Depending on how much of the slab is supported by cabinets you may be able to do a 12" overhang without supports. There are fairly well established rules of thumb for how much unsupported overhang there can be. Typically if 2/3 of the slab is supported then 1/3 can be unsupported. In you case if you have a standard 24" base cabinet then you should be able to do up to 12" unsupported. anything more would require corbels or hidden steel supports. There has been quite a bit of discussion here. Here is a link that might be useful: island overhang

I'm finishing up a remodel - gut remodel of my whole condo and I used a designer and it is money well spent. Aside from helping me wth the visual design, she also knows how things will function as well as knowing Codes. There are so many decisions that have to be made, I'm glad I didn't also have to educate myself on exactly what kind of hardware I need or exactly the optimum height for various things such as toilet paper holders. The list is endless. She provided vision in terms of my taking risks that I would never have taken and she also listened in terms of looking at my inspiration photos as well as how I wanted/needed my space to function. For example, I had a wall unit built for my office and we had a long discussion about how I wanted the printer to be; how I wanted my external hard drives to be; file holders etc. She is also acting as a project manager. As much as I tried to educate myself on construction, this is and never will be my area of expertise so she is making sure that stuff is being done properly because she has supervised construction and remodeling for more projects than most people would do in a lifetime if they weren't professionals. In terms of access to her sources - as others have posted, most of the really high end furniture and fixtures are "to the trade" only. While you might be able to view their stuff on the internet they either don't sell to non-pros or the price they sell to non-pros is MUCH more expensive than what you would pay if your designer bought and then put her/his markup on it. My new place will be a mixture of items that are repurposed. Although I am by nature reluctant to let things go, in the end the pieces I had to let go really wouldn't have worked as well. I was coming from a place where my furniture was accumulated over the years from gifts; purchases when I needed something and in general my philosophy was to make it work :-). If I had a bit more space I might have kept a few more pieces but within the limited space of 1200 square feet, some pieces had to be released into the universe :-). As others have stated, the cost is really all over the place depending on the scope of the project. In my experience (both personal and that of friends'), if the project is large, the designer will generally do it on a cost plus markup basis. My designer had different markups depending on whether something was just a purchase or whether it was a custom item she designed. If one has a smaller project, then an hourly charge for a design might work. There are also designers who do shopping by the hour - i.e. they take you around and often this gives you access to the D&D Building in NYC or PDC in Los Angeles.

I'll give you a guesstimate on the cost anywhere between 40-500k, pick any number in between because your guess would be as good as my. Kitchen to swap cabinets could be 13-100k depends what you pick Master bath could be 8-50K depends what you pick and the scope. Deck- could be 10K-100k depends on the size and what you pick. Trim- could be 5-40k same thing depends what you want Doors w/ install- how many doors? you can get a $60 door or $200 door Paint inside/out can be 6k-20k depends who is doing the job and what finish you like. Carpet- the same thing can be $7-50 per yard plus install. Fireplace surround and stone-you can get a $80 mantel or you can get a 5k trimmed out surround +the stone Bathrooms (just aesthetic upgrade)- could be from 6-12k ( I was just visiting a friend of my doing a master bath remodeling, just the toilet his cost was over 5k) That said, none of the numbers you get her will help you, because everyone is pulling them out of the sky because no one knows what you have and what you want. Another way you can help yourself, put 30k on every item you want to remodel and add another 20k for miscellaneous items... what will cost less will be applied to items that cost more and vice versa and see if you OK with that number. After that get a few contractors (3) minimum for a job this size and compare apples to apples, and see what numbers they come back with and compare to yours and see if you can make it work. If they come with lower number, you met your budget and what you have left will be all yours to take a nice vacation because you will needed :-) Good luck.

I did a gut remodel with a designer and essentially was charged a markup on items - ranged between 15% and 20% depending on whether she designed custom or whether she just purchased. She also charged me a flat fee based on an amount per square foot to provide what is called a PlanCheck which is essentially detailed elevations and blueprints which are submitted to the City for permits and also sent out to GC so they can bid on the actual specifics. I would say that $50,000 is a low amount based on your estimated costs although you aren't providing a breakdown on construction versus design costs. I will say that a good designer is absolutely critical for achieving the best functional and aesthetic results. And it is cost effective since most of the purchases were less than what I would have paid if I had bought them myself because her markup was based on trade prices which are significantly lower than consumer prices. My designer was completely transparent. I would receive invoices which would include the cost of the specific item and then the applicable makeup plus taxes since taxes are payable for designer services and of course purchases in California.