Reply to Kitchen re-do Bethesda - design-build firm or archtect then hire a GC?

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[quote=Anonymous]We used an architect as part of a kitchen addition and went with a GC, shopped around for all the cabinets, tile, etc.  If I could do it all over, I would have gone for a designer that has experience with kitchens and made sure I liked the GC that he/ she liked to work with. I felt like the architect picked things that may have looked good architecturally, eg lots of small cabinets, that were not practical or very expensive.  We still had to pick all the design elements and the GC wasn't going to say what paint color would look good with the cabinets.

If you go to a kitchen designer, often they are linked to a cabinet line or shop so you first if you plan to go on a weekend, you need an appointment, then you are paying a design fee not knowing if you will like the design or in the end if this will price out more than you want, you may or may not own the design (if you don't purchase thru them), even if you try to shop the cabinets elsewhere the next place may want you to pay a design/ measure fee because they are on the hook that the sizes are correct.  Then if something happens, say you discover something when the walls are opened that impacts the design, you end up being in the meddle of it with the GC and kitchen shop ...and the kitchen shop likely has their money by that point.

Anyway, we ended up using Charles Almonte (http://charlesalmonte.com ) for our bathrooms and interior design.  It was sort of the best of all worlds because he has a background in architecture and interior design.  He also has people he works with for cabinets and GC.  I'm not a trusting sort about working with people someone else recommends (I'm from NY ) but in this case the GC happen to also do work coincidentally for neighbors so I had references.  The cabinet person sometimes can be slow getting back to you but the best part of using someone's team is that they make sure things get done and problems are sorted out without you being in the middle.  So anyway, my recommendation is that you nix the architect and go with a designer that has a team so you have a deign/ build like experience within your budget.  You could look at the design build companies too but I found the Washingtonian listed ones had waits and unofficially had a minimum budget they liked to work with.

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