I had an architect friend help me with some ideas for my house. He wouldn't take a fee from me, so I can't help you with costs. I think architects frequently work on a percentage of the job basis. I googled the question and it seems that 10% of the job might be the going rate.

Having said all that, my friend was more useful for telling me if something was do-able, more than giving me ideas concerning decoration and style.

Perhaps a certified kitchen designer is what you need. If possible, I would find one who would work on an hourly fee basis, rather than a percentage basis.

When we started our remodel planning, I consulted with an interior decorator who came highly recommended. She was NOT a kitchen specialist. I was highly disappointed. Then I went to a kitchen planner at a custom cabinet shop. Again, I was disappointed. I have gotten much better, more original, and more thoughtful answers and ideas on this website than any of the "professionals" I consulted. But remember, none of the people I consulted were a CKD. And I didn't because there is not one within a reasonable distance from my house.

I agree that you may need a KD not an architect. Architects are very expensive...besides design time my drawings alone were over $7K and IMO they aren't trained to design kitchens so aren't particularly good at it (apologies to those who are). If you have a good KD, they probably have an architect and engineer that they confer with for small structural changes. Working with 135 yr old house, it will be more important for you to find a GC who is very experienced working with old homes.

But just to talk price...the architect we hired to design a breakfast room addition and new kitchen cost over $10K without final drawings (we received construction drawings to get bids but they weren't sealed). Construction costs were way too high so we scaled back to just a mudroom. The architect who designed it (the first one was too busy to do it in the time frame we had) charged $4500 including sealed construction drawings but we provided the site plan and it was just for the mudroom addition, not the kitchen.

Are you only redoing the kitchen? If so, then probably not...especially as you're not doing any major structural changes. But, you might consider a Kitchen Designer (KD) to help w/the design details, and I mean a real KD, not a cabinet salesperson (some are CKDs, but most are not).

OK, I'm biased, but I think we can help you quite a bit here for a general design...making sure it's functional, etc. Then, a KD can work out the details with you.

If you'd like help, post a layout of the new kitchen area and we'll give you our thoughts and ideas to work with.

As to the construction issues, carefully interview prospective General Contractors to be sure they know what they're doing. Look at some of their work over the last year or two and ask for references. Also check things like the Better Business Bureau, your local licensing agency, and Angie's List to see if there have been any complaints lodged against him/her.

HTH!

You probably don't need an architect.

If you are going along and, for a phase of your design, or there is a problem, your contractor or designer can call in an architect or structural designer to consult on that ONE PORTION OR ASPECT of the design or problem.

That's what I did: I paid the engineers fee separately from the designers and the engineer continued to work for me even after I stopped working with the designer.

I love architects; do not misunderstand me. And in my area, arguably the best designer happens to be an architect.

But with your relatively tight budget, there is a real danger that an architect will see the possibilities in your space as they are trained to do, and "make you" fall in love with a plan that is more than you bargained for. (Not that they're trying to pad their fee, but once they start bringing up possibilities, you may find it hard to get them out of your head.)

You're not planning anything structural: A designer and/or contractor are what you need. If your plans evolve and you decide to take down a wall or something, they can steer you toward a good architect.

But use caution: Some independent designers can charge as much as architects. So just don't be shy -- ask everyone about fees up front

I think that it would be a good idea to bring in an engineer to look at your house and tell you how it was built - what is and isn't important from a construction standpoint. Armed with this you can go ahead and renovate to your heart's content.

We have done this with our last three houses. Up here in the Great White North it cost us just shy of $2,000 including three sets of "dumbed down" drawings (they have notes on them telling us what can and cannot be moved/changed).

Note that this is for the whole house - not just a room and it is particularly useful if you are considering doing bathrooms. Large tubs can get very heavy and tile floor can crack if the subfloor is too flexible. It would be disappointing to find that something you changed to renovate the kitchen needs to be reworked to accomodate a new bathroom. Drawings allow you to plan ahead.

Once you have that information, you could do perfectly well on your own. There are some extremely talented and knowledgeable people on here who enjoy helping others.

The one time that we hired a designer, we found it to be an expensive and frustrating exercise. Neither we nor the designer ended up with a positive feeling about the work.

It probably would have been a good idea for us to really define our expectations. In retrospect, we didn't need a designer - we needed a shopper. (The internet was in its early formative period at that time). The problems arose because the designer would insist on actually designing. We didn't have the same tastes. 'Nuff said.

Your budget may be a little tight so once you get going you're going to find that you really need to watch your pennies. I really think that you'd do better to put the money towards a really great refrigerator and rely on yourselves and the experts on here.

Good Luck - hope everything goes well !

danielle00, all the above advice sounds good. We sort went the midway in that we used an engineer-draftsman (he's been drawing plans for 30 years in our area) who is not a licensed architect but was able to draw a plan that was usable for presentation to our permitting agency as we live in an area that has very tight rules about remodelling. He charged us less than $3000 (and redrew plans completely two times) whereas the architects we met with were all proposing $7000 and upwards. I will add however that they were much more creative than our engineer but he knew the basics that we needed and could draw. In fact, I submitted to the Garden Web two plans he drew up and both times important changes were suggested by GW'ers and the final plan was essentially designed with the help of folks right here. So his real contributions were measurements, (it sounds so simple but I really got myself all bollixed up trying to measure on my own), where wall changes would require special accommodations and then the plan approval with the city. In the early stages, I used a KD on sort of a consulting basis..."come see what I'm thinking about the give me some feedback" which she was very willing to do. Now that we have actually started construction, I have hired her to work closely with the cabinetmaker in confirming the final details there and also to help me in some of my decorating choices as I'm rather unimaginative in that area--still paying her on an hourly basis. I have really liked doing it this way as I've learned a ton, especially here on GW. As much as I like the KD I work with, there have been times I've been able to share things with her and others I'm working with that I learned here that she did not know. And I think I feel a greater sense of control and ownership over the plans than I would have had I relied more on others. But that is the key, I think. If you don't hire the big package planners, it does require that you are much more involved in the planning in a hands-on way.

thanks for all the feedback. i reread my original post and i should clarify that the kitchen has 5 doors and 1 window.... the house has more windows than that ;o)

we're still suffering from kitchen-reno paralysis, but hopefully we'll be able to figure out what to do.

danielle