Kitchen designers - how does it work?

[ManxRhyme]

We are getting a new kitchen soon and my husband suggested getting an independent kitchen designer. Has anyone used one and how does it work?

Do they design the kitchen down to where you keep your bins/small electrical appliances? Do you need to commit to a kitchen supplier before or do they give you the options for different makes of kitchens?

Sorry to sound clueless. We've never had a new kitchen before.

I know there's one kitchen designer on mumsnet that seems to give really good advice - Karen at oneplan is @OnePlanOnHouzz

Yes I've heard of Karen. Was hoping that I could hear about what people's experiences were using such a designer in contrast to doing it ourselves or getting a kitchen company to do it with us.

My understanding is yes someone like Karen will work with you to design the kitchen right down to bins and small appliances. Doing multiple versions of the layout if necessary. They usually do it before you get quotes from kitchen companies so then you can take the finished layout to several companies and get like for like quotes. But could do it the other way round if you prefer.

IME kitchen companies are not great at layouts. They’ll have a go, and it will be ok but will involve compromises and annoyances - and they aren’t keen to spend hours going through alternative layouts in the hope of finding one that doesn’t have those issues. Plus some companies will add in more cabinets than you need to up their margin.

Another benefit of having an independent designer is you could have the design made by a joiner (often joiners are great at the cabinetry but not able to do the design/layout).

I didn’t use Karen myself but I did spend hours and hours redrawing our layout and thinking about how it would work in practice, till I was sure it couldn’t be bettered. If I wasn’t confident doing that myself, then I would have used her or someone similar.

Thank you minipie. That's a good tip about joiners actually. Would love a new kitchen but time and energy is at a premium at the moment so it sounds like it would be a good idea to pay for a designer.

There's nothing like really thinking about where things go yourself, just think about scenarios like making a meal, making breakfast, making a cup of tea, putting away things from the dishwasher, etc. Think about all the things you'd need to do the whole process including getting crockery, stuff from the fridge, put something in the bin and make sure you're not in a situation where you need to get the plates out from the dishwasher but have to close the dishwasher to get to the cupboard that houses the plates. My tip would be to use as much floor to ceiling storage as possible on a wall and then for the rest of the cupboards/drawers you'll need, have worktop on the top and as few Overhead cupboards as possible.

I had a new kitchen last year and I read and reread lots of threads on MN which gave me loads of ideas, I went to a number of different kitchen showrooms and also had designs drawn up by a independent designer. In the end I designed the kitchen myself using the ideas that I stole from the various threads that I read. DIY kitchen planner allows you to try different layouts and as PP said visulise the way you use the space. Look at threads such as lessons learnt etc

What's the issue with overhead cupboards? I supposed I've not been bothered by them but I'm fairly petite. Actually, I lie. It irritates me that I need a stepstool to get anything off the top shelf 🙄

Agree that showroom 'designers' won't spend ages working out the best layout. They're sales people first and foremost.
When we had ours I worked out the layout I wanted and had to be quite insistent when they tried to change it/said it wasn't possible.

Same here! I’m 5’3 and can only reach the bottom shelf... used to annoy me hugely about our old kitchen. So we went for just two wall cabinets, and all the stuff on the upper shelves is rarely used items. Nearly all our lower units are drawers which store way more than cabinets, so we need fewer units overall. Soo much easier to get things, and a more spacious feeling room.

Sorry to jump on. We’re looking at doing a kitchen either later this year or beginning of next and wondered about all of this too. I’m presuming using a kitchen designer is a lot more expensive? And a joiner rather than eg Howdens? Thanks

I'd recommend Karen! Used her for my own project after hearing rave reviews from everyone else.

Personally, I got her to do quite a few rooms and found the kitchen and dining room to be most useful/worth the $$.

She completely revolutionised my kitchen space and now it's all coming together, I'm still in awe of her expertise. Gah.

Re price, she has two services - one which involves more back and forth over the course of the week so is a little more pricey.

The other is less hands on on your part, so naturally cheaper.

I went for the more hands on one because I was totally clueless and needed that guidance. Still better than anything Howdens or Wren could've designed for me (but I used them to get quotes once my design had been drawn up by Karen) x

Thanks themummyway for the feedback. I'll look into it. Spend last night trying to design it on an online planner and was getting frustrated. What seemed like a massive room very quickly became to small to fit everything I want in!

If you are paying a designer, then they are working for you. So you will get what you want. If you use a kitchen manufacturers designer, then you will get what they want to give you. If you do decide to use a manufacturers free designer, then ask them what qualifications they have, as I have only come across one in house designer with an actual design degree. And she was very good.

I used a local independent kitchen manufacturer and used their designer. He did his original design and then did us 8 more designs when we wanted to tweak things, before we came back to a design that was incredibly similar to his first design. It helped he was also involved in the manufacturing as he suggested some changes to standard cupboards that they could make in the factory, as well as drawing up things that the fitter could customise on site (such as the boiler housing for an awkwardly sited boiler)

Hi, I work for a small independent kitchen design company and we do work very closely with the customer to finalise their perfect design much as muddlemidget has discussed. I sometimes do up to 8 redesigns to get the room just right. I would assume if you go to the large suppliers they won’t give such a personal level of service as this. I never give my clients what I want them to have Rules don’t apply to me. They are the client and ultimately they get what they want. I just offer my expertise and experience to tweak there ideas for aesthetic and practicality and to meet their budget.

@ManxRhyme you need these: www.howdens.com/kitchens/kitchen-storage/wall-storage/pull-down-shelf

Thanks everyone! So many options. Grateful for all the advice.

I didn't know they made wall units for shorties like me 😂

@LazyDoll
My apologies LazyDoll. I’ve only dealt with the large PLC’s, not independents. So my post only applies to those. I’m sure the independent’s do a far better job.

@Rulesdontapplytome no worries at all. I guess the larger suppliers are much more commission/quantity based with sales/deals custom whereas we’re heavily reputation based with quality over quantity. Meaning also we’ve more time to dedicate to each client.

We used one. Cost about the same as a single floor unit.

They work for you and have no incentive to pile on unnecessary rubbish you won't need. They know all the 'rules of thumb', what works and doesn't.

You can relax whilst you design your kitchen as you're not fearing you're being ripped off.

How much a kitchen designer cost? Is it by size of kitchen?
Is anyone willing to say exactly how much they paid or charge?

I'd second using Karen. Especially if you're doing it for the first time. I feel that using Karen gives you a good grounding as she will talk you through the things you wouldn't have even considered, but are critical. She's very experienced.

@Whatpaint I used her more thorough service which I believe cost £450 (the price of a dishwasher as she calls it!) and I have no regrets. She actually drew up 5 designs for me to choose from, all very different but workable, and then uses CAD to draw up the final selected design, including a full shopping list of items you'd need.

Thank you @Smallgoon. That sounds really reasonable, thanks for the info.

Does anyone have contact details for Karen ?