Y Design Loop : When to hire an interior designer to design your new kitchen vs. hiring a kitchen cabinet company

Over the years, I have come across many instances when a client wonders if they should hire an interior designer or kitchen cabinet company to design their new kitchen. 

image courtesy  Patricia Gray Interior Design

Without further ado, there are several differences [hopefully unbiased] I'd like to share with you :  

Value	Interior Designer	Kitchen Cabinet Company
Approach	Holistic, taking all adjacent areas, architectural features and your wish list into consideration	Usually limited to consideration of existing walls to determine where the kitchen cabinets and counters will go
Scope	Turnkey design includes everything e.g. floor plan [which may include new wall and doorway locations to correct inefficient space planning], lighting, flooring, tile locations, sizes and layout, paint colors, decor, appliance, fixture and furniture selections, and furniture layout, etc. Designers make it a point to keep up-to-date with all new products available.	Design includes kitchen cabinet layout and cabinet wall elevations. The door style, material, and finishes options are chosen by you. Some companies may also offer tiles and plumbing fixtures. Cabinet companies generally do not keep up-to-date with current market offerings, except for items related to cabinets [e.g. pantry pull-out shelving]
Service	Hands-on; work on and off-site.	Work mostly off-site. Project communications with the client are usually done through a sales rep.
Needs analysis	In-depth, on-going dialogue with you	Basic understanding what your wants and needs are
Experience	5-10 years experience is recommended for a complex room such as a kitchen	Often, a junior designer [0-5 yrs experience] will be assigned to do the design
Style	Unlimited style options, depending on your budget, architectural features and the style of the adjacent areas/rooms	Cabinet style is limited to whatever door options and box sizes are available
Budget	Design fees are extra – around 10-15% of the net cost, for turn-key full service. A medium budget kitchen is between $50,000-75,000	Design fees are built into the price of the cabinets. A ballpark price for 'semi-custom'* cabinets in a medium size kitchen is between $20,000-25,000
How does it work?	Approved design drawings are given to the general contractor in order for them to get quotes on everything, including pricing from a kitchen cabinet company. The quotes are then reviewed by the designer for accuracy and presented to you for approval	The kitchen cabinet company uses their own design drawings in order to give you a quote on the cabinets and counter
End Result	A stunning, cohesive, unique kitchen which is tailored to suit your lifestyle, budget and the style [or future style!] of the rest of the house	A nice basic kitchen which may have visual flow with adjacent rooms
This option may be right for you if :	- you enjoy collaborating one-on-one with a trained professional - you have specific space planning needs which may require walls, ceiling and doorways to be changed - you appreciate that the time and effort put into a project will result in an exceptional kitchen you are delighted to be in.	- you are planning on moving soon and do not want to invest in a specialized product - you have an existing kitchen layout that doesn't require any new construction - you are comfortable choosing lighting, materials, colors and styles that suit the rest of your home - you are on a tight budget

* by semi-custom, I mean that most kitchen cabinet company's products are limited to the door styles, materials and finishes options currently in their product offering. Unusual sizes, details such as inlay, and materials such as metal are done by a full-custom cabinet workshop and up-charged accordingly.

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