How Free Kitchen Design Advice Services Work

When you're planning to renovate your kitchen, the first order of business is to come up with a good design. While a living room or a bedroom can still benefit from a designer's help, they tend to be easier to design than a kitchen. A kitchen presents spatial challenges, plus it involves major appliances, electrical and plumbing services, flooring, lighting, and permanently installed cabinets.

If you hire a general contractor to remodel the kitchen, design services can be included in the estimate. If the kitchen is a simple one, the contractor may even be able to put together a basic design. When you are remodeling your own kitchen, you might decide to take advantage of free kitchen design services offered at home improvement centers. How do free design services work and are they really free?

What Is Free Kitchen Design Advice?

Free kitchen design advice is a service offered by some businesses that provides a potential customer with a basic kitchen plan, either full or partial. The plan will usually not be laid out like a blueprint. Wiring and plumbing lines will not be shown. But typically the plan will be detailed enough to show how the major elements interact with each other.

Businesses offer free kitchen design advice as a marketing tool for promoting their products or services. If the business is product-specific (for example, cabinets, flooring, or countertops), emphasis will be placed on that product in the design. Businesses may withhold more detailed planning until a customer signs a contract to use their services and products.

Where to Find Free Kitchen Design Advice

Free kitchen design services are found in large home centers, kitchen specialist/design stores, or businesses that provide a kitchen product such as cabinets.

• Home centers: Large home improvement centers often have kitchen designers on-site who can draw up a basic design on the spot.
• Kitchen specialists: Standalone service providers may offer general design assistance that centers around their service. Kitchen and bath design firms may draw up a basic plan to help you see how your kitchen would look on completion.
• Single-product providers: Companies that provide a single kitchen item sometimes offer a free design component. Their product will be the centerpiece of the design, whether cabinets, flooring, appliances, or countertops.

What You Get With Free Kitchen Design Advice

The kitchen design process starts with a general layout of your kitchen. Exact measurements will eventually be needed, but basic measurements are usually good enough for now.

You will discuss the kitchen's style, workflow, and floor plan, as well as your general needs. The designer will lay out the kitchen's footprint, then will include accessories like pullouts and pantry cabinets.

You will look at a 3D image or walkthrough of the kitchen with the designer. You'll have a chance to make some changes to the design. Then, you will receive an electronic copy of the design or a paper printout of the design. Plans may be watermarked with the name or logo of the company or designer.

Tips for Obtaining Free Kitchen Design Advice

Keep the following tips in mind with free kitchen design services:

Be Careful About Contracts

The design service offered by any retailer or kitchen remodeling firm is free unless you sign some form of contract or agreement. Be very careful about signing any contract.

Don't be Afraid to Ask Questions

Being specific right from the start is the best way to get the information you need without further commitment. If you ask the kitchen designer for specific answers, other ideas will likely be offered. Questions such as "What is a kitchen triangle?" or "How much space do I need for a kitchen island?" may elicit a host of helpful information on proper layout of a kitchen.

Understand the Limits of the Service

The free information offered is often provided by salespeople, not trained design professionals. Salespeople may be quite knowledgeable about many subjects but they do not have the specialized skills of true kitchen designers. To get to the next level of design help, you may need to actually hire a designer or make a firm commitment to buy services and products.

Ask for Copies

A copy of the document is usually provided. If not, ask for one.