Free Kitchen Design Services? NOT!

I received the below question today by email:

Hi,
I have 40 year old “mod” house. I want to remodel the kitchen but here is the dilemma:

1. I have a cooktop on peninsula with overhead cabinets.

2. I want to take out overhead cabinets to open up area.

3. the kitchen has cathedral ceilings and I can’t see an overhead canopy type hood over the peninsula if I stayed with a cooktop. I wanted some pretty pendant lights over the peninsula. I also wanted to make the peninsula a breakfast bar.

4. I need ventilation – so I would put a range on counter directly opposite of cooktop with overhead micro with ventilation

5. putting range in this area would have the following effect: 9” of counter, range, 3”filler, dishwasher, sink.

My question is would #5 be feasible from a design outlook?
The peninsula would remain only counter space.
My husband has a problem with the range, dw, sink being all in a row.

Stephanie

Stephanie really needs to hire a designer to help her lay out her kitchen.

Her issues require fresh eyes to take her out of her assumptions about what can, and should be done, to bring her kitchen into the 21st Century. Her questions are really too specific to her own kitchen design issues to be of use to other readers.

I also received a call last week from a woman in Pennsylvania who wanted me to specify her lighting in her (being) remodeled kitchen. She kept me on the phone for at least a half an hour, pressing for further details on what sort of lighting to use in her kitchen.

I politely answered her questions feeling more and more used and abused by the imposition. I finally told her I usually charge $125 an hour for such consultations.
I'm sure she was miffed at my impertinence when she finally hung up.

Both of these readers, for some reason, seemed to think that I have offered to provide design services for FREE. Granted I offer to answer questions, both on my web site and here on my blogs, but the offer only extends so far as answering questions that will benefit the flow of information about professional kitchen design on the web.

I spend a lot of time on this endeavor. The idea is to show what goes into kitchen design to the layperson.

Not too long ago, before the web, and now blogs; kitchen design was a mysterious piece of work. We designers did some interviewing, took some measurements, and went away for a while. When we came back we presented the dream you were asked to finance.

We still do all those things, and some of us charge for our time to do those things, while others build the design costs into the sale of products.

Our industry was built on "FREE KITCHEN DESIGN". Many cabinet showrooms still advertise "free" design to this day (though fewer and fewer). Many others offer to do design work on retainer and then apply the dollars to your cabinet purchase.

Guess what folks? It ain't free. You are paying for kitchen design, whether you like it or not, whether you KNOW it or not.

You either pay it outright, or it is built into the price of your cabinetry, and/or other materials and services.

If you don't want to pay for design, then walk into a kitchen dealer's showroom with a LIST of the cabinets you want to buy, with all the details like finished sides and rollout shelves laid out on that list. No plan, no measurements, just the list.

Hand your list to the dealer and ask them to price it in the cabinet line, door style, and finish you want. Tell them you will take full responsibility for everything on your list fitting. They don't need to measure or concern themselves with delivery. You will pick the cabinets up and take full responsibility for checking for damage and transporting the cabinets to your home.

Take your credit card or checkbook out and lay in on the counter, and say you want their "best" price. On top of that, ask for a rebate if everything goes according to your promises. Then offer them a signed agreement stating same, and promising to pay 50% down and 50% on pickup, with the rebate (for unused design services) to be paid by check to you after the cabinets have been installed without complaint.

That's how to buy cabinets without paying for design services.

I'll be interested to hear how many of my readers take me up on this challenge.

In the meantime, there are no free design services here.

If you want to use my expertise to design your kitchen or lighting, please contact me to arrange payment for my services.

And Stephanie...Your husband is right.

Peggy