Karen at Oneplan for kitchen design

[depressedor]

Anyone who has used Karen for kitchen design please can you tell me how it works.

Are you expected to know what you want or does it involve lots of interaction where her expertise can help you with whether your layout requires bespoke units for example or what type of flooring would work for your needs. Presumably layout would vary depending on whether units can be bespoke or not so you/she needs to know range of sizes the supplier offers before it is designed.

I am so in need of help and not sure if i should be choosing kitchen before design or vice versa. Really we only want to pay for non standard sizes if essential but need help with all our choices.

Yes! And my kitchen looks stunning. I would never in a million years have arrived at that design without her assistance tbh.

I didn't stick to it entirely as my tastes changed in the months after but it's very similar to what we worked on.

You fill out a questionnaire at the beginning is gauged at understanding what your needs/wants are. It's very comprehensive.

You're also able to submit photos if you've seen something you like and want to use as inspo.

Depending on how much support you want there's two packages - one that's less interactive and one that's more (I went for the more interactive as I was clueless).

Her technology is pretty advanced so you can see how different flooring/paint looks too if you're unsure.

Once you're done, she sends you a list of all of the sizes of units you would need based on the concept you decide.

Let me know if you have any more questions, I could go on lol

We used Karen a couple of months ago and are now waiting for our kitchen extension to be built and units fitted. She is utterly brilliant. We used her cheapest service because we're on a tight budget and virtually all of our spare cash is being used for the kitchen itself. She offers an hourly rate for her less comprehensive package, so I told her our budget and she worked to it exactly. I sent her the plans of the new room in advance and on the day we chatted about what we wanted and how we use our space before she went off for an hour to create some designs. She came up with solutions for our space that we hadn't even realised would benefit from a change before she suggested an alternative. And I am ever so slightly in love with her for finding a way to fit in a walk-in pantry!

She sends you a very detailed questionnaire to fill in before working on your design, so all your preferences are captured there. She'll advise on what size units will best fit the space and layout, but if you have a specific supplier in mind then you can let her know beforehand.

Thank you so much. This is exactly what I had heard before. Everyone seems to think it is well worth it. £700 is a lot of money for us but I am concerned that without it we might miss something. Does she design it based on standard size units because I was thinking we would need non standard but if it is designed on non standard and we cant get it to budget we wouldnt be able to use the design with standard units. Was she able to guide you with things like flooring or worktop for your needs where we have no idea?

She's a dream to work with. I got in touch for a dressing room initially and we sent her our house plans. She spotted a potential nightmare in our proposed kitchen layout (Architects design) and pointed it out when we were on the call. She's just so sensible and switched on.

Re payment. So £700 must be for the A project size which is over 5 days? For more than one room?

So if you don't want to spend that much you could just go for one room perhaps?

But thinking about it, that's only £140 per day. I don't know many professionals on that low a day rate? I would say she's well worth it.

If you turn up at a kitchen shop with a design drawn up and listed, and they can't work out how to make the sizes work with their ranges, then they really don't deserve your business surely. It's basically re working the maths.

But I suppose with that in mind if you ask her to design using general sizes so you can go to lots of shops with if, then the posh shops can change it to suit their more unique sizes instead.

Either way she gets the full five stars out of five from me.

£700 is just for a kitchen design. I think she does 2 clients per week so £140 per half day not per day but thats fine if it gives us a great kitchen. The only option is to have a full week, there is no option anymore for cheaper alternatives or to pay by the hour.

I think we have the design we want as we have lived with the kitchen for ages but just want to be sure. Obviously much harder if it is a new space or not built. I really want the cupboards built into alcoves so anything in standard widths wouldnt work.

Wow must be a really big room? So is there no option for the designer day now ? I spoke to her last week and she said the 'by then hour (C&D) services' were suspended for the moment as she's so busy. But I'm sure she said both A and B were booking July spaces ?

I used Karen, she was great! I used the 5 day service but pretty certain I paid less than £700

I paid £650 for the 5 day service for my kitchen.. looking back it definitely should have been £555 (what I was charged for the kitchen) - I kept referencing a "utility space" (charged £95 extra) which was truly just a corner of the kitchen (I've got an l-shaped kitchen)

I liked the way she quotes for the places with a price for the kitchen (or bedroom) then she adds prices for extra areas that you can choose to add if you want to. No pressure to add any more than you are comfortable with.
It means the price you end up paying is for the areas you want to include. Keeps you in control.

