Question about those world class designers

11 years ago

Not that it is ever going to happen, but if I were in a position to indulge my design fantasies, I'd probably hire Jeffrey Bilhuber for the house and Mick De Giulio for the kitchen. Here's the question: Would they fly in their own installers or would they use local trades? I'm assuming they would want to use their own, tried and true, so the client would have to foot the bill for an army, in addition to everything else, right?
Just adding this to see if Edit function works.

This post was edited by kitchendetective on Wed, Nov 28, 12 at 10:16

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Comments (5)

hhireno
11 years ago
Did you buy a Powerball ticket and are already planning on how to spend your winnings should they draw your numbers?
User
11 years ago
This is part of an email from a friend awhile back who was thinking of having a Christopher Peacock kitchen.

The Christopher Peacock cabinets are so well made it is incredible. They put most cabinets to shame. They are solid wood all the way through and have a thick solid maple back piece to the cabinet, even. Of course there are so many options it would drive one insane, trying to pick.
The draftsman had drawn up a plan for our kitchen that was good. D seems very enthusiastic about doing CP cabinets. However, we have to find the contractor first to do all the demo, move the gas line, do some plumbing rearranging, etc. We have to find a design/build outfit pronto.
The $185,000 that they quote on the web site for their top end kitchen is a fallacy. That is ONLY for cabinets. Not faucets, appliances, countertops, etc. Our rough estimate was $75,000 and that does not include travel expenses for the installers or for the painter. We have to put them up, rent them a car, feed them, etc. Sheesh.
His painter is from Hungary. In Hungary they go through a 3 year course before they can call themselves painters. His brushwork was amazing.
Then we got him to recommend appliances and we added those up. Another $30,000....Subzero and Wolf & Meile. I would go for those. They were fabulous. D said, why don't we just keep our Sub and have it faced. Because he had freezer drawers and a separate Sub and I would like a new one. Ours has always had a strip that does not stay attached. Drives me nuts on a $7000 refrigerator.
We would buy the top for the island through him. He has a place from NY that does wood tops. They are teak and are finished with a marine grade finish. Love that look. He had honed statuary marble on the cabinets in the showroom in the kitchen that I liked. He said to be certain to do honed and not glossy. We will have to figure that out.
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palimpsest
11 years ago
I think the kitchen would be done by dedicated installers, as chijim has said.

Since most of furniture interior design takes place off site and is installed, I would imagine that painting and such, unless you are going for specialized finishes would be done by local people. Some high end wallpaper companies specify qualified installers in your area.
kitchendetective
Original Author
11 years ago
A challenge here--east of the Boonies, to say the least.
bronwynsmom
11 years ago
Some friends of mine chose a very good European cabinet range for their first kitchen renovation. He's an engineer, and she's a furniture maker and artist.

The cabinets arrived with all the beautiful stainless steel Swedish hardware purpose-engineered for their installation.

The local installers tossed it all in the waste basket and slapped the cabinets in with drywall screws.

It made them so mad they started their own cabinet shop. They do all the installation themselves, and will only use a client's subs after they have talked to them directly, and under their supervision.

Question about those world class designers

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hhireno

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hhireno

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