Kitchen cost comparison - Interior Designer + their contractors vs. Full-Service Firm

[Anonymous]

Has anyone priced out both options? We are in the very early stages of planning for a kitchen renovation. We want it to look very nice not just "updated". How much more was it working with an interior designer and their contractors vs. one of those design + build firms like Dulles Kitchen & Bath? I guess it could be the same if the designer has discounts with suppliers, etc. but would love to hear what others found around cost and process.

TIA!

[Anonymous]

We’ve only worked with a design and build firm but if I were to do it all over, I’d hire an interior designer and bid the project out to contractors . The main reason is that with one firm, there are no checks and balances, and I ended up being the one who supervised the whole project. If you hire an interior designer and approve the designs, then they will be the ones supervising the contractors to make sure that their designs are being well executed.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, we didn’t price out both the options you mentioned. We priced out the “design + build” companies and some independent contractors. Generally speaking, the independent contractors had higher bids for us. Both types used kitchen designers. The design + builds were in house while the independent contractors used a cabinet supppier. The cabinet brands were mostly the same.

My advice to you is to get several bids. Ours varied quite a bit.

[Anonymous]

My neighbor and I did ours at the same time. Same house.

She spent 90k

I spent 45k.

Mine has real quartz, including all backspashes and a waterfall counter.

She removed a small wall and added an island, but faux quartz and hexagon tile backsplash.

[Anonymous]

Ok I’ll bite. What’s the difference between “real quartz” and “faux quartz”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok I’ll bite. What’s the difference between “real quartz” and “faux quartz”?

I was curious about that too. I guess the real quartz comes with a side of smugness?

[Anonymous]

I'm a strong believer in interior designers.

If you go that route, though, they must understand cabinets and kitchen design fully - it should be a focal point of their project catalog. As someone who is involved in 50-75 projects/year I can say nothing can anchor a project quite like a designer learning cabinets and clearances on the job - no matter how excellent their taste.

If they're not rock solid in that department, limit them to general aesthetic, finishes, pillows and paint.

[Anonymous]

I used an independent kitchen designer, but he had a contractor that he always used, if that makes sense. So he coordinated with the contractor but they were separate entities. I think for me it was the best of both worlds because I had someone to design my kitchen, and source the materials I needed, and he also oversaw the contractor and he knew them , and they knew him. However, he did say I was welcome to hire a different contractor instead of the one he worked with, but it seemed more streamlined to do it this way in terms of communication.

[Anonymous]

I feel like you may need several different people:

- a kitchen designer who understands function and clearances and ergonomics and planning storage and the pros/cons of various appliances and cabinet functions

- an interior designer who looks after colors and textures and finishes

- a contractor who brings their vision to life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I’ll bite. What’s the difference between “real quartz” and “faux quartz”?

I was curious about that too. I guess the real quartz comes with a side of smugness?

Weird because quartz is man made and can look a little cheap. We used quartzite, which is real stone (like marble), but much stronger. The price point is similar or more expensive than marble and it’s obviously more than quartz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone priced out both options? We are in the very early stages of planning for a kitchen renovation. We want it to look very nice not just "updated". How much more was it working with an interior designer and their contractors vs. one of those design + build firms like Dulles Kitchen & Bath? I guess it could be the same if the designer has discounts with suppliers, etc. but would love to hear what others found around cost and process.

TIA!

We worked with a design firm that made sketches and took measurements, but the pricing was insane. We opted for a contractor who had done other renos who bid out the custom cabinets and other parts of the project. The reno was mostly focused on the kitchen, but there were other components and it made sense to keep everything under one umbrella from an insurance standpoint and project managemsny standpoint.

The design firm was helpful because they really laid out what was possible and the drawbacks of doing a design we initially wanted to undertake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone priced out both options? We are in the very early stages of planning for a kitchen renovation. We want it to look very nice not just "updated". How much more was it working with an interior designer and their contractors vs. one of those design + build firms like Dulles Kitchen & Bath? I guess it could be the same if the designer has discounts with suppliers, etc. but would love to hear what others found around cost and process.

TIA!

We worked with a design firm that made sketches and took measurements, but the pricing was insane. We opted for a contractor who had done other renos who bid out the custom cabinets and other parts of the project. The reno was mostly focused on the kitchen, but there were other components and it made sense to keep everything under one umbrella from an insurance standpoint and project managemsny standpoint.

The design firm was helpful because they really laid out what was possible and the drawbacks of doing a design we initially wanted to undertake.

We did not use interior designer. We worked with an interior designer on other parts of our home and learned a lot and we have an aesthetic that we like, so we chose cabinets, appliances (we kept our blue star range and Bosch dishwasher, but replaced the fridge and micro), flooring, light fixture, colors, backsplash/counters, and hardware.

[Anonymous]

We had an architect and GC. The cabinets were through a place that had a kitchen designer on staff (you had to use their designer/ it was included in the cabinet price). I'm not sure if you could skip the architect - depends on how much rearranging you're doing - but the kitchen designer is necessarily for figuring out the cabinet design - I wouldn't have a regular interior designer or architect do that.

[Anonymous]

We also used a cabinet-store affiliated designer to do the cabinet plans/drawings and worked with her to refine them and make selections. We were referred to her by our GC who always works with her. She was great. Our GC has a good eye and made some small aesthetic decisions that led to a nice result (compared to other kitchens I’ve seen). I think that was why we didn’t really need a separate designer, otherwise we might have. The best piece of advice I have is to see kitchens your team has done, if you can (this is why it’s good to get recs from friends). The guys tend to do similar work each time so if the finishes bother you or seem messy, you will probably get similar results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok I’ll bite. What’s the difference between “real quartz” and “faux quartz”?

I was curious about that too. I guess the real quartz comes with a side of smugness?

No.

It's actual rock.

NP