Most kitchen places offer the service for free, at least for an initial design. Take advantage - that's where all of my ideas are coming from, and the fantastic help on this forum...

We initially hired an Interior Designer (before we knew how helpful KD's are) and were completely taken to the cleaners by her. She's a highly acclaimed designer (apparantly) and a panelist on Cityline, but she gave me a completely useless kitchen with an island with 23" of space around it (minimums are 40" or so) etc. Very, very upsetting.

The KD's at different places, even Home Depot, Lowes etc. will all have a different perspective - take advantage of it.

As for pulling it together, invest in some great design magazines and books, start looking at what you like, and then showing it to the KD's and the awesome people on this forum. That's what I did and it's amazing. Much easier and cheaper than our fired Designer who cost $125 an hour...

Good luck :)

We used an independant kitchen designer, at first. She mis-measured, used some wacko cabinet sizes, I could go on and on about her and her "installer" husband. What a waste of time and money. On a three year project she and one other tradesperson were the only ones that we thought were less than competent, out of 37 seperate people.

Thank goodness, we clicked with a Lowe's kitchen cabinet specialist and she helped us fix the mess.

We are working with our lawyer to yank the original KD's credentials and recover about $10k.

If you know more or less what you want try several of the free KD's at HD and Lowe's and compare what you get and then go with the best person that works WITH you.

My opinion; YMMV.

Mmm, we met with some "celebrity" designers (we're renovating our whole house)..and passed. I was impressed with the KD who worked for our kitchen manufacturer; she is very professional, provided great follow up service and listened to our suggestions and incorporated many of them. So we are very happy with her. But I must emphasize that we spent a few months educating ourselves first, by poring over kitchen mags and researching online (this forum has been invaluable to us). Becoming an educated consumer will help you to ask the right questions and make the best decisions..and that will save you a lot of money at the end. Good luck!

We used the Kitchen Designer from Home Depot - she ROCKS!
She did MUCH more than just design the cabinets; she helped me select granite, flooring, lighting, etc. - not all of which I purchased at Home Depot.

---Boxie

Here's a hint if your going too hire a kitchen designer.
ask these question.(1) CAN YOU PUT A MEAL ON THE TABLE USING FRESH FOOD FOR THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THAT YOU CAN SIT IN YOUR DINNING ROOM. (2)DO YOU SPECIALIZE IN KITCHENS.(3)ARE YOU CERTIFIED KITCHEN DESIGNER----CKD---(4)HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DESIGNING KITCHENS and last PLEASE REFER ME TO YOUR LAST THREE CLIENTS. making sure the kd can cook he or she will understand the process's of what a kitchen is about. by the way, the kitchen is the heart of the home, and the kitchen appliances is the heart of the kitchen.

Most KD's are a joke for the price they charge. I've worked with a bunch of them over the years and most think they are good but they are not. The previous poster was spot on about can they cook. Someone who loves to cook is a better designer than most out there. Look at lots of pictures and write down all the things you want and need in a kitchen and make it happen. Use the free design at HD and Lowes and Ikea has a self design program. Get some different layouts and then find one you like and find a cabinet maker who can make it happen for you.

When we first bought our house, my mom shopped around for Kraftmaid and went to a few places that did free designs. We got one we liked but we tweeked it - we tried to go back to the guy and he kept blowing me off (and I was trying to upgrade the original plan and spend twice as much) so I gave up, took the design and changed it (kept the basic layout but swapped out a few cabinets with different ones (they have angled ones that were a better fit) and then went to a discount store - Just Cabinets and they tweeked it and within a few hours (with my husband's measurements) we got the order placed and everything fit perfectly.

I had both Lowes and Just Cabinets draw me a design, which gave me some ideas. However, I had been playing "what if" with some home design software I have, and once I had those "professional" designs (learning quite a few things along the way about basic design), I went back and tweaked and played with my own designs until I had refined them to what I thought I wanted.

When I was getting frustrated with "Kitchen SUdoku" (it felt like that, given how difficult and small our space) I kept considering consulting a "real" designer, but given our budget limitations it wasn't really practical and I pressed on.

I then posted my first drafts - of my own designs - and got some GREAT GREAT GREAT ideas from posters on here who were able to spot the potential "problems", and also brainstormed with me as I tried some different things. I credit GWers with the BEST ideas of the final design!

My GC then jumped on board, not least of which telling me what I could REALLY do with the walls, and also adding his own excellent design suggestions (he's good at kitchens).

I'm convinced that the final result is absolutely the most efficient kitchen that you could have in my awkward space with my pre-defined cabinet sizes (because I bought my cabinets secondhand and thus had to create my kitchen using what we had, rather than ordering every stick to size).

