Below is a list of the 10 worst ways to go about designing your new kitchen.  The list was compiled from a LinkedIn dialog among professional kitchen designers.  Thanks to all the kitchen designers that contributed their expertise and years of experience to come up with these top answers.  Some of the anecdotes they told were hilarious, but that’s another blog all together.  Hope you gain some insight from our list…and of course …….Bon Appetit!   -Paul

1) Design your kitchen yourself and then price out that unprofessional design many places.

2) Pay an architect to design your kitchen.

3) Purchase the appliances you are getting first and design around them.

4) Keep your existing floor plan exactly as it is now.

5) Hire the cheapest contractor.

6) Get your permits then layout the cabinets.

 7) Don’t use fillers or flat stock  in your design to allow for ceiling and walls being out of square or out of level.

8) Make plans dependent on your kitchen being completed in an unrealistic time frame.

9) Rely on kitchen cabinetry information from Consumer Reports.

10) Design and buy your kitchen from IKEA

Most people believe they can’t do it or that it will be too expensive.  And, they’re wrong.

It’s almost always doable, usually costs nothing and can even save money.

What IS the best investment your in your new kitchen?  It is changing the lay out!

Barely a day goes by that a customer doesn’t  say to us ”I have a small kitchen so there isn’t much that I can do.” or “We are on a budget so we need to keep the layout of our kitchen the same.” Actually, there are many design possibilities with nearly every kitchen and improving the layout costs next to nothing.

Most of our customers don’t realize that just moving a sink, an appliance, or a doorway can dramatically improve an entire kitchen and incur little or no addition construction costs.  A kitchen renovation includes installing flooring, drywall, lighting, cabinetry, backsplash, molding,  fixtures and appliances.  Changing the location of a sink or appliance appliance rarely impacts the total construction costs.  Even moving a doorway which might cost $500 could be offset by design improvements that make the cabinetry more standard and less expensive.

Many choices make kitchens expensive but improving the layout is not one of them.   Homeowners  frequently select a doorstyle that is 25% to 40% more that a similar less expensive style,  Adding a glaze to cabinetry generally adds 10% or more to the cost.  Higher price level granite, quartz, soapstone, or marble countertops can cost thousands more than similar looking selections that wear equally well. 

Upgrading appliances can have the greatest impact on a kitchen budget.  But all these expenses have a very limited effect on what the finished kitchen looks like.  For example, the difference between a stainless steel shallow depth GE profile refrigerator costing $3,000 or a Sub Zero costing $9,000 is barely noticeable.  Good designers want to see you get the most for your money and will suggest similar, less expensive options.

The layout of a kitchen can change an entire home for the better, sometimes increasing the home’s value far more than the cost of the renovation. Even removing a wall which can cost a couple of thousand dollars could save overall costs because it reduces the number of wall cabinets.  If because of the reduced wall space, the design also switches from having a wall oven and cooktop to a range, the reduced price of the appliances and cabinetry saves far more than the cost of removing the wall. 

Selecting the doorstyle, finish, countertops, and appliances is the easy part of a kitchen renovation but not the first part.  Layout possibilities, available materials, and many of the details kitchen designers help clients with have the most impact on your happiness with the finished project and the cost.  That is why it is so important to shop for your kitchen designer first, and cabinetry and materials second.  

The path to getting the best design and spending a kitchen budget effectively can be elusive.  At Main Line Kitchen Design we look forward to finding and taking that path with you.

All the best, and as Julia said……

Bon Appetit!

Paul

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In an effort to obtain Likes on our facebook page we will hold a raffle on July 4th 2013.  We will select at random someone who has liked the Main Line Kitchen Design facebook page.  The person selected will receive a free iPad.  We will notify the winner via facebook on July 5th 2013 and will UPS the iPad to the address the winner requests.  The receipt will be included so that winner will be able to exchange, return, upgrade etc at any Apple store.  So like us now and you might be updating your facebook page on an iPad in July!   ….

Below is the link to our facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Main-Line-Kitchen-Design/109096125835251

Good luck and a Happy July 4th to all,

Paul, Ray, Carol, Tom and Julie   – Main Line Kitchen Design

For many years there was a silent conspiracy between architects, contractors, countertop fabricators, fixture suppliers and the kitchen and bath showrooms where customers worked with designers.  Every professional wanted to get paid for handling every aspect of a customer’s job.  I was recently at meeting of construction professionals where many contractors still felt no guilt in  to refusing to install any materials that they didn’t order, ie make a profit on.  One general contractor said he was intentionally absent when a homeowners granite countertop was templated and installed, again, because it hadn’t been purchased through him.  What a recipe for disaster for everyone involved including that contractor.

By hiding the true cost of everyone’s services in the cost of materials or kickbacks, the public is kept in the dark about what they are really paying for.

A great example of how this system can be counter intuitive is that up until a couple of years ago all granite shops needed business from kitchen showrooms so badly that they had to inflate the cost of granite to their own walk in customers or else  risk letting  kitchen showroom referral customers find out that they were being charged a 20%  markup by the showroom that sent them.

Many home builders charge three or four times the value of cabinetry and countertop upgrades pretending that the inflated charge was for material costs.

