This designer works with kitchens! I worked with her (long distance) over emails with one of my clients. She did the initial design and we tweaked it together with Showplace cabinetry. She did a great job...and was great to work with.

I'm not sure if she is near you, but she is in PA. I think should could work long distance too, if you supply her with the room dimensions.

https://www.houzz.com/pro/julie-graf/julie-graf-one-of-a-kind-design

If possible, I would like someone I can meet face-to-face. She is on the other side of the state. :(

Thanks for the information.

I have someone in Bethlehem, PA who is currently doing the design for my kitchen. She is not cheap but she is good and she will travel. Her name is Carrie Oesman and her company info is:

Bailiwick Interior Design LLC. 114 E. Broad St., Bethlehem, PA 18018

Phone: 201-919-7811

http://www.bailiwickdesign.com/

Most cabinet stores charge for a design - they come to your home and measure, talk with you extensively. I paid $1000, which was credited toward my kitchen if I ended up ordering it from them, which I did. For the money paid, I owned the plans. This might be the way to go for you.

BTW, drive through Allentown every summer on my way to the Vineyard. Have to always remember in which direction is the toll!

Hmm, do KDs exist who aren't affiliated at all with a cabinet brand?

I think all the independent KDs I talked to sold specific brands, but they were willing to charge hourly for the design work without a commitment that I'd buy cabinets from them. The KD I worked with sold Brookhaven/Wood Mode, and I think we both knew they would be too expensive for my budget. I paid her hourly for the design, then the plans were mine to shop around. I loved the design work she did and felt it was well worth the money.

This is what I did. I called around town to all of the custom cabinet shops and asked if they worked with any independent designers in the past. I got a name and referral from one. The KD worked for a company in an adjacent town. But, as part of her employment agreement, she was allowed to moonlight. So, I paid her $1,500 for consultation and a set of construction plans with measurements. I had a general idea of what I wanted, she just needed to tweak it a bit.

I ordered my RTA's from Scherr's. I can't recommend them enough. Especially, if you need a little customer service. Leon Scherr was great. He pointed out one or two small items that made a big difference. His RTA's are entirely custom. Any size, any material, any finish. His process for assembly was great, too. We really enjoyed putting them together.

We put them together. myself and DH. We hired a finish carpenter to install them. We have an old home where nothing was square. Being experienced renovators, we knew installation would be tricky. So, we hired expertise.

You might want to sit down and read these two threads.

Here is a link to our kitchen renovation using Scherr's RTA Cabinets

My Kitchen Renovation Using Scherr's RTA Cabinets

Here is the link to my kitchen reveal

Kitchen Reveal Scherr's RTA Cabinets

We loved putting them together. Once we figured out the first one, it went like clockwork. Hint: Start with a simple wall cabinet. Our KD estimated that we saved about 40% off of her cost at her day job. We had the drawers shipped to us already assembled. That cost extra. We put the drawer faces and hardware on ourselves. We also had them painted by Scherr's. That was an extra cost. Leon will cost all of the options for you. You decide what it worth your time and what they could do better or cheaper.

We liked their assembly method better than what we could see from Conestoga installation instructions. No special tools required. We also were certain that we would manage to screw up an order if we did ourselves using Barker's. So, we paid a little extra for the real, in-person customer service. Leon was on the phone to walk us through two small issues. Like anything in life, it was easy once you knew how to do it.

We really enjoyed the project and had quite the assembly line going once we got started. We have no fear of doing this again should the opportunity ever arise. We love the frameless cabinets. We won't back to anything else.

homechef59, thank you so much for the information. I just read through each of your posts and I am thankful to see the process from beginning to end. I do see information on RTA cabinets, but not as many pictures as I would like.

I will be adding Scherr's to our list to consider. What I am hoping to decide is whether going the RTA route is going to save us enough money to upgrade a few other features in our plan, such as new wall ovens or some small structural changes.

Is there any information you are willing to share about how going the RTA route affected your budget or ability to splurge elsewhere?

Not sure if you saw my other post: Any thoughts on Barker cabinets vs. Conestoga? but you addressed both of topics.

I've ordered RTA cabinets from Conestoga, though they haven't arrived yet so the verdict is still out! For me the cost was less than American Woodmark with more options (48" uppers, inset doors, custom sizing).

I am paying my GC to assemble and install, so if it takes him longer than anticipated, that would eat into the savings. If you're able to DIY, the cost savings would be substantial.

The other risk is making a mistake in the ordering. The Cabinet Joint referred me to a KD, I gave her the measurements and she did the design and cabinet codes. Ultimately though I'm bearing the risk if there's a mistake. If I bought cabinets from someone locally and they ordered wrong, there would be much more obligation for them to fix it.

caligirl5, if you used a KD, I would think they would assume the risk. Was she/he an independent KD or did the person work for another company and moonlight for you?

The Cabinet Joint refers design work to an independent KD. After she did the design, I signed a document saying that I understood everything in the drawing including all the codes and that they're not responsible. I think that's reasonable given that her fee was $350, which I don't think is enough to assume liability for a $13K cabinet order.

Maybe a pro can comment better on the financial aspect here, I'm really just guessing. If a cabinet company is making all the profit on the cabinet order, it seems they can better afford to give free design work and cover any design mistakes that come up. For an independent KD not making that profit, I don't see how they could afford to do that. I'd also guess that not having this liability is part of why Conestoga can sell RTA for cheaper.