I liked being invested in "the process" (I really enjoyed every moment of it), and my GC says that my involvement saved him a lot of time and trouble both at the design stage and during the project as I was able to identify and voice potential problems BEFORE they happened. Also, I gave them clear feedback at every stage, thus enabling them to make easier decisions on how to proceed structurally/mechanically to get what I wanted. Of course, it helps that I had the World's Best GC (or so it seems!) but he did say that it was easy for him to accommodate me because I was clear and involved, and that made their job easier. The only reason I could do that - I'm a total rookie at this! - was because I stayed 110% involved with the PROCESS rather than only focusing on the end result. I admit it - it was fun!

Anyway, just my experience.

We did/are using a CKD. I saw her work at a Kitchen Walk in our neighborhood last fall and gave her a call. She's well-known in our area (Oak Park, IL). She cost $2500 and that includes 1) demolition plan, 2) space plan, 3) elevations and 4)electrical plan. Home Depot/Lowe's would do 2) and 3) for you for free and indeed we had Home Depot do a design for us as well as a kitchen cabinet supplier. We weren't impressed. Our CKD (note the "certified") did 3 revisions and came to the house, etc. She's been really open to everything we suggested and was invaluable with the 'nope, that won't work, try this' stuff.

I had to ask her if she would get us a cabinet quote, which I thought was great. No hard-sell from her to use her cabinet supplier. FWIW, the custom cabinet quote from her was $24,000 for green/eco cabinets (we're doing a green kitchen), $20,000 for regular custom cabinets, and $16,000 from Megellan at Menards. Going to Home Depot for a KraftMaid quote right now. See ya!

We've hired two. Each cost $125.00 per hour. In our case essentially both were a waste of money.

The first one was well known, had kitchen's featured in magazines, won contests from Subzero and similar companies. She actually had great ideas but was constantly screwing up. She mis-measured on several occassions and I was never confident it was right. She would produce drawings that were impossible to visualize (the peninsula ended up overlapping a window in one drawing). I had requested over and over a prep sink in the island. The drawings came back without it and when I called her on it she said she didn't think it was needed but would request it be added. She had the drawings redone, and subsequently billed me the time to redo them. She called one day in the beginning and told me she stopped at the flooring store to look at floor choices (this was before we even had a design) and I was billed for the time! Keep in mind this was NOT something she asked me about in advance. We ended up parting ways after she became ill and couldn't continue with the project, which kept me from having to fire her. I knew she was capable of some beautiful work and I wanted it to work with her so badly that initially I kept making excuses for her . In the end, I spent about 2k and basically had nothing to show for it (except some ideas) Her plans had the beautiful elements & materials I wanted but not the additional space.

The next one was a very nice lady with good ideas but they always exceeded our budget. We spend about 1600.00 with her. She made up a plan that had "some" of the space we wanted but in the end the budget would not allow us to add on the space and keep the materials we wanted. I could accept that, however knowing it in the beginning would have saved us a lot of $$-- Both designers knew out of the gate that our main objective was to add space and that if we were going to invest in construction of an addition, I needed the kitchen to have the elements and materials I really wanted.

I truly believe the 2nd designer thought she was working within the budget and didn't purposely decieve us, where I believe the first one was milking us for any time she could but wanted to give us a knock your socks off kitchen in the small space we already had.
The nice thing about independent designers was that they aren't married to a specific brand. The first designer worked a lot with a local custom cabinetmaker and for about 12K we were getting painted white cabinetry that looked beautiful!

I later went to Home Depot for a "free" design, (which by the way was not free unless we paid for an in home measurement, at least in my area)and the KD there used our construction design to quote cabinets for us and a medium quality was about 25k!) So I think you end up paying for the designer one way or another~

We never ended up doing our kitchen since our wants exceeded our means. We've decided to move all together and while we can't "design" the kitchen we can possibly make some modifications and i am already stressing about the whole process all over again.

We hired an independant kitchen designer. For us it was the best decision of the whole new kitchen process. I suppose there are good and bad kitchen designers out there and ours came through the recommendation of a friend. Our KD was an absolute gem. Designers are human and each has their own sense of style. You may like the work of one but not another, and some are twits and some are gems. My reason for going independant was to not be obligated to purchase cabinets at any particular place or to use the design service at any particular cabinet maker. We worked with our designer for a year and a half before looking for the cabinet maker. We realized early in the process that custom was the best way to maximize space in our small L shaped kitchen. Our KD had a long 25 year experience in the industry here and gave us a list of custom cabinet makers to talk to when we were finally ready, some she had worked with extensively and others that she had not worked with but knew to have good reputations. She was able to give us pointers in what to ask the cabinet makers and things to look for in construction detail of the type of door style we wanted, things I would never have known to look for if I had chosen the supplier of my cabinets first and then worked with their designer. My designer has been exceedingly patient with my long periods of indecision on some things and the most important thing for me has been that she LISTENS to me. There have been things she has tried to encourage that I did not like and she respected that and found the best way to make what I wanted a pleasing part of the design. So some people have bad experiences with independant designers but I can say that my experience could not have been better.

