Kitchen designers, with a maker’s eye.

A kitchen designer should help you make the decisions that are difficult to see on a showroom display: which wall should carry the tall storage, where preparation space will be most useful, and what the room looks like when someone is cooking. Posh Design brings kitchen design and cabinetry making together at our Birmingham studio and workshop.

Tell us how the household uses the kitchen now. Do you cook together, batch-cook, entertain frequently or need breakfast to happen without blocking the school-morning rush? The answer changes the balance of worktop, refrigeration, food storage and seating.

An effective brief also records what the room must accommodate: existing appliances, a dining table, a route to the utility or a view you want to preserve. That lets the design develop around priorities instead of filling every available wall.

A plan should explain more than where the cabinets sit. Ask how drawers and appliance doors open, where extraction goes, where preparation happens and how the lighting supports it. Elevations help you assess the proportions of tall cabinetry, shelf positions and the relationship to doors and windows.

• ◆Review the main working routes and the space occupied by seating.
• ◆Confirm where small appliances will be used, not just stored.
• ◆Check the visible ends, fillers, plinths and junctions with walls and ceilings.

Good drawings turn assumptions into decisions you can discuss. They also make it easier to compare alternative layouts without being distracted by a change of colour.

If an architect or builder is involved, bring their current drawings early. A wall opening, glazing position or utility door can have a large effect on the kitchen. Design conversations are most useful while those choices are still open.

The agreed project scope should make responsibilities clear: surveys, building preparation, plumbing, electrics, worktops and appliance installation. A coherent plan needs both the furniture detail and a practical sequence for the room.

Read how the stages fit together in our design and installation process.

Our free design visit is a chance to discuss your room, priorities and budget with the studio. Bring plans if you have them, or photographs if you do not. Tell us which decisions are fixed and which are still open, including your intended building programme.

You can also explore materials and cabinetry in person at our Kings Norton showroom.