1. Does JohnCookKitchens handle red tape with the government?
Yes. If we are your contractor, we handle all phases of the permit process
and necessary paperwork to get a permit for your remodeling project. The
process isn’t very complicated if you know what you are doing, but it can
take a lot of time. Drawings and applications must be submitted just the
way the building department wants or you may have to redo your drawings
and resubmit. You can sometimes wait at the permit office for hours only to
find you have something wrong or incomplete and have to redo the
drawings, make the necessary copies and return to the building
department to go through the waiting process again. It can be quite
frustrating. Understanding what the building department is looking for on
the drawings and application helps tremendously and speeds up the
process.

2. Do you handle lighting?
Yes we do. We handle some lighting ourselves (under cabinet lights,
simple down lights over the work countertops, etc.) When the lighting is
more involved, we have a lighting consultant who designs the lighting layout
and provides the proper light fixtures for your remodeling project.

3. What other 'specifications' are needed?
When you hire us to do your kitchen design, we help you choose countertop
material, flooring, light fixtures, appliances, and even paint colors. Once all
the finishes of your project are designed, we put together a complete
package of all drawings (plan views, elevations, soffit plans, lighting plans,
demolition plan, new wall plans, electrical and plumbing rough-in locations)
and all specifications of the chosen finishes (appliance cut sheets,
specifications on the flooring material, countertop material, paint colors,
etc.) so your project can be built from these plans and specifications.
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4. My designer is a CKD, what does that mean?
CKD stands for Certified Kitchen Designer. It is a designation issued by
the National Kitchen and Bath Association ( NKBA) for designers who
have met the design experience criteria and have passed the CKD exam.
It is a pretty involved process and requires a lot of commitment and hard
work to attain. A designer must first have a minimum of seven years full-
time (35 hours a week) professional experience with at least three of those
seven years in full-time kitchen or bathroom design. This experience must
then be approved by NKBA before the designer can sit for the exam. Once
the CKD exam is passed, a CKD certification is issued. But that doesn’t
end it… the designer must also earn a number of continuing education
“points” each year by attending seminars, and other classes approved by
NKBA to keep their CKD certification current. Sometimes these classes
are put on by the local NKBA chapter (in Hawaii it is called the Aloha
Chapter of NKBA) and sometimes the designer has to research on their
own to find classes the NKBA will approve for this continuing education
requirement.

5. Why do I need a designer?
Picking out cabinets to fit in a kitchen is easy. It is the thought that goes into
the design and layout that requires talent and education. Designers work to
ensure that your kitchen functions properly, traffic flows well through the
kitchen, the “work triangle” is within NKBA guidelines, and many other
criteria. (The work triangle is a triangle created by drawing lines between
your sink, refrigerator and cooktop. The sum of the length of the sides of
the triangle should be no more than 26’. This makes for a convenient
workspace that does not require lots of walking to prepare a meal.) There
are 40 specific design guidelines that designers try to follow when
designing your kitchen. It is usually impossible to satisfy all the guidelines in
any one kitchen, but we try to cover as many as possible within your space
and budget. The kitchen should also be attractive with colors, textures and
styles of the various components complimenting one another. Customers
can spend anywhere from $ 10,000 to $100,000 for kitchen remodeling
and nothing is as frustrating as spending all that money and realizing the
mistakes you could have avoided by consulting a professional. Laymen
think they can do it themselves, but more often than not, they are
disappointed. The problems created by not hiring a professional waste
money, make for a poorly functioning kitchen and can hurt you financially
when you sell your home. Homebuyers look at the kitchen more than any
other room in the house.
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FAQ'S Continued