Read This Before Hiring a Kitchen Designer

What credentials should a kitchen designer hold?

Michigan does not license kitchen designers as such, so anyone can print the title on a business card. Industry certification fills that gap. The National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA) awards the Certified Kitchen & Bath Designer (CKBD) and Certified Master Kitchen & Bath Designer (CMKBD) credentials, and its website has a lookup for checking whether a designer actually holds one. The levels are laid out in our guide to the certified master kitchen and bath designer credential.

If the designer will also manage construction, ask about licensing. Michigan’s Occupational Code, at MCL 339.2403, ties home projects of $600 and up to a state license (either residential builder or the narrower maintenance and alteration category), and LARA, the state licensing department, publishes a free online lookup. Nick holds the CMKBD, the NAHB’s Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) designation and the Certified Living in Place Professional (CLIPP) credential, plus an individual Michigan residential builder license, number 2101209269.

Ask the designer to walk you through the process

A good designer can describe the path from first meeting to finished kitchen without hesitating. If the answer is vague, the project probably will be too. Here is how it runs at Kitchen NV, as a benchmark for your other interviews:

1. 1

   Interview-style first meeting

   Nick learns how you cook, entertain and store things, and what you want changed. Details are on our design consultation page.

2. 2

   Design retainer

   A written retainer starts the design work and reserves Nick’s time.

3. 3

   Layouts and drawings

   Several layout options, then plans, renderings and wall elevations, plus the technical sheets an installer works from, followed by a pricing presentation.

4. 4

   Selections

   Help choosing surfaces, faucets, pulls, light fixtures, floors, tile and any custom hood, billed hourly or as a package.

5. 5

   Ordering and construction

   A purchase agreement for cabinetry, then Kitchen NV orders it while Nick coordinates partner contractors and stays involved through install.

Which drawings should you receive before anything is ordered?

Renderings sell a design; technical drawings build it. Before you approve a cabinet order, make sure you have seen, or been promised, each of the following:

If a designer offers only a rendering and a cabinet list, expect the installer to make design decisions on the fly. That is where the dishwasher ends up hitting a drawer pull. Good 3D kitchen design work and real construction drawings come from the same dimensioned model, so the picture you approve and the sheets the installer reads cannot drift apart.

How can you tell if a kitchen designer’s plan actually works?

You do not need design training to spot-check a floor plan. The NKBA publishes Kitchen Planning Guidelines with Access Standards, a set of recommended clearances and work areas drawn from decades of research, with notes on where the International Residential Code sets a hard requirement. A trained designer works from them by habit. Ask for a dimensioned plan, grab a tape measure and run these checks yourself:

• ✓Work aisles: at least 42 inches between counter edges for one cook, 48 inches when two people regularly cook together.
• ✓Sink landing space: a 24-inch stretch of counter on one side of the main sink and at least 18 inches on the other.
• ✓Refrigerator landing: 15 inches of counter on the handle side, or across the aisle within 48 inches of the door.
• ✓Cooktop landing: 12 inches to one side, 15 to the other, and a 9-inch strip of counter behind an island cooktop set at counter height.
• ✓Dishwasher standing room: 21 inches between the edge of the dishwasher and any cabinet or counter set at a right angle to it.
• ✓Seating: 36 inches behind island stools if people only edge past, 44 inches if they walk through.
• ✓Total workspace: the guidelines call for 158 inches of 24-inch-deep counter frontage across the whole kitchen.

Breaking a guideline is sometimes the right call; a 1970s galley may simply not have 42 inches to give. What matters is that the designer knows where the plan falls short and can explain the trade. If you ask about a tight aisle and get a shrug instead of a reason, keep interviewing.

Who orders the cabinets, and who runs the install?

This is the question homeowners most often forget. Someone has to place the cabinet order, confirm every line, receive the delivery, open the boxes and chase anything damaged or wrong. If nobody owns that job, it lands on you, usually during the week the old kitchen is torn out.

At Kitchen NV, cabinetry runs through us under a purchase agreement, and Nick lines up the trusted partner contractors who handle construction. He stays reachable through installation rather than handing off at the drawing stage. That continuity is a large part of what a full-service kitchen design relationship should buy you.

What should a kitchen design agreement put in writing?

Most disputes between homeowners and designers trace back to something both sides assumed and nobody wrote down. Before you pay a retainer, read the agreement for these points, and ask for any missing ones to be added:

• ✓The deliverables by name: floor plan, renderings, elevations, installation drawings, lighting plan.
• ✓How many rounds of layout revisions the fee covers, and how extra rounds are billed.
• ✓What the retainer pays for, and whether any part of it applies toward cabinetry later.
• ✓Whether you may take the drawings to another builder or cabinet source, and on what terms.
• ✓Which selections are included and which are billed hourly.
• ✓Who places the cabinet order, who receives it, and who handles damaged or wrong pieces.
• ✓How changes after ordering are priced and approved.
• ✓Where warranty coverage comes from (each product maker and the contractor who installs it), with those written terms delivered before ordering.

A designer who welcomes these questions usually runs an organized project. Our post on kitchen design fees explains the common fee models in more depth, including how retainers are typically structured.

Warning signs when hiring a kitchen designer

• The designer starts recommending cabinets before asking how you use the kitchen.
• Nobody measures the room, or the plan is drawn from your sketch alone.
• Fees, retainers and what they cover are explained verbally but never written down.
• Warranty answers are general. Coverage should come from each product maker and the installing contractor, with written terms in hand before ordering.
• Credentials are mentioned but cannot be found in the issuing organization’s lookup.
• You cannot get a clear name for who handles problems during installation.

None of these alone is a deal-breaker, but two or three together are a pattern. Homeowners around Brighton and Pinckney who interview several designers often tell us the differences only became obvious once they asked the same questions of everyone.