ENGAGE:
The Kitchen Designer

Thanks for stopping by! I'm Susan Serra, certified kitchen designer, and my mission is to take kitchen design style, function and analysis to a higher level. Here's why the kitchen has the most honored place in the home - all five senses reside in the kitchen.  Best...Susan  Contact: susan@susanserraassociates.com
   

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Entries from September 1, 2007 - September 30, 2007

Monday
Sep102007

Kitchen Cabinet Order Process

It was a very busy week last week. Of course, a large cabinet order for a kitchen had to be edited while I was away, which I did (while I was away). Then, it had to be looked at in its entirety again right after I got back, to do the back and forth editing with the factory, which I did, and have just finished.

I thought it would be interesting to give you a little glimpse of what is involved in ordering a kitchen, this stage of the order processing, which is the final stage. It's a stressful time. It's decision time, fish or cut bait, do or die, last chance and all that!

I do things the long way. When I put in my cabinet order, it's probably 95% accurate. Usually, that is because I need to rush the order writing somewhat so that I can reserve a particular week for delivery...timing is always critical in my line of business! At this time, the client and I go over the final plans and they place the deposit with me. In the course of going over every final detail, more issues often arise, changes, rethinking, etc. on the part of the client. I permit that, I never discourage it, because I want my clients to have things "their way." I want them to have every opportunity, even if it comes later than it should, to make their kitchen the way they want it.

Sometimes, as in this case, the client kept thinking and rethinking things well after we first placed the order, and I continued to accommodate this client until the day before I left for my trip (a surprise two hour meeting!) And, then we emailed and spoke again while I was away!

When the factory gives me back their interpretation of my written order, and before production, it looks like the image, here! I need to start from scratch with every single dimension for the entire room, taking another look at a couple of hundred+ cabinet order details, and taking everything else (appliance specs & more) into consideration all over again. That's how I do it.  It takes focused concentration for long periods of time.  As a result, I never, ever, have a problem with a cabinet's fit, and I'll often come up with new, better, ways of detailing a cabinet during this time.

There are four pieces of information that I check, one against the other, constantly: the specifications list in the contract, the floor plan and elevations, my order to the factory, and the original dimensions from the space. Back and forth, one to the other and back again.

Sometimes I have not been 100% clear in the order, and sometimes the factory makes a mistake or misinterpretation on their edited copy of the actual order. They check me, and I then check their final interpretation before it goes into production. We communicate via phone and email. To me, it's not over until it's the last day before production (well, the goal is to have it be over when the factory begins their editing process!) You can get a sense of how detailed a designer is if you ask him/her to tell you how he/she edits their orders with the factory. Sometimes I call it engineering the cabinetry to fit, as I design all cabinetry to the 1/8". If they roll their eyes at the thought of this stage of the process, it's a good sign! Now the order is done, and guess what, when the cabinets arrive, I'm doing the whole thing all over again to remember why I did what I did!

Kitchen%20Order.jpg 

 

Saturday
Sep082007

Thank you blogging buddies!

DSCF0972a.jpgI think I'm the only one I've come across who refers to "blogging buddies." I do like the sound of it! I would like to thank my blogging buddies, Holly from Decor8, the gals at Blink Decor, and Linda from Surroundings, for showing my kitchen design work and/or my images from Denmark.

Thanks to Blink Decor for showing the images of my currently published kitchen. I'm glad they enjoyed it! I have to take a moment to say that I'm really crazy about the layout of their blog. I love the colors, it's very exciting, it always revs me up, and it's very user friendly. Good stuff on there too, and always thoughtful and informative advice. Thanks, gals.  

Thanks to Holly from Decor8 for creating that big, fantastic, post on Danish home interiors (images from some of my familys' homes) and for showcasing some of the great, Danish, furniture that I photographed in the fine, home furnishing stores. My cousin's comments on sources and designers of her home furnishings are very interesting. What a thrill to be on decor8! It's always a destination for me. Need to keep up to date and see what's happening design-wise!

And, last, but definitely not least, to my very good blogging buddy, Linda, from Surroundings. I laughed out loud when I saw the title of Linda's post, about the rotten state of Denmark, and wish I thought of that myself! Thank you Linda, for both showcasing my white kitchen and for linking to the Danish inspired posts on the blogs. Always a go-to source for interesting, eclectic, design information, and, I appreciate the mentions, Linda (each live link links to a different post). Surroundings takes the pulse from many sources and makes sense of it all to the rest of us!

You know, I really need to ask this question. Due to the enthusiasm over "things Scandinavian," I am often confused, because I'm SO tied into the culture and the beauty of it all. So, tell me, what do you all love about it? Do you see Scandinavian design becoming even more of a factor in today's design interests? Do you see it moving forward in everyone's design focused radar screens? Or is it just the classic beauty of it which will always be appreciated? Is everything old new again, or is it fresh, new, Scandinavian points of view that you are seeing? I'd really love to hear your thoughts.  

The image is my cousin's dining room, with some of our family, a beautiful Danish home interior.

 

Tuesday
Sep042007

Kitchen Dining Inspiration via Restaurant Interiors?

DSCF1708a.jpgKnowing Design*Sponge has a love for restaurant interior design, I offered to snap a few shots of restaurants while in Denmark. Here's the result of passing by fantastic restaurants, during two weeks of strolling through Copenhagen and beyond.

See the whole slide show of my images via Design*Sponge.  

Now, down to the issue...can one get inspiration for one's home from restaurants? Of course! How many times have you gone to a hotel or other public area, including restaurants and been inspired by the colors, textures, or other interesting or beautiful feature of a public space? It's a fantastic source, truth be told, of inspiration. Keep your camera handy, snap what "speaks to you" and save it in your file of ideas. The interpretation of the design can shift from larger proportions to smaller in most cases. No, you won't have 50 tables in your own dining area, but if you are observant of the interior design, and are open to it, these areas can be a valuable resource of ideas. Remove the white table cloths, and you have a great kitchen dining spot which can be tweaked to be more or less formal as you need.

This image, below, is a room for a larger party in the restaurant. Both images are from the restaurant, Madklubben.  Thanks for the mention, d*s!

Kitchen%20Dining%20Area 

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