The first place I'd start is the original retailer of your cabinets. If you are planning on reusing the majority f your cabinets, you will only be able to do so if you can order other pieces that will match what you've got. This also gives your design an inflexibility that most designers won't want to work with. It's common for homeowners to have one or two special pieces that a kitchen is designed around, but a whole kitchen's worth of cabinets is something else entirely. It's VERY VERY challenging to take cabinets designed to fit in one space and then change the layout and still manage to use even half of what you've got. Several folks on here have bought second hand cabinets or cabinets at an outlet store and managed to create some very special kitchens while being imlprisoned to those specific cabinets, but most were able to order a couple of fill in pieces from the original manufacturer. They also did their own designing for the most part. Most designer wouldn't work under such limitations, as Palimpset states, they make money from the sale of the cabinets. An independent designer is great for overall space planning, but unless they intimately know the spec book of the cabinet brand involved, any designs that they do may not translate to the cabinet brand that you use. Kitchen designs work within a certain framework of available sizes and options, and you can't assume those sizes and options are available in every brand. I'll echo posting your current layout of the space only---and don't list the current cabinets. Let the folks here work free of that constraints to find the most optimum layout for you. Then, after you've got that down pat, you can work to see if you actually can plug any of the cabinets into the design. Otherwise, you're most likely NOT going to end up with something significantly different than what you have.

Have you already searched through results for any independent folks at the NKBA? (linked below.) You could also google search for "certified kitchen designer" (their designation is "CKD") plus your city/state and see if any results pop up. I'm not sure if it pertains to your situation, but some CKD's are getting additional training as aging in place specialists. CKD's have knowledge that they guy/gal putting together kitchens at HD or Lowes will probably not have. If you've read this forum for a while you'll see there are quite a few skilled layout gurus who love playing around with your space planning for free (bless their hearts!) We hired an independent kitchen designer. (found him by googling) He works for a larger design/build firm, but also consults hourly on independent projects on the side. In retrospect, my need to coordinate between various professionals (architect, contractor, and CKD) who'd never worked together caused me a lot of unnecessary stress with communication/role clarification, etc. The design/build bid that we got at the beginning that seemed too expensive doesn't look too expensive in hindsight given the confusion, stress, and delays and one year+ into the remodel we're just about at that number anyway. (And we're not done!) Honestly if I would have been braver and not needed so much hand-holding, I could have gotten a lot of the help I paid him for FOR FREE by posting my layout here for comments. Though it was nice to have someone in person to brainstorm the layout (and beat my head against the wall and cry) with. Here is a link that might be useful: National Kitchen and Bath Association

I agree with Beckyjo. I would keep the neighbor, a neighbor. I could imagine several scenarios where it could sour. Imagine, she might continue to give input and try to influence you on how to decorate long after the initial consultation, if that is how you start out your relationship with her. Or like you said before, what if you don't like her style? What if there is a problem and you feel she doesn't handle it right? I once hired someone that we knew for a design consultation. She told me she would give us a good price because of knowing us, said she charged by the hour and left to do the initial work. I was nervous leaving it open-ended and asked for a ballpark "how many hours?" She gave an estimate. When she returned, she had tripled the amount of hours and it was very costly. I paid her for what she had begun and explained that we just couldn't decide to go further at that time. It was an expensive mistake with very little yield. On the other hand, if you keep it neighborly, even friendly, she may give you some freely given second advice or make comments at times sans pressure either of you. As far as the color choices, I would still do some leg work and get ideas about things you do like. If you have pictures to share of colors and interior furnishings and rooms that you like, a consultant would have a better idea of your style. Some colors evoke different styles. Imagine a vibrant green or orange being more contemporary, while some colors more historical and traditional. Then maybe there will just be some choices on shades of color and coordinating colors. There are some fun resources for exploration at some web sites too. Probably some at the paint company sites as well. Enjoy your new home!

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.