If you have a degree and ASID membership you can make big bucks making all the decision for rich people. Otherwise, it's a matter of being able to sell yourself.

One reason for those cookie cutter kitchens is the guy knows they work and people like them. He has the sources where he gets his cut and knows that they'll do good work for him because of the repeat business. Making more individualized choices requires more work for less remuneration.

And you're absolutely right :)

very easy! ;-)
grow-up in Italy, start design things at the age of 15 (like my parents interior doors or fireplace)... then study Architecture in Florence.
Start working in a Architect office...
love everything that is design, never stop looking for new material, new design.
For different reason move to Chicago.. and start design interior for clients!
from kitchen to bath to each interior room.
very simple!
;-)

kateskourous - I thought you were "done" with your design. Are you still planning on using Heard Custom Cabinetry?

BTW...I have to agree with you. I have been through more people than I can count that all have the same ideas and don't seem even open to listening to something out of the box. That's why I'm still looking....or pretty soon just going with my own ideas and crossing fingers that it will all work out. Honestly, I almost feel that a good interior designer is the way to go if you can get a good layout done by yourself. But I haven't found one of those either!!

Well, to be fair, this particular kitchen designer just might be doing whatever his clients want, and they want granite with maple or cherry. We have a kitchen display in our showroom with soapstone, and no one wants it. They think oiling it would be a pain, it dings, shows patina, OMG! Most clients want something they don't have to deal with, so no soapstone or wood counters, and they don't want to sign a release for a honed finish. They say they want the cabinets to "look like furniture", but when it comes down to it, many delete the details because they don't want to clean around them, and god forbid they have to keep a glass door cabinet neat.

So many kitchens look the same because that's what people want. I inform them of the many interesting options avilable, but many clients ultimately choose the standard route.

And FWIW, I'm in an upscale area.

Here's my experience with KD:
First KD was from a shop that offers semi and custom cabs, counters, the whole gamut of kitchen stuff. She has a degree in interior design. After numerous visits to our home, she kept presenting the same plan over and over with very minor revisions; even though hubby and I told her that it didn't "wow" us and we didn't care for her design. Numerous promises for revisions, nothing that looked even close to being revised. We opted to move on.

Second "KD" - had no formal education in design. Says he worked in the industry 20 + years. He tried, I'll give him that. However, after numerous promises of "I'll get back to you by such n such date", and he didn't, we opted to move on.

Third and last "KD" - Home Depot. She has a degree in art. Liked her from the first moment we met her. She took our ideas (intertwined with some suggestions she talked about before making changes) and put them on paper, never once asking us to repeat things. She truly LISTENED. Numerous changes -REAL changes, not slight revisions. Never once lost her patience with us or gave us any kind of attitude. She actually gives us the impression that she CARES about what we want and really wants to make us happy - no matter what it takes.

I guess there's something to be said for a person that's working on an hourly wage with nothing to gain or lose on her paycheck based on the decisions we make. My KD ROCKS!

---Boxie

i have a BFA from parsons school of design in new york. i worked as an art director and set designer for 18 years. does this count? what kind of credentials do you need for ASID membership? i'm thinking i take a course or something, get some software and spit out kitchens. i have a lot of computer experience so how difficult can it be to stick boxes on a layout?

and mahlgold: i was done with my design but i keep seeing more things and tweeking. we hit a few detours with our build so there's no hole in the ground yet. dh tells me this spring ...but being it's already march we'll see. and yes, i'm still using russel heard.

if necessary i can also speak in a funny greek accent as well. ;*))

Wait-- it's march already?! slow down! It's Valentine's Day where I live! :-)

It takes training in the aesthetics of design, and basic space planning, which is offered from many design schools, yes, but it also takes a great deal of knowledge of construction, local building codes, the intimate knowledge of 5 different cabinet lines's 300 pages of specs and their individual quirks and prices. It takes the ability to learn gracefully from your mistakes, and to be willing to earn almost nothing while you are doing so--and for a good long time after you pass the beginning stage. It takes the abilty to financially be able to absorb those errors that you make, and still be able to be creative enough to show up to work making that Target outfit look like Donna Karan and that peanut butter sandwich taste like a gourmet meal, while you worry if you will have enough gas to put in the car to make it to work for the rest of the week. It takes the ability to absorb the daily slaps in the face that actual creativity in your design will get you when you realize that the client really just wants something that looks like everyone else's kitchen, but maybe with just a different colored granite. It takes the ability to be yelled at by a client, cabinet representative, and installer about different aspects of a project that each wants to blame the other for, and be able to remain calm and find a workable solution for all. It takes the ability to babysit some of the biggest and whiniest "grown" children on the planet who think that just because they want something done, there has to be a way to do it---and at the cheapest possible budget.

So, yes, being a KD takes training in art or design, but it also takes abilities as a financial counselor, contractor, engineer, psychologist, marriage counselor, mind reader, and magician, to be able to put it all together and actually be successful long term without going bankrupt first. :~)

I know two - one who is a friend and one who is a colleague of hers - the latter was my KD. They are both very good - own their own KD firms - and serve high end customers. One also employs her husband at her company and they've had a comfortable - though not affluent by any means - life including raising two kids and sending them to college. Here's what I know about them - they both cook extensively themselves and have college degrees - one in interior design, the other in home economics. They're both creative, very hard working and good sales people - with excellent interpersonal skills to put up with a lot of "interesting" personalities. Also very detailed and thorough in planning and following through on complex projects. From what I've read here, that doesn't seem to be the norm.

I'm about to do something with my 35 year old bathroom - I plan to work with my KD again - since she does bathrooms also. Probably will just hire her for design/consultation and get cabinetry elsewhere since she doesn't offer what I want.

Kateskouros -- It seems that with your background you could make it as a kitchen designer, if that's what you want to do. I was a graphic artist for many years before I did this, and also owned an art gallery. But you might want to do a little more research on the profession. Do you really think that KDs spend their days sticking boxes in a layout? Most of my time is spent dealing with snafus in the field, delivery issues, client expectations verses reality, paperwork, ordering, measuring, phone calls, appointments, quotes, boy it goes on and on. I actually have to make time each day to design a room.

Or maybe you were just being sarcastic?

I would love to be a set designer! It sounds like so much fun -- why would you want to quit that?

IMHO, it's not so much the education, as it is your personality traits and general skills.

Interior designers get little training on kitchens...or at least they didn't 10-20 years ago. I hired an interior designer in 2001. She lasted only 2 or 3 years and still needed lots of hand holding at our company. She was always remarking about how hard the job was and that she had no idea!

There are some NKBA accredited programs around the country for kitchen and bath design.

Personality Traits and General Skills for a KD:
-Detail Oriented
-Organized
-Ability to "see" a space...have "vision".
-Were you good in geometry in high school? That helps!
-Good memory (needed to memorized 5 different lines of cabinet specs and details)
-Easy-going personality. If you are high strung or a nervous nelly, it will be difficult to make it in this business.
-Artistic; I hired one art major who was also a welder and built motorcycles. He was one of my best employees ever.

those are just some. My sandwich just arrived, so I gotta run!

Kompy

kitchenwitch: i was definitely being sarcastic. sorry if it didn't "read" that way. gotta watch that! i stopped working in 2000 before getting preg with my son. we live 55 miles outside of nyc now and it would be a very harried, two hour trip in each direction. i want to do something new.