Your kitchen designer, the right conversation.

The right kitchen designer should ask about your room before steering you towards a range. An early conversation is a chance to see whether they understand the way you cook, the storage you need and the decisions still open in your renovation. Posh Design offers free design visits from our Birmingham studio, with appointment arrangements confirmed for your location and brief.

A designer needs to know more than your preferred door colour. Expect to discuss who uses the kitchen, what does not work now, which appliances you want and how the room connects to the rest of the house. The conversation should also cover your budget and the stage of any building work.

Listen for a reason behind each suggestion. Moving the fridge might improve access from the entrance; reducing an island could create more useful circulation. You should be able to understand what a proposed change solves.

You can arrive with a problem and some preferences. There is no need to draw the final cabinet plan before meeting a designer. A short, honest brief is more useful than trying to include every feature you have seen online.

• ◆Take photographs from several angles, including entrances and windows.
• ◆Bring current plans or approximate dimensions and say how reliable they are.
• ◆List what you want to keep and what you want to change.
• ◆Separate essentials from desirable extras, and give a realistic budget range.

If you have a deadline, explain what drives it. A moving date, extension programme or family event needs to be discussed before anyone assumes a fitting schedule.

Ask each designer to explain the main working area, storage allocation and movement through the room. Look at what happens with the dishwasher open or when someone is sitting at the island. A strong render is useful, but it should not replace a workable plan.

Check how the design will progress: what information you receive next, which choices remain provisional and when the quotation becomes a settled specification. Find out who stays involved through technical design and installation.

For a closer look at the design work itself, read our Birmingham kitchen designers guide.

Our showroom and workshop are in Birmingham. A showroom discussion helps you compare materials and furniture; a home visit helps us understand the existing room. Send your postcode, project type and any plans with your enquiry so we can discuss the useful next step.

You can see examples of our approach in the bespoke kitchen collection.

The aim of the first visit is to turn a broad wish for a new kitchen into a clear brief you can develop with confidence.