I'm new to GW and have just begun my kitchen remodel. We are still in the design phase, so I don't have much experience yet, but can offer my thoughts.

Personally, I'd go with someone more creative who can really make your vision come alive. Someone from Expo may be a bit more "vanilla" w/design, since they probably only sold Expo products and had to work w/in those confines (I'm assuming). It also seems strange that she hands the binder over to you and is out of the picture during the construction phase. I'm sure there will be questions, changes, etc along the way that will involve her.

If you want something a bit more mainstream, she may be the way to go. If not, then KD#2 may be the way to go. Either way, I'm sure you'll love your new kitchen.

We are doing a period sensitive kitchen in a 1928 Spanish style house, so finding a period sensitive designer was critical to us. We actually found her after seeing a kitchen we loved posted here on GW. So far, we love her ideas, use of space, respect for our budget concerns, etc.

Hi NewSouthernBelle,

I understand your dilemma. We hired a kitchen designer back in January, and are still finalizing the plans.

I think you have to decide which person will help you develop the kitchen you want. Which personality you can best work with.

In addition to the artistic side, this is a business arrangement. After 4 months of working with a talented, but unorganized designer, I find the description of designer #1 very appealing. I don't know about your designers, but the ones I talked to all charge by the hour - the price they give up front is only an estimate.

I've learned from hard experience that the hours (and the charges) can add up quickly. If I had it to do over, I would have asked more questions about the billing. Also, our designer seems to work with people who have more money than we do. Maybe to them and extra 5 or 10 thousand dollars doesn't matter much. To us, it's a very big deal.

It sounds great to have a designer who is aware of price, and looking to save you money. Just remember that the biggest savings you can get are from being able to competitively bid the project - which having completed plans, and materials selections allows you to do. We allowed ourselves to get side-tracked with the designer's chosen GC, cabinet dealer, etc... and have consequently been delayed in getting the plans completed.

I know it is uncomfotable, but if you use KD #2, you should ask her what kind of commission and/or referral fee she gets from the tile store, etc... There isn't anything wrong with it - you should just know what the arrangement is. You may want to adjust her hourly design fee for the time she spends selling you items that will earn her a sales commission, etc...

We (unfortunately) haven't gotten to the construction phase yet, but I'm told it is nice to be able to call the designer if there are questions. They will charge you for the time spent, but it's helpful to have that available.

I'm not sure if I've helped you or added to the confusion.
Good Luck!

First, I'm new here too, but my immediate gut reaction to your post was this: If you don't feel good about her to start with, you sure won't by the end.

This past winter, my close friend hired a vibrant, but it turned out, disorganized designer. Some of the cabinets did not fit properly when installed. The family had to redo their floor because of it. Getting the KD to pay on the floor was not easy. The KD is not necessarily a general contractor, the owner is. The financial responsibility of who pays if a mistake is made really needs made clear in the contract.

This family also has a place where one cabinet door hits another improperly; the KD tried to blame on the carpenter installing it. The family are living with that one and are careful not to open it all the way/hard.

We are not hiring a designer ourselves. Given your choices, I would either hire the organized one or keep looking for a third option and move back your calendar until you find one.

Well there doesn't seem to be any consenues but I appreciate the feedback and really that's okay.

Laurageo1 - I agree with everything you said and yes, I think KD#1 would be more vanilla simply b/c that is what she was used to/constrained by only selling EXPO products. I think you ultimately said - what do I want and chose accordingly, which is exactly what I need to do but I guess I am afraid to take the next step and/or make the wrong choice?!?!?!

Abbeys - Luckily, both KD have flat rates and while they both do sell cabinets, unlike another designer I talked to, I don't have to buy their cabs. I can simply take their plans and have whatever company bid them.

