Are you planning on a major kitchen remodel or just swapping out a few appliances and cabinet faces? How much creativity and kitchen planning skills do you bring to the table? Do you know much about the products, materials and trends that go into planning a new designer kitchen in today’s landscape? These are some of the questions you should ask yourself before tackling the job of remodeling your kitchen by yourself. In a recent study, more than 50% of the homeowners surveyed hired a kitchen designer. The majority of those surveyed were looking to improve the overall design and functionality of their kitchen in this recent Houzz & Home Study. Designers just look at the project differently than a kitchen contractor does.

Designer Kitchen and Baths Are Well Planned

1. Planning your new kitchen often starts long before we get a contractor involved. We spend quality time with customers gathering information, asking questions, discussing material options and looking over color and texture samples with you. Eventually we developed a very detailed plan and kitchen layout using some pretty amazing software. That plan is reviewed with you in its entirety. Long before we discuss the contractors required. This plan often includes a budget. One that we can stick to without sacrificing on quality. Contractors often look for “alternatives” that may save you money but often a diminished quality is the cost. 
2. This communication with you helps us develop a sense of your style, desires, must haves and dreams for your new kitchen. This conversation goes way beyond an initial Q&A session. We have discovered that contractors are just too busy to invest the time into this all important discovery process.
3. Organization and Creativity often require both sides of your brain. A kitchen designer must have both of these parts of our brain working together. That is a unique quality our customers cherish. Our design details are very thorough. If together we have done our best to gather information and assemble a kitchen remodeling plan, we will have a ton of details that will need to be organized into CAD drawings, product specifications, material request documents, a budget tracking & project management application and vendor management tools. We use project management software that does most of the heavy lifting for us. But it is up to us to ensure all the details of your project are included up front.
4. Psychology skills are a must for a good kitchen designer. These necessary skills are developed mainly through the experience of working with homeowners and contractors alike. Reading between the lines, understanding body language and asking the right questions requires an attentiveness, tact and fineness that is hard to teach. Active listening, critical thinking and patience are three of those skills that we have come to rely on. Our job is to understand your goals and visions while making sure they are achieved with the team of contracting professionals we have assembled. Management, leadership and interpersonal relationships are skills we use to make that happen. These key ingredients are hard to find in most kitchen contractors we have worked with. There are good reasons why we are recognized year over year for our service to customers.

Certified Kitchen Designer in NJ