Everyone involved in a construction project needs to get compensated appropriately for a job to run smoothly, but under this system of hiding labor costs in material costs and hidden kickbacks, there ends up being an incentive to sell nice looking things that can be made cheaply and so don’t last.

Sadly well made cabinetry, fixtures, and other building products are often only 5 or 10 percent more than their poorly made cousins.

If only architects, contractors, countertop fabricators, fixture suppliers and kitchen and bath showrooms could be transparent, then homeowners would be able to make informed decisions about the professionals they chose to work with.  And if consumers were paying the true price for better materials they would almost certainly be selecting them more often.

Happily this whole system is now being undermined by the ease of pricing things on the internet.  Of course other new problems arise when customer’s don’t understand what they are pricing and are possibly ordering online.   However just being able to better price things easily makes the old system problematic.

At Main Line Kitchen Design we  try our best to be completely transparent and we nearly succeed.  Occasionally,  we are asked to pay a referral fee to an architect or builder, but we take it out of our profit as the cost of doing business.  Our customers pay the same discounted pricing they always would.  We also refer our customers to granite showrooms, lighting, flooring, and appliance specialists, but unlike other traditional showrooms we ask those specialists to sell to our customers directly and at our cost.

Our business model helps us be able to accomplish this, but soon all professionals will have little choice, and we hope this antiquated system will then truly be a thing of the past and professionals and consumers alike will benefit from the refreshing transparency.

Wishing you a transparent 2013,

………..and as Julia said “Bon Appetit!”

Paul

“You HAVE to see our new kitchen” is something many of our customers say not only to us but to their friends and family after their kitchen is completed.  However, the customers that are this excited are not the ones most people outside our industry would suspect.

Durasupreme Shaker Cherry Kitchen

Almost all of our customers come to us believing that they know the floor plan and even the door style and color of the cabinetry that they would prefer.  Sometimes they have even selected all their appliances.   The easiest thing for any kitchen designer to do is simply to make that customers dream a reality.

However the initial kitchen of a customers dreams is limited by their own design experience and the products that they know about.

At Main Line Kitchen Design, we always tell our customers that we aren’t doing our job if we’re not  shocking, or at least surprising them with alternative designs and materials.    We simply wouldn’t be good at what we do if our many years of experience  didn’t translate into a better kitchen at a better price than our customers could come up with on their own.

When we do make our customers initial dream kitchen a reality and the project is complete we usually get an warm thank you.  However, when our customers allow our designers to spend the hours with them considering alternative designs and materials,  the result is a kitchen that is a combination of  our designer’s knowledge and experience and what our customers truly like after considering all their options.  And, this is when we get the phone call or email that makes our work so rewarding and customers tell us “You HAVE to see our new kitchen!!!!!”

We smile when we hear it or read it, and we really don’t need to see the finished kitchen – we have our customer’s  kitchen on our laptop and in our minds eye, and know it like the face of an old friend.

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful summer, and of course as Julia said ….. Bon Appetit!

Paul

Contrary to what most people believe, the most productive and cost effective first step in planning a kitchen addition is to come to Main Line Kitchen Design first and to an Architect second. This is because you need to plan the layout of your kitchen before you can finalise the locations of doors, windows, and even the size of the addition.

This is also far more cost effective since designing the kitchen costs nothing to start.   At Main Line Kitchen Design the first two appointments are free and afterwards our design deposit is applied towards your cabinet order.  Planning an addition with an architect before you have planned you kitchen design wastes money creating plans that will always need to be changed once you meet with your kitchen designer.

Design your kitchen addition inside out and you will end up paying for only one set of final architectural plans and get the best use of your new space.   Whether we are your architect, general contractor, or kitchen designer, we all want you to have an aesthetically pleasing exterior to your new space, but the kitchen is the hub of your home.   The kitchen design layout needs to be planned first and not be an after thought in a space already created.

Not all kitchen design firms are experienced enough to fill this role in planning your kitchen addition.  At Main Line Kitchen Design we would rather see our customers sooner than later.   Once previous work has been done and plans set in motion it may become  difficult and more expensive  to give you the best kitchen possible.

Let experts in every area involved in your kitchen addition help you along the way.  But begin by letting the experts in kitchens themselves get you on a path that will be far straighter then the paths taken by most of the kitchen addition customers we eventually see and sell kitchens to.

Hoping all your spring kitchen projects run smoothly.  And as always………

Bon Appetit!

The sale of Le Bec Fin and the loss of it’s 5 star rating has signaled a change in the Philadelphia restaurant landscape, and in a small way, our society as a whole.  Society has become less formal.  In our kitchen design world traditional dining room and kitchen space is routinely being combined.  The larger area becomes a more  social place to eat day to day as well as to entertain on special occasions.  Today my younger customers no longer aspire to complete  the sterling silver and china place settings they began as wedding gifts.

We don’t spend less money on eating out and certainly we don’t spend less on our kitchens today but we spend it differently.  Imagine, Craig LaBan gives Bibou a BYOB his highest rating.  At Bibou diners can enjoy fine cuisine and bring $100 or $1000 bottles of wine that would have troubled my sensibilities purchasing at traditional restaurant prices.