That's a reasonable explanation. Did the $350 include just one iteration of your plan?

I'll describe my planning process. I found the designer through a custom cabinet maker. I told him I was in the planning process and needed a design. I asked if there were any KD's that he had successfully worked with in the past? He gave me a name and number. I considered that a referral and a recommendation. I called her and told her what I needed. It was right before Christmas and she wanted some extra money. She quoted the following, $250 for the initial meeting, $1,250 for a final set of plans payable upon delivery, and two design consultations. She would do a sight visit, take measurements and complete a customer interview. That took about two hours. After about two weeks, she sent me PDF copies of her design based upon my instructions. I reviewed the plan. Made some changes. We had a telephone conference where we discussed some of my questions. She resolved one or two issues. About a week later, she sent me a rendering of the final product. I sent her a check and she forwarded me the final computer copies of the design.

I emailed the design to Leon Scherr. Leon translated the designs with measurements into his CAD program and emailed me the design. I checked it for errors. I measured the kitchen for the third time with my husband in order to assure myself that nothing was missed. One example of the value Scherr's added to the process was Leon's suggesting that we increase the size of the refrigerator enclosure in order to be sure we could slide the refrigerator in the cavity smoothly. That was the voice of experience speaking. When we went to slide the refrigerator in, boy was I glad we had that extra 1/2".

Why did I choose Scherr's? It was process of elimination. First, it had to be manufactured in the US due to concerns about quality and material content. Second, Conestoga videos indicated that assembly required a staple gun and glue bottle. What a mess. Barker's required me to input a million pieces of data and hope I didn't miss something or mistype something. Then, I would have to wait six weeks while they fixed my mistake. Last man standing was Scherr's. Real customer service and real people to help. The assembly was really easy once you did the first cabinet. After that, everything made sense. Do have a screw gun. Trying to do that by hand would result in carpal tunnel:)

About the budget. My KD said that my kitchen cabinets would have easily cost $45,000. My final bill from Scherr's was $18,000. That included all the cabinets, materials of my choice, doors and drawers of my design, paint finish, furniture panels for ends of cabinet runs, all trim, fancy Blum hinges, numerous Rev-A-Shelf inserts, maple hardwood drawers assembled and shipping. The $27,000 that we saved by putting them together ourselves went towards natural slate floors, quartz countertops, and a Bluestar range top. We saved 40%. That's not a small number. The quality of the cabinets is top notch. I've bought top notch in the past. I know what they cost and what they look like. I didn't have to scrimp on anything because of the savings.

We used Jerry Hankins from http://i-kb.com/ located in Bucks County (not too far). We still love the design after half dozen years. www.akitchenremodel.com .

Good luck.

You are w/in 1hr of a ton of custom cabinet makers in the Lancaster area. I would highly recommend you work w/an independent designer, get a final design w/dimensions and specs, and then price out a few. In my experience, the cost including installation was very close to the RTA guys, and since the cabinetmaker does the measurements and installs, he is responsible for any mistakes (thankfully we had zero). I will happily give you a specific recommendation for a maker who is about 45 minutes down 222 from Allentown if you wish.

freeoscar, I would love the recommendation. I did meet with a couple of Amish cabinet makers and they were out of my price range for the plan I submitted. I gave them a drawing of what I would like to see (without a KD's plan) and it was over $30,000 for the cabinets which is too rich for us. But I would like to hear about the maker you have.

It has been harder to find an independent designer than I thought it would be.

When we were looking at doing our bathroom, we interviewed with Jarrett Design based out of Emmaus. I really liked her and she seemed to "get" our style exactly. IIRC, her prices weren't out of line either. She did have a showroom and sold specific lines of cabinetry but you weren't obligated to purchase from her -- she would do the design only if that is what we wanted. We ended up deciding to do our own design to trim costs (we weren't moving fixtures and had a pretty good idea of what we wanted as far as finishes went) but if we had used a designer, I would have gone with her. She has a lot of her finished work on her website and used to have a page here on houzz as well (I think that may have been how we found her.)

http://www.jarrettdesignllc.com/

lkplatow, she is the one I am waiting to hear from. Left a message yesterday and are planning phone tag. Thanks.

Sure. We used http://www.weaverscustomwoodworking.com/

We've been back in our home for about 4 months and they are holding up well. We have a lightly stained walnut, so I can't speak for the painted finishes. The cabinets are beautiful, and the build and installation were flawless. As you can see, they have a website and respond to email and phone calls.

I you are confident of your measuring abilities, one free route that you might pursue is the Garden Web Kitchen Forum. Place a drawing with doors, windows, adjacent rooms and measurements on the kitchen forum. There are some really talented designers who hang out on the forum. Have them work up a basic plan for your space. Use this plan. At that point, you just need a draftsman or designer to input it into their program.

homechef59, i have done the basics but may have to move a load-bearing wall to accomplish what I want. That scares me, from the perspective of laying out a design without someone seeing my space and telling me if it can be done. I am hopeful that a couple of the leads I have from this post will pan out. We are leaning toward RTA but if I can find a cabinet maker that can meet our budget, I will be all over it!