How to get a deVOL kitchen
28th October 2016
This month I got the chance to take on a new challenge at deVOL. We’ve just had lots of lovely new staff join us here in London ready for the opening of our new St John’s Square showroom (which will hopefully be finished very soon!) but before they all arrived, there was a bit of time when the design team needed a bit of help, and I was happy to lend a hand. It’s the nice thing about working in a small company, I know every job ad seems to say “no two days are the same” but here it’s actually true, your job role isn’t set in stone, people do what they’re good at and help out however they can. It also means you get to mix things up, work with new people and learn new things. I actually really enjoyed dipping my toe into the design side of things for a couple of weeks. CAD drawings, booking schedules and loads of time in the showroom chatting to our lovely customers, it’s pretty different to our little world of PR but still really cool!
I always thought it was one of the best things about deVOL; that you could get an expert to design your kitchen for you for free! I love interiors, my Pinterest is full of home inspo, I’m forever flicking through the latest mags or hunting around kooky little antique shops, but I am no designer and I wouldn’t really know where to start. So here at deVOL that’s the first step, and I suppose that’s why deVOL kitchens always end up so Intsagram-worthy, each one is special and has had so much thought put into it. All of our amazing designers are art or design graduates, a wonderfully creative and clever bunch with a real passion for design. I found it fascinating how they were all able to step back, look at all the options and bring it all together in a way I never even thought of! …and it helps that they’re all really lovely friendly people too!
So, I think it’s pretty safe to say that a free design service is a great start, but how do you actually go about getting a design for your new deVOL kitchen?!
First steps:
It’s all about what works best for you, so you have three options as to how to kick off the design process…
1. Book a design appointment
We have 2 – 3 hour mid-week design appointments at both our Leicestershire and London showrooms. This is a very thorough approach to creating your design, you work with two of our wonderful designers and change the design during the appointment depending upon your preferences. You’ll then be able to leave the appointment with a full design and cost breakdown from your designer. As you can imagine, these are pretty popular and so we get quite booked up, especially in London where we don’t have loads of space. There are more staff and lots more space at our Cotes Mill showrooms in Leicestershire though, so that’s a great option if you want to sit down with someone a little earlier, and it’s only about 1 hour and 15 minutes on a train from Kings Cross! I always find that so strange that you can go to a whole different county faster than you can get across London!
2. Book an initial appointment
If you can’t make a mid-week appointment but you still want to sit down with one of our team, we also offer shorter initial appointments on Saturdays (or during the week if that’s easier for you). This still involves thoroughly discussing your project with one of our designers, it just means that we will do the design work and send your plans and quote to you after the meeting.
3. Send in your plans
If you can’t make an appointment at either of our showrooms or you were looking for your design work a little earlier than we can book you in for an appointment, we’re happy to do your design work via email. This will usually involve a chat over the phone about your project with a designer before they begin working on your plans. Then if you would like to subsequently come in for a chat or to have a good look at the furniture we can arrange a meeting for a later date.
What we need:
There are a few bits of information we need from you before we can start on your designs. You can check out our design service page, or I’ve copied out some bullet points that list everything we require to get started:
- Full address and contact details
- Your time scales for the project, confirmation of planning permission (if necessary) and a rough idea of budget are always required
- A dimensioned room plan – this can be a simple hand drawn one, but we do need to have the windows, doors, ceiling heights etc. shown, along with any other features that may hinder the placement of furniture
- The range of furniture you would like; Classic English, Real Shaker, Air or Sebastian Cox
- Information on your appliances; fridge, cooker etc. (existing or to be purchased)
- A wish list and photos where possible will really help and links to Pinterest boards are useful too
When’s the best time to get in touch:
We usually work on projects that are looking to be installed in the next three to four months. Our timescales change depending on how busy we are, so it’s always best to check with the team. If you are looking to book an appointment at our London showroom, I’d recommend booking about a month in advance.
How to get in touch:
– To book a design appointment at our Cotes Mill showrooms, please give us a call on 01509 261000 or email the team at enquires@devolkitchens.co.uk
– To book a design appointment at our London showrooms, please give us a call on 0203 8375900 or email the team at london.enquires@devolkitchens.co.uk
– Or you can email your plans along with the above information to either enquires@devolkitchens.co.uk or london.enquiries@devolkitchens.co.uk and we would be happy to start the design process from there.
I hope this has been helpful and has made the process a little clearer, but if you would like any more information about our design service, or anything else, please do give us a call on 01509 261000 (Cotes Mill) or 0203 8375900 (London) or email us at enquires@devolkitchens.co.uk or london.enquiries@devolkitchens.co.uk. We would be really happy to answer any questions you may have!
– If you want to have a little nosy at our wonderful team of designers, do check out our staff page here.
– We now also have all of our brochures in stock, if you’d like to order your copy simply fill in the brochure request form here.