Planning a new kitchen can be overwhelming but the right kitchen professional can guide you through with the minimum of stress.

In the end you will end up with a kitchen where you along with family and friends will enjoy countless meals and happy occasions.

So where do you start?

With the introduction of many new materials and many new kitchen companies it is important to find the “best fit “ for your project. It is highly unlikely that you would find all the features and finishes in any one showroom or magazine.

To get some up to date ideas you could:

• Visit a few kitchen showrooms with a wish list of what you would like to achieve.
• Speak with an experienced kitchen professional. It is important to decide if you feel comfortable with them – were they more interested in finding out what you want to achieve or were they keen to just “make a sale”.
• Visit display home villages as they will have lots of kitchens on display

What can you do to get the best outcome?

For a kitchen designer to achieve the best result for you it is important that you put some thought into what YOU really want. Most people start with “what they want it to look like” before “how do I want to work in this space, “

• It works far better if you work out the design first and then consider what it will look like so you can then establish how much it will cost. A good designer can offer different materials that can alter the budget considerably but until you know what components are required it is difficult to work out how much it will cost.
• Cost is almost always a major factor in deciding what you want but a good designer can usually offer a solution that may involve a small compromise but still allows you to achieve a fantastic result.
• Work with the designer to see if you can get the project to fall within your budget. It may end up that the budget wasn’t realistic for what you wanted so maybe you could still keep the old refrigerator until next year but plan for the space of what you really want.
• Don’t compromise so much that you are not happy with the result. If it costs a bit more than you would like divide that figure by 10 and you will see that it is not that much over the minimum period you will enjoy the kitchen.