We didn't get new cabinets-just added onto our existing island and had it painted, wrapped in beadboard and legs added. Also had the sink cabinet rebuilt for out farmhouse sink. New counters, appliances, faucets, etc. We hired an interior designer (who is a friend). For us it was nice b/c she was able to get us great discounts on lighting, tile, faucets, etc....and give us some wonderful ideas. Our designer is WONDERFUL and worth MORE then we paid her! But this site and magazines gave me my inspiration and ideas and then I went to her with I like this-and she would give opinions and help with finding things and getting me discounts. The discounts she got us were more then what we paid her!

I used a KD from Home Depot Expo. It costs 750 up front but if you get it back if you do the kitchen through them. It was worth it to me. She was the only one who came up with an original plan and was very patient with my questions and changes. I should add that I am design challenged :-) Lowe's and a local place were very nice but gave me nothing but an updated version of what already existed.

Elaine

imho, as KDs are _not_ real stake-holders, the value of
their service is suspect - not to mention the ROI...

This is what we did:
. Checked out the library for some books/mags on good
kitchen designs
. Checked out the designs of finished kitchens here and
other fora (forums ;?)
. Readup advice from this and other forums
. With a slew of ideas (bullet-listed) went to Lowes,
etc for "free" designs - did not divulge our ideas
until we saw their ideas
. Then, incorporating our ideas with theirs, we came
up with a few permutations and combos
. Visualized the diff designs via the "virtual
kitchens" using their software
. Fine-tuned the designs and drew up everything to
scale (can use software for this - from 0$ - $500)
. Gave it to architect/engineer to produce diagrams
for permits

We are extremely happy with our final design. The
usability of it is way beyond our imagination. Family &
friends love it.. Now, some friends want us to design
their remodels... We all want to hang around there most
of the time :-) Can't ask for more ;!)

Best,
/venkat

We're just starting talking to people. Since we're looking at expanding an exterior wall, we're talking to architects first. One we spoke with basically inferred they don't work with kitchen designers-they do the layout and architecture of the space (outlets, lighting plan, appliance spots) and then work with cabinet suppliers and other people for "design".

I just want the kitchen that's laid out well and works. Colors and finishes, well we're not fancy and can probably work out what we want on our own. The architect seemed confident he could get a basic layout that would work. We're still evaluating people so we'll see what happens.

Chairthrower, your architect may or may not be good at kitchen design. It is very different than architecture! There have been a few people on this Forum that had pretty bad layouts from architects...they may have "looked" good, but they were pretty much non-functional.

If you decide to only go w/your architect, then I recommend you post your layout here for opinions BEFORE you sign off on it.

The fact that your architect "inferred they don't work with kitchen designers", worries me a little. He may or may not be any good, but the fact that he isn't willing to work w/a KD would prompt me to ask WHY?

No, not all KDs are great or even very good, but the same can be said for architects, especially when they stray outside there area of expertise and then refuse to work with others whose area of expertise it IS!

Perhaps your architectural firm has their own KDs on staff (but doesn't call them that). If so, you may luck out.

Oh, and BTW, just b/c a KD has "25 years of experience," doesn't mean they're great at the whole thing. Our KD/Project Manager w/25 years experience had good ideas and had/has a good design sense...but that's not all it takes to to do the job...you need to be able to (1) measure properly, (2) execute the plan, (3) admit when you make a mistake, and (4) work w/the customer to make up for your mistakes. >:-0

HTH!

We hired a highly-recommended independent fee-based CKD. She is awesome. Though she charges $120 an hour, we expect to save 10x what she charged us by avoiding mistakes. Super detail-oriented, visionary, and diligent. She drew 4 initial plans, took our input and came up with 2 more. We elected plan #6 and tweaked it further with her help. Total cost around $5K; about 4 months spent in the design process. Well worth it!! (Cabinet design in particular is superb, and the GC quoted around half of what Expo would have charged for the same thing. Great esthetic sense too.) Much useful info was gained from lurking this great site as well.
Our CKD suggested 3 GCs with excellent reputations. After evaluating bids, we ended up selecting a different GC that we found through another networking connection. We start demolition in 2 weeks!