Our kitchen design process: part one

Initial discussions

Whether you get in touch via phone, email or we discuss the project in person, the first step in all our bespoke projects is to fill out our project questionnaire; it’s a short form which gathers your initial ideas and thoughts for your kitchen cabinetry. We ask you to send over floorplans of the space or architects drawings if it’s an extension or new home, photos of the space and any inspiration images that may have caught your eye on social media or in print so we have an idea of the style you are envisioning for your new kitchen. It’s also helpful to know deadlines you may be working towards and any expectations on budget for the cabinetry side of your kitchen project – it’s best to get a good understanding of this at the early stages of conversation to ensure we’re on the right lines.

Once we’ve received your completed questionnaire we give you a call back to discuss the project in a little more detail, discuss how we work as a company and explain the different the design options we offer. For our bespoke kitchen designs our fees start from £100 and this includes a detailed floorplan of the space, technical drawings of the cabinetry and perspective sketches of the room.

Site visit or meeting at our workshop

After we’ve discussed the project and your initial ideas with you over the phone, we then book in for a site visit for one of our designers to visit your home, or if you are building a new home or extension we can arrange a visit to our workshop. During this meeting we talk through the kitchen design in further detail, discuss which appliances you are hoping to accommodate, chat through your current storage and what you like and what you would hope to change. If you have a Pinterest board for your kitchen space this is the perfect time to look through this together to get an understanding of your style and design elements which you’re drawn to.

Taking on board everything we have discussed so far, we then put pen to paper and begin working on your kitchen designs! We usually allow 2 weeks for this and once the designs are nearing completion we’ll be in contact to arrange a date for a design meeting at our workshop in Worthing.

Design meeting

During the design meeting we’ll talk through the floorplans and cabinetry sketches in detail, sharing our ideas on the layout and design choices we’ve made for your bespoke kitchen design. Our hand drawn perspective sketches provide an elevation of the space so you can start imagining how our cabinetry design will look within your home. We talk through materials, finishes and ironmongery as well as making suggestions for worktops. We also provide a detailed estimate for the project.

Our office has a small selection of our cabinetry within for you to get a feel for the quality of our workmanship. You’ll have the opportunity to meet some of our team and see where all our cabinetry is designed and made. The design meeting is such an important part of the process and visiting our workshop really gives you a feel for us as a company and the way we work.

In part two of our kitchen design process we’ll be discussing booking a project in, finalising designs and what do expect during the fit process.