Do you know which kitchen units you want - a lot of the big suppliers only have standard sizes so so you will need a company that does bespoke sizes and they generally offer their own design service. That £700 could pay for another unit!

We kind of knew what we wanted but we had plans drawn up for us by the kitchen company - we got ours from Handmade Kitchens of Christchurch who are totally bespoke and don’t charge extra for units whether they are 300 or 1000 wide. Same with height.

Qc16 - I dont know what supplier to use which is what is concerning me. If kitchen is designed for bespoke and we cant afford it then the layout might not work. I have looked at Christchurch (but not price) and all looks ideal except they need painting on site. How did you find that? My concern is who takes responsibility if there is an issue with painting. Was it spray painted? Thanks

@depressedor
"The only option is to have a full week, there is no option anymore for cheaper alternatives or to pay by the hour"

We're planning an extension and a new kitchen as well (very early stages though) and after reading so many good reviews about Karen, I've been tempted to use her services. I've seen four service packages listed on the One Plan website - A, B, C, or D - varying from a full week to more basic charged per hour) www.oneplan-design.co.uk/services/. Do you mean that they've actually dropped everything apart from Option A?

[quote NoIdeasForWittyNickname]@depressedor
"The only option is to have a full week, there is no option anymore for cheaper alternatives or to pay by the hour"

We're planning an extension and a new kitchen as well (very early stages though) and after reading so many good reviews about Karen, I've been tempted to use her services. I've seen four service packages listed on the One Plan website - A, B, C, or D - varying from a full week to more basic charged per hour) www.oneplan-design.co.uk/services/. Do you mean that they've actually dropped everything apart from Option A? [/quote]
Yes I emailed a couple of weeks ago and she is so busy that she is only offering A or B

So @depressedor should consider booking the B service at £395 instead then.

There was definitely no option to do B. However I am happy to pay as long as the service gives what we want which is help/advice on details to meet our needs and gives something more than our current designs by kitchen suppliers.

I'd contact her again and ask for a quote for the B option . On my quote there was both, and I could chose other areas, that were heavily discounted, to add in at the same time if I wanted . And I could see that those additional prices were the same if I wanted A or B, but I had said that I wasn't sure which to go for. I suppose if you said you wanted the A project that might be why only that was quoted ?

I contacted her very recently and she was offering A or B service only. She won't design something that only a bespoke company can deliver if you tell her you want to use a standard kitchen supplier eg. Howdens or Benchmark. She really listens to what you want, your budget etc.
I wanted to use her as I'm hoping to purchase from DIY kitchens and they do not have a designer service. But if that's not your plan then maybe get a plan done by Howdens or someone first and decide if you like it or need more input.

@depressedor - we are having ours fitted at the moment. Both the guy doing the fitting and the joiner he works for are impressed with the quality and said that for them to build the same would cost £12,000 - ours cost £7,000!
You can have it sprayed but hand painting is supposedly better as if you get any damage it’s much easier to touch up - we just found a local painter who is painting it for us.
Getting someone like Howdens to do a plan is a good idea - it appears to be what a lot of people here do.
I know HKOC have a long lead time so if you are thinking of using them maybe find out what the situation is.

Qc - thanks for that. I have had plans done by a few kitchen companies but wanted someone independent hence oneplan. Do you mind my asking how much are you paying for painting if you have it broken down for just the units and do you know what the spec is. Two coats as already primed??

We are booked info for the Week plan as we are also doing the utility but would have booked the one day plan.
We have had 3 designs from kitchen sales places and they have all ignored what we asked for and basically unsold loads of units.
I’m hoping that Karen will be able to find the best way to use the space. I’m
Sure she will as she has been great at communicating so far.

@depressedor - the quote for painting the kitchen which does also include the final coat of emulsion to the wall (55sq m) was £2880. That is for two coats of Matt varnish to the interiors, a primer coat and 2 coats of Little Greene intelligent satin - includes materials.

This is London prices. Btw fitting was £1000 so the total finished cost of the kitchen units is around £10,000. Appliances etc on top of that.

place marking thank you as Karen sounds great!

She's like a fairy godmother!

Bear in mind that HMKOC have very, very long wait times at the moment. We booked ours in January and won't get anything until August. On the plus side they actually factor in a designer in their package and their images are very good (and use their actual products).