Kitchen Design in Franklin, TN

Most kitchen regrets are design problems, not construction problems. The island is a foot too close to the range. The dishwasher door blocks the only path to the trash. The refrigerator sits at the far end of the room from the door where the groceries come in. None of that shows up until the cabinets are installed, unless somebody draws it to scale first.

Franklin and Brentwood homes give a designer specific things to work with. Builder kitchens from the 1990s and 2000s often have an angled peninsula, drywall soffits, a desk nook, and a small pantry closet, all of which can be reworked into better storage and a cleaner plan. Newer homes in Westhaven, Berry Farms, and Ladd Park often have 9 or 10 foot ceilings, which raises the question of stacked uppers or cabinets run to the ceiling. Older Brentwood ranch homes with 8 foot ceilings call for a different answer. We design for the house you have, and we do it before anything is ordered.

What Our Kitchen Design Service Includes

• A consultation in your home to see the room, the adjoining spaces, and how your household uses them
• Field measurements of walls, windows, ceiling heights, and the locations of plumbing, gas, vents, and electrical
• A scaled floor plan and cabinet elevations showing every cabinet, appliance, and clearance
• 3D renderings so you can see the room from the doorways and from where you will stand to cook
• A lighting and electrical plan covering recessed lights, under cabinet lighting, pendants, switches, and outlets
• Guided selections for cabinets, countertops, tile, flooring, sink, faucet, and hardware, with physical samples
• A check of structure and mechanical runs wherever the plan moves a wall, a sink, or a range
• Revisions until the drawings match what you want, followed by a fixed written price

How the Design Process Works

1. Meet in your kitchen. We look at the room with you and ask what bothers you about it, how you cook, and who else uses the space.
2. Measure everything. We take field measurements and note where the plumbing, gas, ductwork, and wiring run, including what we can see from the crawl space or attic when the layout may change.
3. Draw the layout. You get a scaled plan with 3D renderings. We go over it together and revise it until the clearances, storage, and sight lines are right.
4. Make the selections. We narrow cabinets, stone, tile, fixtures, and lighting with samples in hand, so each choice is made next to the others.
5. Approve and price. Once you approve the drawings and selections, you get a fixed written price. Changes only happen when you ask for them, and they are priced in writing first.
6. Order, then schedule. We order the cabinets and long lead materials and do not begin demolition until they have arrived and been inspected.

When a Kitchen Needs a Designer

• You are changing the layout, not just the finishes
• A wall may come down, and you need to know if it is load bearing before you plan around it
• Two people cannot work in the kitchen at the same time without colliding
• You have storage everywhere and still cannot find a place for the stand mixer or the sheet pans
• You are choosing between an island and a peninsula and cannot picture either one
• You are investing in new cabinets and want them sized to the room instead of to the old footprint

If the layout already works and you only want new surfaces, the design phase is shorter, but we still draw it. Even a new countertop depends on correct cabinet and appliance dimensions.

The Design Decisions That Matter Most

Layout comes first. We set the sink, range, and refrigerator so the paths between them are short and do not cross the main walkway through the room. Aisles are sized for the way you cook. A single cook can work in a tighter aisle. Two cooks, or an aisle behind island seating, need more. Landing space beside the range, the refrigerator, and the ovens gets drawn in, because that is where a hot pan or a bag of groceries has to go.

Cabinet construction is the next decision. Framed cabinets with inset doors have a tailored, furniture look that suits older homes near downtown Franklin, and the doors need room to move with the seasons. Frameless, full access cabinets give more interior space and suit a cleaner style. Either way, we look for plywood boxes, dovetailed drawer boxes, and soft close undermount slides. Door style and finish follow from the house: a Shaker door in paint grade maple, a slab door in rift cut white oak, or a beaded inset for a more traditional room. See our custom kitchen cabinets page for more on those choices.

Lighting is the part most often left to chance. We plan it in layers: recessed lights placed over the counter edge instead of in a centered grid, under cabinet lighting for task work, and pendants or a fixture where the room needs a focal point. The plan is drawn alongside the cabinets, so switches and outlets land where they are useful. More detail is on our kitchen lighting page.

What Drives the Cost of a Kitchen Design

• The size of the kitchen and the number of adjoining spaces included in the plan
• How much the layout changes, since moving walls, plumbing, or gas requires more investigation and drawing
• Structural questions, such as a load bearing wall that needs an engineered beam
• The level of cabinet detail, from standard sizes to fully custom pieces drawn one by one
• The number of selections to be made and how many revisions the drawings go through

Design is the first phase of your project with us, not a separate product. Once the design is approved, you get a fixed written price for the full kitchen renovation before demolition, and the only changes are ones you ask for, priced in writing first.

Start With a Drawing

A kitchen is far easier to change on paper than after the cabinets arrive. Book a kitchen consultation and we will measure your room, listen to how you use it, and show you what it could be at scale. Or call (615) 555-0100.

What does a kitchen designer do?

A kitchen designer turns how you cook and live into a buildable plan. That means measuring the room, deciding where the sink, range, and refrigerator belong, sizing every cabinet, planning storage, lighting, and outlets, and helping you choose materials that work together. A good design also accounts for what is inside the walls and above the ceiling, so the drawing can be built as drawn without surprises once the room is opened.

Do I need a kitchen design before I get a price?

For a firm price, yes. Without a layout, a cabinet list, and material selections, any number is a guess that tends to move once work begins. We can talk through general cost drivers at the consultation, but the fixed written price comes after you approve the design, because that is the point where every cabinet, countertop, fixture, and trade task is defined and can be priced accurately.

How does the kitchen design process work?

It starts with a consultation in your home, where we look at the room and talk about what is not working. We then take field measurements and draw a scaled layout with 3D renderings. You look it over, we revise it, and you choose cabinets, counters, tile, fixtures, and lighting. Once you approve the final drawings and selections, we give you a fixed written price and place the orders.

Can you design a kitchen around the appliances I already picked?

Yes, and it helps to tell us early. Appliance sizes drive cabinet sizes, so a 48 inch range, a built in refrigerator, or a switch from gas to induction changes the layout around it. Induction also needs a 240 volt circuit of the right size. Bring model numbers to the consultation if you have them, and we will draw the cabinetry, ventilation, and electrical plan to fit.

Will the 3D renderings show my actual materials?

They show the layout, the cabinet door style, and colors close to your selections, which is enough to judge proportions, sight lines, and how the room feels from each doorway. A rendering cannot fully capture a natural stone slab or a wood grain, so we pair the drawings with physical samples. Slabs are chosen in person at a stone yard, and door samples are viewed in your own light.