If you’re planning a new kitchen, a designer can help you make the most of the space to ensure the room works perfectly for you. But what are the key questions to think about before you hire your kitchen professional? We asked three experts to share the top things to consider before your first meeting.
1. How Will You Use Your Kitchen?
Before you even think about colors and materials, kitchen designer Diane Berry of Diane Berry Kitchens recommends you focus on function. “Try to build a wish list of what the room needs to do and the contents it needs in order to function,” she says.
“Ask yourself whether you want a dining-in kitchen and for how many people,” she says. “Also, whether you need a snug space with a TV, how many sinks you want, and whether you need a waste disposal. Really try to consider all your family needs and remember the stuff such as where outdoor shoes and the vacuum cleaner will go.”
2. What Style of Kitchen Would You Like?
Barry Sawyer of Brayer Design recommends you start your kitchen design by gathering lots of inspiration. “Spend some time online looking at different kitchen styles and create a mood board. Houzz is a great resource for this,” he says. “Not only will a mood board help you to crystallize your ideas, it will be an invaluable tool for your kitchen designe, too.
There are two ways you can approach this on Houzz — collect photos while browsing Houzz and save them into an ideabook, which is a shareable album. You can also ask your pro to use Houzz Pro software (if they use it) to create a mood board for you, perhaps taking in the standout themes from your ideabook collection.