A good kitchen designer in the suburbs and one in Manhattan are not the same job. In a Manhattan apartment, drawings must get past a co-op board, cabinets must fit in the freight elevator, and the walls haven’t been square in decades. The design matters, but so does knowing the building.

Know which kind of designer you need

• Showroom designer. Designs the kitchen and supplies the cabinetry, usually including appliances and hardware. One team owns the drawings and the product, so fewer things fall between the cracks.
• Independent kitchen designer. Designs the kitchen and charges a fee, then you buy cabinets separately. Look for NKBA certification (CKD) as a sign of training.
• Interior designer. Leads the look of the whole apartment. Many bring in a kitchen specialist for the technical drawings, and the best kitchens often come from that partnership.
• Architect. Needed when walls move, plumbing relocates, or the building requires stamped drawings. Kitchen designers and architects collaborate on larger renovations.

Hire someone who knows Manhattan buildings

• The alteration agreement. Co-ops and condos have their own rules for renovations. Your designer needs to read it before they draw anything, not after.
• Board approval. That generally takes 4 to 8 weeks after the complete package is submitted. A designer who’s done it before will know exactly what the board architect is going to ask for.
• The wet-over-dry rule. Many co-ops won’t let you move a kitchen or a sink over a neighbor’s living room or bedroom. It’s the rule that determines whether or not that new layout is even going to be possible.
• Electrical capacity. Older buildings are often not up to the job of an induction cooktop, two ovens, and a steam oven without some form of upgrade. Plan your appliances around what the panel can actually carry.
• Delivery and working hours. The cabinets have to fit in the freight elevator, and the hallway has a turn. Most buildings will only allow work during the week and will require insurance certs from every trade.
• Out-of-square walls: pre-war walls are going to be leaning, and the floors are going to be sloping. The cabinets will need a lot of field measuring and scribing to sit properly against the walls.

Read the portfolio the right way

• Ask for kitchens your size. Small Manhattan kitchens are a skill of their own.
• Ask for building names. A designer who has worked in your building, or one like it, already knows the board and the super.
• Real photos, not renderings. Renderings show what was planned. Photos show what got built. Every residential photo on our site is a completed project, never a rendering or manufacturer stock image.
• Visit a showroom. Opening a drawer and touching a finish tells you more about quality than any photo.

Questions to ask at the first meeting

1. How many kitchens have you done in co-ops and condos, and in which buildings?
2. Will you review my alteration agreement and get the drawings the board requires?
3. Who’s going to measure the space and when? It should be done on site and then again prior to ordering.
4. What does the fee cover and is it applied to the cabinetry if we go through you?
5. What’s the cabinet lead time and when do I need to approve the final drawings in order to meet that?
6. Do you work with my contractor or do you recommend one?
7. Who is my design-through-installation contact?
8. What if the cabinet arrives damaged or doesn’t fit?

Understand how they charge

Red flags

• They give you a price prior to measuring the space.
• They haven’t asked to see your alteration agreement.
• Every project in their portfolio is a render.
• They won’t tell you the cabinet lead time.
• They promise a completion date before the board has even approved the plans.

Frequently asked questions

See it before you decide