Smells Like Team Spirit
Rewards multiply when players on a kitchen design project coordinate moves to score points with clients
By: Brad Berton
Successful collaboration among designers, architects, craftspeople and other players on a kitchen-design project resembles a winning football team. The lead designer on a project is the coach, who leads his team to victory, developing and advising his players on strategy before the big game.
Good team strategies result in superior results fro the clients and accolades for the design team. Of course, the best strategies depend on the strength of the team. According to Mark White, CEO, Kitchen Encounters, Annapolis, MD, pulling together a team for a project requires good intuitive judgment. To gather the best combination of professionals for a project, White emphasizes the best match of personalities.
"Knowing each member's specific skills and experience is key-and just as crucial as the scope and budget of the project," says White. Considering the strengths of each player is particularly important when kitchen designers work with architects and interior designers, he says. "You need a group willing to work with a cooperative, sharing spirit that will respect each other's professional skills and avoid stepping on each other's feet."
Another key to productive teamwork is ensuring that the specialists involved share a sound foundation of knowledge. "Each team member should be knowledgeable about all aspects of the business in addition to their respective discipline," says Rick Glickman, CEO, Dream Kitchens, Skokie, IL. "It's like a football team. Catching passes is what your wide receiver does best, but you also want him to be able to block."
Once the right team is in place, the starting point depends on the project. In a major kitchen expansion or a comprehensive home remodel, the lead designer should consult early and extensively with the lead architect, says White. Up-front collaboration is especially integral to open-plan kitchens, where aesthetic consistency and the blending of adjacent spaces are the goals, he says.
White also says that up-front brainstorming sessions with team members can help prevent a plan from becoming too extravagant. "Early input can really help keep things on target budget-wise."
Some recent projects illustrate how synergy among professional team members can better accommodate a client's needs and desires.
Draft a Game Plan...
Gallery Kitchen...
Kitchen specialists like Glickman serve clients by providing comprehensive professional teamwork in-house. While his firm occasionally works with outside architects and interior designers, a recent job illustrates the one-stop team approach his firm, Dream Kitchens, typically employs.
The client meets in logical succession with the key specialists on the company's team, says Glickman. Nonetheless, all Dream Kitchens pros are "knowledgeable about all our functions, and we check each other's work all along the way," he says.
First, Glickman or another space-planning specialist works to refine what will go where. "I leave much of the more artistic functions to other team members," he says. Next up are the technical draftsmen, who detail the most appropriate cabinetry and related parts, and also advise on the logistical sequence of the work. Then come consultants adept in color, style and other artistic details.
The scope of the recent project illustrates a common request these days: conversion of the home's original gallery-type kitchen into an open or great room plan that invites social interaction. To accomplish this openness, the team had to remove the obtrusive peninsula that housed the cooktop.
Glickman acted as the key client contact in orchestrating this removal and other necessary design maneuvers. He conceived and sketched out the improved space plan and consulted the client on financial matter, with the help of on-site estimating by the firm's project manager and carpenters. And by retaining general project oversight, he was poised and available to smooth out any unexpected rough specs.
With Glickman's sketches and budget in hand, design-team leader Audrey LaVecchia created detailed technical drawings specifying the work to be done. Meanwhile, interior designer Karen Feldheim helped the client select everything from styles, finishes, furnishings and fabrics to stained glass for the cabinets above the oven.
Glickman says the completed kitchen design is impressive, a result he credits to his design team. "Everyone here receives bonuses on all our projects," he notes, adding that the company's structure (one that he fostered) promotes teamwork for the benefit of the client and the entire Dream Kitchen staff.
