Kelly,
Enclosed is a link to an article from Renovation Style here
In a nutshell, the original kitchen cabinet quote came in at $70,000. The homeowner found an ornate antique piece of furniture for $900, simplified the cabinets, and reduced the quote to a little more than half. If you look at the pictures...well, I can't imagine the kitchen cabinets looking any more "done up."
Which brings me to my question: how do you establish a budget before meeting with a designer? If I had this look in mind and showed Corey-the-bitchy-kitchen-designer the images and told him my budget of $35,000, he'd laugh and I'd be one of those clients he rolls his eyes over. But, a designer IS able to get the look for less by working their magic. So, how should a client proceed and establish a budget without making a fool of themselves with the KD? - Thanks, Elana
Elana,
Yes, it doesn’t seem fair to look at a photo, discover that someone saved the money and still had something beautiful, does it? But we've got two topics going on here which I'll discuss in order.
What Corey was referring to in his post was the media misinformation and the lack of preparedness some people have when starting a home project. For some reason, everyone researches vacations and cars before they buy, but not always remodeling. To be fair, there are so many options and so much misinformation out there that it can be bewildering for most of us!
By your very question, you are not the future client Corey was referring to. You care, you want to do your homework. Most people do.
Corey’s frustration (and mine) is when some homeowners come in without any research and then tell us that “our prices are outlandish” and “it should only take x number of days and cost x number of dollars” to accomplish something…especially when it appears that their experience is a few television shows on home design.
We’re frustrated when we warn someone that what they’re choosing is out-of-budget but they refuse to believe we can’t magically get the same items for half the price. I doubt Corey would scoff at a $ 35,000 budget (unless that was a 18x18 addition); he does scoff unrealistic budgets where someone thinks the whole remodel should cost $ 5000, look like something out of Architectural Digest and is mad at us for not making it happen.
Our frustration does not extend to homeowners who are genuinely lost. No designer worth his or her salt is going to be upset at a client who a) walks through the door knowing nothing and wants to learn or b) has incorrect expectations for costs or c) comes with a modest budget and asks what’s achievable.
Even if I won't end up being the designer of choice, I’ve always spent some time helping people understand what their options are.
Now, tackling that example you show, that kitchen at $ 35,000 is still high for the number of cabinets; I've designed 3 kitchens right now which are double the size for the same price. It's still a high-end kitchen. If you look at the floor plan, I could probably design that kitchen for another $ 7,000 – $ 9,000 less…and this is in California, land of high rents and overhead and not Minnesota. The multi-step crown molding is most likely running into four-figures alone. So it's not really representational of a low-to-mid-end and that extreme swing from $ 70k to $ 35k wouldn't be as great.
So let’s see what you can do.
To establish your budget, you need to figure out first before you walk through a retail door which items are your “can’t-live-withouts”: pullout drawers, fancy range, glass doors, etc.
Much of this can be done on the internet before you even leave the home. No internet? The kitchen magazines, such as Kitchen and Bath Business, have articles which show a kitchen designed with different materials so you can see where the costs are.
One of the biggest mistakes that people make is that they use top quality for appliances, lighting, counters, and then say, “Well, there’s not much left for the cabinets” and get the lowest quality. Don’t do this if you can help it.You use the cabinets as much and if not more than anything else in the room. If the cabinet “deal” is too good to be true, run. The disintegration of quality out there the past few years has been truly staggering.
Take a look at the various quality levels for each item: which are in the low, middle, and high ranges? To help you, here’s a thought: if you go to a showroom, take a rough sketch of your room with the overall dimensions and layout. Explain that you’re in the research stage. Say that you’re only looking for cabinet ranges for kitchens they’ve done in a similar layout. It’d be helpful if you could say you want a Shaker Cherry doorstyle or something about the cabinet you like.
An experienced designer should be able to give you some ballpark ranges that you can tuck away for your research. If you’re a bit further along than that, then get a cabinet price.
Please don’t do this!
When homeowners are first designing rooms – any rooms, not simply kitchens – they put in all the bells and whistles (the equivalent of “when we go to Europe, it’s all going to be 1st class, baby!). Then they get the price, and turn white. I understand. What I dislike is when I but hear later how the project was completed elsewhere in a much simpler (and yes, less expensive fashion). And the clients are telling others, “Yes, we wanted to work with her but she was way too expensive.”
ARGH! (Professional designer term.) They’ve forgotten they asked for all those goodies…and they didn’t give me the chance to help them scale back.
Please, when you get the out-of-budget price, sit down with the contractor/designer/architect and simply say, “This is out-of-the-picture. How do we scale back?” And work with them to come up with new figures. None of us will think badly because it wasn’t what you wanted to spend; we all have the same choices to make ourselves. Our goal is to find something you like. We want to work with you. There is nothing worse than not being given the chance, especially when I look at the project and see so many areas where I could have made it better! ;-) (So modest, huh?)
Experienced designers know 1001 ways to make a room zing without spending a lot of money.
Look, there are 3 cabinet lines in my showroom. Together they form over 200 door styles, 3 different case constructions, 4 options for the box construction, and over 70 stains, paints, and pigments. That’s ONLY for cabinets and doesn’t include custom options. I can design the same mid-sized kitchen layout anywhere from $ 12,000 for a simple stock design to $ 55,000 for exotic woods and custom everything.
I designed two projects with clients this year where we figured out the “wish list” or, as my designer mother calls it, “the budget reality check” and then we scaled back like the homeowner in your example.
We can trick out a design like no tomorrow…but at least give us a chance.