About 5 years ago Lowes eliminated commission for their kitchen designers. Lowes, in particular recently made sure that no experienced kitchen designers would work for them. This policy makes sense when you decide not to employ good kitchen designers, as it limits your liability.
Despite the fact that over half of all kitchen renovations today involve removing a wall. Both home centers also recently decided not to design or install kitchens that remove load bearing and even non load bearing walls. For example both locations no longer allow the person designing your kitchen to ever see your home, or measure your kitchen. Because of this quite often kitchen designers at both home centers were payed in line with department managers.Īs time has gone by home centers have continued to decrease what they are willing to pay kitchen designers and both Lowes and The Home Depot have tried to limit their responsibility in designing and managing kitchen renovations. Knowledge of complex kitchen cabinetry, countertop specifications, kitchen design, and of all types of construction is a must. Unlike selling retail merchandise where only a limited knowledge of the products you sell is required, designing kitchens requires far more expertise. The reason for the lack of support by home center management is that designing kitchens is very different from retail sales.ĭesigning and helping organize a kitchen construction project requires a great deal of knowledge and experience.
In the past, home center kitchen designers worked around company policies that hindered doing their job effectively. The corporate environment at home centers has always been at odds with what is required to design and sell complex kitchen renovations. However due to a combination of poor decisions made at the corporate level, I now feel that particularly Lowes, but also The Home Depot, are poor locations to design and to buy a kitchen. And contrary to what many people believe both Lowes and The Home Depost sell well made cabinets if they are upgraded as needed. I have often defended home centers as not a bad place to work with if you are designing a kitchen and you do a good job finding the most experienced home center designer in your area. Homeowners often use home centers like Lowes and The Home Depot to design their kitchens and to buy cabinetry.
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