The Urbane Kitchens tried and tested seven-step design, ordering and installation process ensures that your kitchen is one that you will love for years to come.
In this section we have distilled our personal design process to give you a flavour for the way that we can work together to help create your dream kitchen. Pop into our Zetland Road showroom or call to make an appointment with one of our professional and experienced designers. Then sit back and watch your vision unfold as a solid plan.
The
Survey and Brief
Once you have decided to proceed with a design for your new kitchen we can
either make an appointment to visit you in your home or on site to conduct
a survey or we can make an appointment for you to bring your plans into our
showroom. We will at this point sit down with you over a cup of tea and
take a brief from you about all of your requirements for the kitchen. We
have a lot of questions to ask as we are very in depth with the brief to ensure
that every small appliance has a home, children and animals are taken into
consideration, your storage and cooking requirements are covered etc. It
is best to allow around an hour and a half for this stage for us to discuss
your needs and to measure up the room.
If you require any building works, please mention this when making the appointment
as we will arrange for a builder to join us for the survey or pay a visit in
the case of plans being available for a new extension.
The Design
We will then spend several days designing and quoting your kitchen. We usually work to a lead time of between one to two weeks, but we will advise you as soon as your design is ready by phone and arrange an appointment for you to come to the studio to have a look. It is helpful to us if you have had a look through our catalogues and have an idea of what doors you like or an overall look that you are trying to achieve. Some of our clients have kept cut outs from magazines for us which is another useful way to get your ideas across.
Presentation
Once in the studio we will show you your new kitchen plan on computer. We will talk you through the units and their sizes and functions and reasons for being where they are within the room. We will show you the room in 3D and give you a set of pictures to take away. We will also show you all of the materials we have used within the design and you can browse the selection available in the showroom to help you to make decisions. There are usually one, two and sometimes three or four of these meetings to tweak the design if necessary or to finalise choices of appliances, sinks, taps, handles etc.
Ordering
Our kitchens take between 4 and 5 weeks to build and deliver to site. The
good thing is that they are made to order and each unit is built and ready
to install which speeds up the installation time and saves you from being without
your kitchen for so long. We require a deposit of 25% to get the kitchen
ordered. If we are fitting your kitchen we would require a further 65%
of the total of the order one week prior to delivery and a final 10% will be
charged on completion of the work. In the case that you want us to just
supply the kitchen for you to fit we would require the 75% balance one week
prior to delivery.
We accept cheques and BACS payments.
Second Survey
Once you have decided to proceed with your order we will arrange a suitable time for a builder to come to site to double check all measurements and look for any plumbing/electrical work that may not have been noted on the initial survey. This is our opportunity to make any changes required to your order should walls be out of square or built any differently to architects plans etc. Even a plasterer who works with thicker coats can make a difference to the overall space available for units, so this is our chance to make changes before the cabinets get built. If we discover any problems such as rot or damp or you have decided to have any other building work carried out at the same time, then our builder will quote the work at this stage and the amount will be added onto your bill. It is usually the case that clients make the most of a team of tradesmen being in the home and get those odd jobs done that have been hanging around waiting for attention!
Building Works & Installation
Building works usually commence prior to the arrival of the kitchen and the
time taken depends totally on the works to be carried out. We always
endeavour to carry these out with the minimum of disruption, however this is
usually dusty dirty work and it is advisable to move any valuable items well
out of the way and clear the area as best as you can. Being without a
kitchen for a while can be stressful, so pack up and label the contents of
the kitchen and have a good clear out of things you no longer need. Keep
out some crockery and cutlery and tea making facilities such as kettle and
toaster. Think about plugging the fridge and microwave in elsewhere.
Alternatively, organise to have your kitchen fitted while you are on holiday,
this is perfectly safe to do, and lessens the impact on your family.
We have several checks in place to ensure that items are not missing from an
order or damaged in transit. This is a rare occurrence, but when it happens we
ensure a fast turnaround for replacements, so don’t panic. Leave the problems
to us.
Snagging and photographs
Our building managers will be monitoring progress regularly and checking quality control. Any issues or concerns you have at this stage can be referred to your on-site fitter in the first instance. They will also note any small items to be completed before we leave site. If you spot anything that you would like changed at this stage report this to them and it will be arranged. When the kitchen is complete we will come to take photographs of it for you. We keep copies of these in our album in the showroom and they are available for us to email or print out for you if you would like a copy for your own records of the transformation!