Most people walk into a first kitchen design meeting with a Pinterest folder and a rough number in their head. That is a truly meaningful and useful starting point. But there are a handful of things that would make the conversation significantly more useful for both of you.
Before you arrive
Take your key measurements. You do not need a full architectural survey. You need the basics: the length and width of the room, ceiling height, the position and width of windows and doors, which way the doors open, and the location of any fixed constraints such as a soil pipe, boiler or consumer unit. If you are extending and do not have all of this yet, bring what you have.
These measurements stop the first meeting from being spent guessing. They also sometimes reveal constraints early that are much easier to design around from the start than to solve once a brief is already established.
Write two lists: non-negotiables and nice-to-haves. The non-negotiables shape the design. The nice-to-haves shape the conversation. A non-negotiable might be a boiling water tap, or enough island space for the children to sit and eat breakfast. A nice-to-have might be an integrated wine fridge or open shelving. The designer needs to know which is which.
Gather inspiration as mood, not instruction. A folder of images that captures how you want the room to feel is more useful than a precise specification of what you want it to look like. The kitchen you saw on holiday that made you think, “this is what I want mornings to feel like.” Bring images like that. Do not worry about whether they are technically achievable. The designer’s job is to translate feeling into a space that works.
Know your rough budget, and say it. This is the one people most often avoid. Being honest about a number in the first meeting is a gift to both parties. A good designer will work with the budget you have, not the budget they wish you had. A vague brief produces vague proposals, and the first awkward conversation about money tends to happen much later than it should.
What actually happens in a Waterfield consultation
The first question a Waterfield designer will ask is how you use the room, not what you want it to look like.
Where do you stand most often when you are in the kitchen? How many people are cooking at the same time? Do you eat in here? Where do the children tend to be? When you unload the dishwasher do you turn right or left to put the plates away? Where do you want your sink, and does the island need plumbing or is it a prep and storage space only?
These questions sound like conversation. They are design decisions. The answers shape which way the island faces, where the hob sits, and whether the flow from fridge to prep area to cooking zone makes sense for how the room is actually used.
What the designer will ask you your preference for specific door profiles, handle styles or paint colours but these questions come later. The first meeting is about understanding how the room needs to work. Everything that follows serves that.
Five questions to ask your designer
A good consultation should leave you with clear answers to these five things.
What is included in the quote, and what is not? Installation, worktops, appliances, survey and design should all be accounted for. Plumbing, electrics, gas connection and structural work typically sit outside the kitchen quote and need to be budgeted separately. Ask explicitly.
What happens if the brief changes? Kitchens can be long projects and briefs evolve. Understanding how changes are handled, and at what stage they become costly, is worth knowing from the start.
Who will you be dealing with throughout? From first drawings to the last day of installation, knowing who your point of contact is and how accessible they are matters more than it might seem at the outset.
Can you see examples of comparable projects? Not necessarily in terms of style, but in terms of size, layout complexity or budget range. Seeing the breadth of what a company has made tells you more than seeing their most photographed project.
What does the timeline look like from today? A broad picture of what happens when, from initial design presentation to the day installation begins, gives you something to plan around.
What happens after the consultation
After the consultation, you will be invited back to our [workshop] around two weeks later to see your kitchen designed in 3D. That presentation includes the layout, elevations, renders, suggested materials and an initial cost. It is the end of our free design service and the point where you decide whether to move forward with Waterfield.
If you do, we move into the detailed technical design. This is the collaborative stage where every specification, every finish, every measurement is refined until the design is exactly right. Nothing goes to the workshop until you are completely happy with it.
The consultation is not the moment to decide. It is the beginning of understanding whether the project, the company and the brief are the right fit. If they are, the process moves forward with a shared understanding of what is being made and what it will cost.
Ready to get started?
Come prepared. Come curious. Come honest about the budget. The rest follows from there.
