Kitchen Architecture | 13

The Team and Coordination Behind the Finished Room

Now what?

The architecture may be resolved. The cabinetry may be precisely detailed. Appliances, lighting, mechanical systems, materials and finishes may all be coordinated.

Now it’s time to build it.

Walls have to change.
Utilities have to arrive in the right places.
Cabinetry has to be installed accurately.
Stone has to be fabricated and fitted.
Details have to survive the realities of the jobsite.

And hundreds of decisions — many of them nearly invisible — have to be made correctly along the way.

That is Design Realization.

It is where everything developed during design becomes physical.

Construction is performed by people.

That sounds obvious, but it is one of the most important realities of remodeling.

Detailed drawings can communicate the design.
Specifications can establish requirements.
But the finished project still depends on the judgment, craftsmanship, communication and professionalism of the people carrying out the work.

That is why we place considerable value on an established team.

Our electrician and his son have worked with us since 2010.
Our countertop fabricator has installed our projects since 2009.
Scott has been part of Edmond Kitchen & Bath LLC for more than two decades, and Ryan has worked within our field team for more than six years.

The value of those relationships is not simply longevity.

It is knowing how people perform.

From the EKB archive | 2009 — Scott preparing cabinetry during an Edmond Kitchen & Bath LLC remodel. More than two decades later, he remains part of the team building our projects today.

A homeowner managing a remodel independently can usually find electricians, plumbers, tile installers, painters and carpenters.

The more difficult question is determining which ones should be trusted with a complex project.

Online reviews can help.
Photographs can help.
Referrals can help.

But they cannot always tell you:
Will this person arrive when the project requires them?
Will they recognize something that does not look right?
Will they ask before making a change that affects another part of the design?
Will they protect work that has already been completed?
Will they communicate when a problem appears?

And can they work effectively with everyone else on the project?

Those answers are difficult to know before construction begins.

We know them because we have worked beside many of the same people repeatedly.

A long relationship has value only when performance continues to earn it.

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A kitchen is not built by independent people working in isolation.

One person’s work becomes the starting point for the next.
Framing affects drywall.
Drywall affects cabinetry.
Cabinetry affects countertops.
Electrical affects appliances and lighting.
Plumbing affects sinks, dishwashers, refrigeration, and cabinet interiors.
Ventilation can affect framing, cabinetry, and mechanical systems.

A decision made by one trade can easily become a problem for another.

In fact, many construction problems do not begin because someone does not know how to perform their individual trade.

They begin where one trade’s work meets another’s.

That is why coordination matters.

The kitchen is not a collection of separate scopes.

It is one integrated project.

Homeowners sometimes consider hiring the individual trades themselves as a way to reduce the cost of a remodel.

That approach can work.

But removing the general contractor or project manager does not remove the work that person performs.

Someone still has to determine the scope of each trade.
Someone has to establish the sequence.
Someone has to make sure the electrician has the right information before the wall is closed.
Someone has to coordinate the plumber with the cabinetry.
Someone has to make sure a change made today does not create a problem for the countertop fabricator, appliance installer, or another trade several weeks from now.
And when two scopes overlap—or when each contractor believes something belongs to someone else—someone has to decide what happens next.

For a homeowner managing the project themselves, that person is the homeowner.

A turnkey Design + Build project should be different.

Our clients remain involved in the decisions that matter to them. They should not have to explain the kitchen design to the electrician, coordinate the plumber with the cabinet installer, determine whether everyone received the latest information, or referee competing interpretations in the field.

That coordination is part of what they hired us to provide.

From the EKB archive | 2009 — Reviewing the project together in the field. Design decisions remain connected to the people responsible for building them.

Construction rarely proceeds without an unexpected condition.

That is especially true in remodeling.

A wall is opened and the framing is different from what was expected.
A floor is not level.
Old plumbing is discovered somewhere it was not supposed to be.
Previous remodeling work creates an unusual condition.
A dimension in the actual house differs from what might have been assumed before demolition.

