Most of our clients with existing homes have dysfunctional kitchen layouts… but they dream of a luxury kitchen. Originally, their kitchens were often designed as "servant" type kitchens with closed doors – not very inviting and definitely not enough counter space.

These dated kitchens typically have dark and weary cabinets and lack modern accessories like garage doors for your mixer, under-cabinet lights, paneled dishwashers, etc. The layout doesn’t serve open space for gathering or amenities for entertaining in the kitchen.

We are experts at updating these features, bringing your home into this decade, and making it personal to you. Here’s how we create our incredible luxury kitchens.

Pre-Consultation

When thinking about your luxury kitchen renovation, there are many decisions to be made. Our team will help prepare you by giving you some questions to ask yourself before meeting with the architect to design your kitchen.

Do you like to entertain? If so, how many are you typically entertaining?
Do you like to cook and bake? If so, do you need more than a range? Maybe even a double oven with one combi-steam oven?
Would you like views from the sink looking into the backyard?
Do you want a focal point range/hood?
And many more…

Our step-by-step process and dedicated team of designers and architects will help you move from consultation to completion with ease.

Step 1: Initial Discovery & Consultation

The first step in our luxury kitchen design process is a consultation phone call where I get to understand your project goals, budget, and timeline. If I feel that you and I are aligned in aesthetics, budget, and schedule, we then set up an on-site consultation.

On-site we dig a little deeper into your goals and style. This site visit also gives me an opportunity to express some potential design ideas that might be different, new, or further develop your project.

Step 2: Design & Budget

After the consultations, I provide a total project budget as well as a design agreement. The project budget breaks the project into 2 main categories:

Hard costs (which includes construction costs of labor and materials, as well as construction management fees to manage and supervise the entire project.)
Soft costs (which is another name for professional services. These are the intangible costs of the project – architectural fees, cabinetry design, structural and mechanical engineering, styling, and furniture design/selection, etc.)

All of this gets totaled up to determine if our design intent is aligned with your budget.

Remember, at this point, the only fixed proposal you will receive is the architectural design. It is critical to have an accurate budget of all the future costs before designing to make sure we have a target budget while designing.

Step 3: Approval & Project Launch

After you have approved the design agreement, our team begins with pre-design. (The pre-design phase is typically unique to existing homes with an addition or alterations.)

During this phase, we will survey and document the existing home and import it into our 3D software. Then we go back to the basics with those floor plan backgrounds and start sketching broad stroke ideas on paper.

First, we focus on the basic diagrams to demonstrate the main goals of the project in sketch form (i.e. views, sun orientation, the flow of the space, focal points, etc.)

After the diagram is all worked out, we start to layer our sketches with more refined plans and elevations to think about the design as a three-dimensional space.

Step 4: Project Management

Our architect-led design-build service is quite unique in that we are designer-led (not the more common contractor-led design-build in which the design is often subbed out).

What that means is that we, as the architects, play the critical role as the homeowner’s liaison to the subcontractors. In essence, we are cutting out the general contractor.

Don't get me wrong, I am not implying that you are saving money with this method because we still provide a dedicated project manager. The difference is a more streamlined process from design to construction. There are fewer communication errors because our project manager is brought onto the job site during design and is familiar with our team.

Besides the traditional project manager, we also put a dedicated selections coordinator on all jobs during construction. The selections coordinator assists the project manager, client, and design team to ensure all material deliverables are being met according to the project schedule.

Our clients love our design-build service because of the relationships they build early on with our whole team. It makes the job more personal, fluid, and most of all, easier on you.

Step 5: Kitchen Installation

Once our project is in the punch list stage, it is truly all hands on deck. We try to tackle as much as we can prior to you moving in. In essence, we are actually trying to eliminate the punch list.

The design team, selections coordinator, project manager, and myself go through each appliance, plumbing fixture, and cabinet hardware to make sure everything is installed as per spec.

Next, we make sure there are enough champagne glasses for the team and you to start celebrating and enjoying the space.

Step 6: Move-In Day

In reality, most of our projects are not like the ones on TV where the homeowners have no idea what to expect. We work closely with you throughout the whole process, so move-in day is very exciting but isn't necessarily the big reveal. It's more of a "I finally I get to enjoy my dream kitchen" day.

The kitchen is by far the most dramatic lifestyle change of any room renovation in a home. It's where we gather with our family. It's where we unwind. It's where we spend the most time, which is why it's so life-changing.

Yes that may seem dramatic, but it's true. When you upgrade from a dated range top to a steam oven, a pot filler, and so many other functional design decisions, your life does change.

I encourage you to read our newsletter for other articles related to kitchen renovations or visit our sister company's Instagram account @mannino_cab.

And if you’re ready to love your kitchen and feel proud to call it your own, we can help.

Warmly,
Rosario