that needs to be considered. When the stone finishes here how does that meet the material adjacent? This is important stuff people, and these decisions are made by your designer without you ever knowing there was a decision to be made.

Then there is interpretation. Anyone who has ever been here knows this is not a good place to be. A properly documented design removes the danger of interpretation.  This is where so many homeowners come undone. They assume their builder/trade is thinking what they are thinking, only to be surprised when they discover they are not reading the same book! At which time it’s usually too late, the materials have already been ordered, or worse, they have been installed and it’s either too expensive or impossible to rectify.

What do you end up with? A long list with all those little things that weren’t quite right, and a lot of little things add up to a lot of disappointment. Don’t let it happen to you!

The second pro of a fully documented and specified design is it allows you to compare apples for apples when sourcing quotes.

But, the best, best thing about using an interior designer is that your dream kitchen will be more than your dream kitchen. It’ll be something that you hadn’t dreamed of and that’s the best!!

How To Select A Designer

Selecting a designer can be tricky. You want your home to reflect you, but you also want their expertise and vision. So how to choose? We suggest a meeting in their studio so you can get a sense of the space they work in and how that can translate into your home. Does it feel intimate? That’s the magic of design; how do you feel in the space; what changes when you cross the threshold? 

Ask about their workflow, ask to see examples of materials palettes of projects they are working on, detailed drawings and 3D renders and how they translate to finished product.

The Cost

Well, cost is cost, and value is another ball game. We work on the mantra “think of the value not the cost!” You will never ever regret the investment in your designer. We do all the work, take on all the stress, have the vision, deliver the vision, meet with the trades, rectify what goes wrong… We have your back all the way.

And the best bit… You end up with a kitchen that exceeds your expectations!

Contact us for an estimate of costs.