Starting a kitchen project in the new year: how to brief without drowning in tabs

We see enthusiastic clients arrive with contradictory saves: rustic timber beside mirror-gloss slabs. Sorting priorities first saves weeks of circular design.

Three columns

Non-negotiables (appliances you own, structural quirks), aspirations (island seating, pantry), and nice-to-haves. Bring approximate spend and your target move-in or build phase, we map options to both.

Budget bands, not single numbers

A single figure without scope is meaningless. We work with lower and upper guardrails so we can show what moves when you add stone thickness, upgrade internals, or widen an island. That conversation is calmer than discovering late that one change ate the contingency.

If you are comparing firms, ask each what their number includes, survey, design time, delivery, installation, stone templating, appliances, and VAT all land in different buckets depending who you speak to.

From brief to first layout

We respond to a clear brief with plan options that test traffic, storage volume, and focal points. You do not need to know drawer counts on day one; you do need to agree what success looks like when the project is finished.

January enquiries often want work in spring or summer. Starting the conversation now secures design capacity and lets long-lead appliances and stone slots be held without panic in April.