What lines does she carry and why aren't you crazy about them? Quality? Styles? Price?

The mid-price lines do not have a good reputation and the custom line is not within our budget.

What semi-custom lines does she carry?

Have you told her you don't like her lines? She may have alternatives. It is great that you are keeping her in mind, but you are spending a lot of money and should be able to choose what you like, you have to live with it...

What are the lines that she carries? Every line gets bad reviews every so often. Covid hasn’t helped any producer of any product here. helped. I once got a bad review because I wouldn’t take on a customer. (Justifying my decision to not work with her.)

If you have to spend a couple of K to carry her design elsewhere, would putting that towards the better line not be a better choice?

It's a large kitchen and the custom upcharge would be about $20k. My real question is "what's the right way to break up with her?"

Be honest. She may have lost other customers int he past, and she needs to know why. For her own career's sake, she might make changes to work for someone else. Be a designer or be a cabinet salesperson.

I agreed on a price with my kd upfront for her design just in case I didn’t use any of her cabinet lines. Her design price was way too cheap. If I hadn’t gone with her I would have insisted on paying her more for her design.

Well, have you paid her for her work? What were the deliverables? Designers retain ownership of their work as intellectual property, and the plans are instruments of service. Have you received those instruments of service? The detailed floor plans, with all of the call outs, and individual details?

How you break up with her is that you finish paying her, and she finishes the deliverables.

I haven't paid her for her work as the model in this store is commission only. That's why I'm in a pickle. I'd feel better if I had contracted with her for the design, apart from the purchase of cabinets- then I could just walk away.

Well, legally you cannot take those plans to anyone else. They belong to her and her company. Pay the 3-5K design commission that she would have earned, to actually own them, and you can take them elsewhere. Otherwise, you start over completely with someone else, somewhere else. With none of her copyrighted ideas.

And this is why people need to work with an independent kitchen designer. And buy just design. If they sell cabinets, that’s fine. But if they don’t work as design only, without selling you cabinets, you’re wasting your time.

Or, you share the cabinet lines that you’re so afraid of mentioning here, and get some actual input about moving forward with them. Then you don’t need to break up.