When to Start Design Work

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Free Kitchen Remodeling Guide and Timeline

If you’ve been working on your own kitchen design and feel you can do this yourself, this post probably won’t apply. You might be in control of all factors and satisfied with your plan.

However, if you have entirely new construction, if you are taking down walls, if you have an HOA approval or permit processes to get through, or if you haven’t yet closed on a home purchase, you might wonder when to start design work and how long it might take.

There is no rule of thumb and no single answer.Each situation and each homeowner is different. Nonetheless, having high quality design work can reduce stress and provide your project with a firm foundation.

Many people ask me how can they proceed if they don’t yet have accurate measurements. It’s quite true that accurate and detailed measurements of the kitchen to be designed are needed for a final design. But you don’t have to wait, in most cases. If you need design work to get things underway, to provide data for your builder, for an HOA, or just to start to map out a new footprint, and placements, before any frenzy of a remodel begins, you can do so with measurements that are complete but not 100% accurate.

Say you are purchasing a home and have not yet closed. You have measurements of the existing spaces but you plan to remove a wall for the kitchen remodel. You want to get the kitchen work completed FAST, once you take possession. (there can be many reasons for this).

The key is to measure or have your contractor measure the space, AS IT WILL BE, as close as possible. THEN let the designer know that the measurements are estimates and are likely to change a bit once the wall changes are completed. IF THE DESIGNER KNOWS, YOU’LL BR OK.

Then, assuming you will go through a DRAFT phase and then a REVISION phase, (that’s how our IKEA kitchen design service works), request a DRAFT and provide the final measurements and request the final revisions when you CAN.

This way you have the draft to work with early on. This can save you from stressful imaginings and enable you to communicate with contractor, materials suppliers, and others, about how your new kitchen will look.

You will then have to provide ACCURATE measurements, in other words, corrections, before the design work goes final, during the revision phase.

In my experience, as long as the design knows there will be minor changes to the measurements, you’ll be fine. Should you have MAJOR changes, you might need an extra revision, but that is usually a minimal expense, and well worth it.

Again, each project is different. We offer a free, 30-minute phone consultation to help homeowners planning an IKEA kitchen to sort out issues like these, and many others. We are happy to help.

Susan