The objective is not to pretend those situations will never occur.

The objective is to have experienced people who recognize the problem, understand what it affects, and know when a decision needs to involve someone else before proceeding.

Over time, experienced people develop pattern recognition.
They anticipate conflicts.
They question dimensions that do not look right.
They understand tolerances.
They think about what happens next—not simply the task immediately in front of them.

Ryan, for example, approaches projects with what we often describe as an engineer’s eye: looking at how the pieces fit together and recognizing when something needs attention before it affects the next stage of construction.

That type of judgment helps preserve the precision established during design.

Existing conditions are not always what the finished wall suggests. Remodeling requires experienced judgment when construction reveals something unexpected.

There is another advantage to people working together repeatedly.

They learn one another’s expectations.

Our people know that dimensions matter.
They know that appliance requirements have been considered.
They know that alignments and details may exist for a reason.
They know that when a field condition does not match the plan, we would rather stop and discuss it than discover the consequences several steps later.

They also understand each other’s work.
Our electrician understands that what he does may affect the cabinetry.
Our carpenters understand what the countertop fabricator will need.
Our Project Manager understands the design intent behind both.

Questions can be resolved more effectively because the people involved already understand the process and their responsibilities within it.

That does not eliminate every challenge inherent in construction.

It does remove a significant unknown. Which makes the entire process much smoother.

Ryan finishing the installation of our Custom matte black venthood while Scott stands by to give a hand.

A project should not lose information every time it changes hands.

The people who helped develop the project need to remain connected to the people responsible for building it.

That continuity is particularly important in a remodel, where the work is taking place inside someone’s home for weeks or months.

Clients need to know who is responsible.
Who understands the plan.
Who to ask when they have a question.
And who will still be involved when the project reaches its final details.

Our core team remains involved throughout the process so that the reasoning established during design does not disappear once construction begins.

For new construction, that same approach extends to coordination with the builder and the larger construction team. Our responsibility is to provide the information and involvement necessary to help our portion of the project be executed correctly.

Different environment.

Same principle.

The design will survive the construction process.

The EKB team has an average tenure of over 18 years EACH.

Beautiful craftsmanship matters.

So does everything surrounding it.

Communication.
Reliability.
Respect for the client’s home.
Respect for another trade’s work.
Taking responsibility when something needs attention.
Knowing when to ask a question instead of making an assumption.
And maintaining the same standards near the end of a long project that existed at the beginning.

Craftsmanship is not only the ability to produce excellent work.

It is the professionalism required to produce that work consistently while other people are depending on you.

Some of the most important moments in a successful project will never appear in the finished photographs.

A question asked before a wall was closed.
A dimension checked before cabinetry entered production.
A conflict discovered before the next trade arrived.
A conversation that prevented an incorrect assumption.
A field condition resolved without compromising the design.

Those moments are not dramatic.

That is often the point.

Good project management resolves small issues while they are still small.

By the time the finished kitchen is photographed, the homeowner sees the result—not everything that had to happen to produce it.

Robert asking framing questions after the wall was opened.

Kitchen Architecture begins with ideas.

The Blueprint establishes the room.
Workflow & Circulation determine how it functions.
Cabinetry Composition shapes the elevations.
Storage determines what happens inside.
Proportion & Sightlines organize what we see.
Appliances influence the surrounding design.
Lighting reveals it.
Cabinet Construction turns drawings into physical cabinetry.
The Finish protects it.
Mechanical Architecture supports it behind the surfaces.
Materials & Performance determine what those surfaces should be made from.
The Details resolve where everything meets.
And finally, Design Realization brings all of those decisions into the finished home.

At Edmond Kitchen & Bath LLC, the design process and construction process are connected by an experienced core team and long-term trade relationships.

We know our drawings.
We know our expectations.
We know how the work being performed today affects what has to happen tomorrow.
And we remain involved until the ideas developed on paper have become the room they were intended to create.

Because a great design is only the beginning.

It still has to be built.

All images are actual Edmond Kitchen & Bath LLC projects.