When to hire a Kitchen Designer
Building a new home? One of the most important (and expensive) rooms in your home, is the kitchen. It’s more than just another room — it’s a hub for cooking, gathering, and living.
A professional kitchen designer helps plan, visualise, and execute a kitchen layout that’s both beautiful and functional. They take into account your lifestyle, cooking habits, budget, spatial limitations, and aesthetic preferences—and then translate all that into a smart design.
They also coordinate with the building team, source materials, and help to avoid costly mistakes.
While your builder or architect might provide a basic kitchen layout, that doesn’t mean you should skip hiring a kitchen designer. In fact, if you want a kitchen that truly reflects your lifestyle, aesthetic, and long-term needs, it’s smart to bring in a designer early.
If you're still working with your architect or builder on your floor plan, now is the perfect time to bring in a kitchen designer. Why? Because they’ll catch things others might miss—like awkward appliance placement, spatial limitations, or under-utilised storage space.
A Kitchen Designer will be able to create a scaled 3D model, giving you the opportunity to see how it fits your space, and any limitations that it may present - this will give you the opportunity to tweak your building plans, to ensure you can have the kitchen of your dreams. It will give you the opportunity to carefully consider any aesthetic or functional ideas you want to incorporate, and most importantly, the placement of your sink and any other additional plumbing fixtures - why does this matter? Because you will need to finalise your the placement of all your plumbing fixtures, before you submit your plans for building consent.
A set of concept building plans often include a “default” kitchen layout with a basic 2D floor plan layout. It’s important to note, these plans can be generic—and may not reflect how you prefer to cook, entertain, or use your space.
If you want a kitchen that feels customized, elevated, or tailored to your lifestyle, you’ll want to hire a kitchen designer early, before you finalise your concept plans. They’ll help you to:
Personalise your layout
Maximise function and storage
Highlight any spatial challenges
Select finishes that reflect your style and last over time
Incorporate all of your preferred appliances and the necessary plumbing fixtures - think plumbed in fridges, sink placement, pot fillers and dishwashers.
Ensure you have factored in adequate spatial planning for any extras you might like to incorporate - such as a coffee nook, scullery, or built in dining space
If you’re building a new home, don’t wait until your building plans are finalised to think about your kitchen design. Hire a kitchen designer as early as possible—ideally during the architectural planning phase. That way, you can make informed design decisions while there’s still flexibility to change things.
If you’re planning a new build or renovation, and would like some help achieving that immaculate kitchen you’ve always dreamed of, reach out and I would absolutely love to help.