Colorfast - Yikes! It sounds like your friend is in the midst of a horror. I definitely want to avoid that and so yes, perhaps you are right, I need to call a 5th(!!!) KD and interview yet someone else. If s/he is no better than the two I previously narrowed it down to, then I will go with one of the above choices. Honestly, I think both would do a good job. A few years ago I realized there is rarely one "best" of any profession and instead, a lot of excellent professionals in a given field so I don't think I can go wrong with either choice. The end result would certainly be different but at this point I already feel strongly about my granite, my cabinet color, one part of my blacksplash, floors, etc, that perhaps it wouldn't be all the different depending on who I went with. Oi vey.

NewSouth: I think this is a really hard decision. Trust is the biggest factor, I think. It's part of the comfort-picture too.

I went with a KD who I didn't really like much and didn't make me terribly comofortable. But she worked for someone who did and who sweetened the deal tremendously with price and his own attractiveness. As I figured, he has been hugely helpful in ensuring things stay on track. But she has been really a problem all along. However she was part of the deal. DH seems to think part of the tacit agreement was that I train her! I bet she would be massively offended to hear this.

So the answer of who to choose has to depend on what you want from the KD. If you want hand-holding, then obviously you need someone who will 'remain with you' to hold your hand through the entire process. If you want imagination, then you've already made your choice. If you want no-drama; enabling of your own plan cleanly and professionally, then you've outlined who to choose for that priority too.

But if your hesitation reflects that you haven't yet described a KD who fulfills what you're needing, then you do need to go interview another. Are you looking for someone who can identify and fill in gaps in what it is you've already done? Perhaps there isn't enough spark among the two you've mentioned already to do this.

That's a personal call. It depends also on how much more time you want to devote to this; you've already said you're impatient to get going. And if you mostly need the KD simply to formalize your plans, then another interview might just wind you up with 3 to choose between equally unclearly.

I think at this juncture you have to get smart in asking yourself good questions: what do I need now? Who/what can fill that need? Have I a possibility yet or do I need to generate more choices? Don't get impatient or panicked yet before you need to -- spring is a long way away yet. Try to calm down your agitation enough to get a good, clear signal of what it is you're needing; then you can proceed with answering the question of who to choose.

Feel free to jettison the suggestions of course!

Wanted to add that my KD charges by the hour. She estimated 25-30 hours of design work, plus 2-3 for shopping. She also does not sell any products. This helps us control our budget b/c we get the bids for everything and pick our GC (she does have recommendations).

I'm wondering why you need a KD at all, especially if you're leaning towards the first one who just walks away after the choices are made. I'm GCing the whole house reno by myself so for me having someone to help during the actual work would be like gold. But there aren't many options of decent KDs where I live and I don't have the extra $ to spend on one. Oh, and the biggest factor, is that we have the knowledge and assistance here at our fingertips.

You said you know what you want for cabs, granite, floors, etc. Do you need to pay someone to help you pick those things then? What do you envision a KD doing for you? I'm not knocking them at all. I don't think they are the be-all-end-all of kitchen planning. They're great for someone who doesn't know what they want, isn't detail-oriented, and doesn't want to do their own research. I'm guessing that's not you if you're here. ;)

Thinking about what you want a KD to do for you might help you decide if you want one that helps you choose, like Coffee, or one that helps you through the process, like Pistachio.

I think it all depends on what you want from a KD. We picked out all our own materials-- our KD didn't help at all with that, and we didn't ask him to. But we really needed help with layout, and he did a great job for us. Sure, we could possibly have figured it out ourselves, but we didn't have the time or the inclination. People here who are doing their own layouts are spending countless hours figuring it out-- we didn't have that time, we wouldn't have enjoyed doing it if we did have the time and I don't think the finished product would have been as good for us.

We interviewed several KDs, and eliminated a few on personality, and a few because they didn't seem to "get" what we wanted in a kitchen. We chose our KD based on his steady, un-pushy personality, and the fact that when we sat down with him to describe what we wanted, he was able to show us pictures of kitchens that he actually did that indicated to us that he knew what we were talking about. And the kitchens he did were in a variety of styles, so he didn't seem in a design rut like some of the others we had spoken with.