I was going to write in depth on the Le Bec Fin sale but Brenda Kieffer of Kieffer’s Appliances did a great job.   The link is below:

http://kiefferscooks.com/2012/02/14/a-few-words-about-le-bec-fin/

Le Bec Fin

I am reminded daily of our changing world.  Certainly the business model that Main Line Kitchen Design employs would not have been possible just a few years ago.  Change is good and I’m excited that we opened our North Carolina satellite. (NC Main Line Kitchen Design.)  But what truly warms my heart is when I mail out the Julia Child cookbooks  to each homeowner who’s kitchen we just completed.  I love change but it’s nostalgia and remembering Le Bec Fin as it was or Julia Child working in her PBS  kitchen that gets me choked up.

…and so Bon Appetit!

Paul

Many of our customers are using www.houzz.com and http://pinterest.com to show us the cabinetry and  floor plans they like.

Houzz.com has a wonderful collection of photos of every type and style of kitchen.   And, thousands of new photos are being added  to this massive collection, daily.  Pinterest.com is a personal online bulletin board where anyone can post the the photos of the kitchen designs, floor plans and cabinetry selections they would like to save.  We are finding more and more Main Line Kitchen Design customers  taking advantage of one or both of these sites to assembled entire kitchen albums sometimes complete with even the type of trash can pull out they prefer.  And they never leave home to do it.

As our company tag line says: “The World of Kitchen Design is Changing …”.  But in this information age it is changing so quickly that it surprises even me.

Just a few years ago, I worked for a company that had 28 employees with only 10 of them kitchen designers.  Those 10 designers had to sell enough cabinetry to pay themselves and the 18 other company employees.  We needed to generate enough revenue to pay for a 5,000 square foot showroom and it’s continued update, maintenance, property taxes etc.  Not to mention the management of the company 10,000 square foot warehouse, trucks, and their upkeep.

How can that business model compete against a company like Main Line Kitchen Design?  We have 5 designers in two states with no showroom, office staff, maintenance staff, or any of the tremendous overhead associated with that showroom/warehouse business model.  The answer is–  in most of the areas that matter to customers, the showroom/warehouse business model can’t compete with our more cost and time effective operation.

Traditional showrooms can never devote the time Main Line Kitchen Design designers can spend with our customers and the contractors we work with.  And we come to them, saving customers and contractors valuable travel time.

Furthermore,  traditional showrooms understandably need to charge more for the same cabinetry, and need to pay their designers less.  Most traditional showrooms obtain additional income by receiving commission or charging customers directly for  appliance, flooring, tile, counter-top, and lighting fixtures selected elsewhere.  In addition to increasing costs this can delay customers from getting prices for the products they are considering until  the showroom has received pricing for the selections and marked them up.

Main Line Kitchen Design refers our customers directly to suppliers so that they will receive immediate, discounted, markup free pricing along with any information they need directly from the salespeople and experts for each product.  Again, the Main Line Kitchen Design model is about expertise and effectiveness.  Why would we insert ourselves in a transaction that we know less about.  We’re the kitchen design and cabinetry experts – we know who is more knowledgeable about other areas and we want our customers to have access to them and not pay a markup for the service.

The Best isn’t Always the Most Expensive…….

It’s Just The Best!

Traditional Style and especially French Country Style Kitchens employ architectural accent pieces such as legs, corbels, capitals, and onlays.  These accent pieces can be surprisingly expensive.   A 6 inch by 6 inch Island leg typically will cost at least $600 retail from any cabinet line even at a home center.  Corbels can range from $200 and up.  I once had a customer whose custom finished 36 inch high corbels cost us $2000 each before we even added our mark up.  Typically crown molding costs more than $100 per 8 foot piece of molding and, in some more ornate designs, we stack 3 or more moldings on top of each other to reach the ceiling.

The cost for all of these accents and moldings can sometimes exceed the cost of a customer’s actual cabinetry!

Now here comes the good news.

Crown molding, legs, corbels, capitals and onlays cost 90% less when ordered unfinished from internet suppliers such as Osborne Wood Products.

Often these kitchens or the dressing area shown above are designed in painted finishes.  If a customer chooses a solid paint color without a glaze, then quality paint stores like Sherwin Williams using the newest high tech scanners can match the cabinetry finish exactly.  Only the application of the paint can give the matching process away, and a good painter with a sprayer will eliminate even that possibility.

I’m less concerned about the durability of the paint on these accent pieces as they are not moving parts and often times vulnerable legs and the backs of Islands end up getting touched up soon after installation anyway.  Certainly the crown moldings are too high up to be vulnerable to abuse.

If a customer selects a stained finish, we can never match the furniture stain and finishing process from the cabinet supplier.  However if we stain unfinished accent pieces two shades darker and with a different sheen, then they appear to be intentional highlights and often become the most attractive feature in detail driven kitchen designs.

So if a French Country Kitchen is your style of choice, don’t be stingy with adding the legs, columns, onlays and the other accent pieces that define this style.  Your kitchen can cost half the price it would have a few years ago.

Looking forward to working with you and as always Bon Appetit,

Paul