Before I met the KD we used I was having all sorts of doubts and was trying to justify picking one over the other. But as soon as I spoke to our KD, I just "knew," and gave him a deposit immediately. Trust your instincts.

I think I would choose based on:

Portfolio
Organization
References
Gut feeling/Intuition

Portfolio is important to see what kind of looks he or she can accomplish. If they do only one kind of look, and you don't care for that look, then you should pass.

Very important for that anyone who does project based work be super organized.

References also very important. Can the designer stay within budget? Is the designer professional? Responsible?

I don't think I would be comfortable with a designer who only sold/repped a few products. That is too constricting.

Lastly, I think the fact that you are even asking this question means you need to interview more people. :)

When I was reading your post, the thought that struck me was that no wonder, the first one comes across as organized. She basically does the paperwork and signs off; never dealing with contractors and never having to open that binder that's handed over. The second one, on the other hand, is designing one space while supporting GC on the other; a greater latitude of activities and therefore a bit more prone to forgetting details.

Also, since you say you're super organized : may be you could hire one whose skills complement yours and not overlap.

Ultimately, it's a choice between going with a bit of a maverik, risky personality versus a safe but conventional one. You will know how you want to go, given what you value in life (and especially if it's true that you will be the point of contact, then absolutely their skills need to match *yours* and not DH's). Good luck with choosing!

I vote for #2. For a lot of reasons.
You aren't hiring a GC -- who is in charge of organizing the job and staying on task and on budget. You are hiring a designer. Charged with the task of being creative with how you kitchen will function and look. Within your budget.

I think that it is more realistic to think that there will be issues that come up from start to finish during the remodel. Especially if your GC finds unexpected problems that eat into your budget. I think if that were to happen, designer #2 could help you re-prioritize your selections and stay close to your overall budget.

If you were so completely overwhelmed that you simply could not choose ANYTHING without a designer to assemble a plan, then #1 would be super (I would pick someone like that for my mom who has the tendency to get overwhelmed with decision making and finds it stressful.)

If you think this is a fun adventure, and want someone to ferret out things you don't know about or would not consider yourself, then I think #2 would be better for that.

Now, if you don't think #2 is up to all that, then maybe keep looking. But if you think she is, then I would personally want her, not #1.

Just my personal opinion.

Thanks for all the input. It's good to have you all process these things with me.

Lightyears - yes both designers have varied portfolios. That was something I was making sure of.

Breezy - I want a KD mainly for the layout and also just confirmation that my selections will work with one another (although I do realize I will be coming here with that regardless of what the KD says). But as you correctly surmised, I am here b/c I do research and am very detailed oriented but I really do want a KD b/c I don't want to spend hours learning CAD software. (I have actually played around with HomeStyler a bit and it drove me crazy. I'd rather hire a professional.)

That being said,
HomeyBird - I think you boiled it down perfectly - maverick or conventional. And you are right that if I am uber organized, do I need my KD to be also? Probably not and what a GREAT point about why Pistashio probably isn't. Thank you. Thank you. Really Pistachio is who I want to go with but

Sas - perhaps I am waiting for that "I just knew it" moment. Reading your comments made me think I should interview one or two more people. Really, I have time even though I am anxious to just get "started" (I'm definietly TKO) but one more interview isn't going to set me back and maybe it will give me the final confidence to make a decision.

Thanks everyone. Sorry to beat a dead horse. I'll make a decision in the next week and let you all know what direction I take.

Have you made your decision as to KD. If not consider this, realizing free advice is worth what you pay for it. I recently completed a total renovation using a kitchen and remodeling company on Berkeley Lake Road. This is a family owned business and they design, custom build the cupboards, direct you to suppliers for everything, oversee all installations, etc. I used them 21 years ago and agian this summer. The actual out of kitchen experience was 18 days including demo, selling my old cupboards, refinishing my hardwoods, painting, and installation of everything. If you in the least interested in their name let me know. I do not work for them, I am just a very satisfied customer