Claude and Fari are the maestros of clean-line, under-stated elegance!!!
Take it from a very satisfied cleint, NEVER second-guess their design aesthetic. They are always open to suggestions, however, remember why you hired award-winning designers. You'll be most pleased if you let them do what they do better than anyone else on the planet.
We bulit a custom home in Corona del Mar a few years ago. Euro Kitchens was referred to us by a friend. At the time of our introduction, we had already engaged another firm to design our kitchen and baths. (That was in additon to a team of architects/designers that handled everything else).
The kitchen and baths were fully designed and cabinets had been ordered...but something just didn't feel right. We knew our kitchen would be a very prominent component of our home and one of the first things you would see when you walked in.
When we met for the first time, we gave Claude and Fari "very simple" boundaries, "We envisioned that the kitchen would become the heart and soul of our home, but we don't want it to look, or operate, like a conventional kitchen. And please, DO NOT design it look like a model home kitchen."
We did have a budget, but requested that they design like we did not. We figured that we could always scale back certain items post-design - if we had to (we didn't).
Claude/Fari always arrived on time and always dressed like they had just flown in from Paris, or Fifth Ave. Again, simple elegance is their aesthetic.
Two days following our first on-site meeting, a free-hand elevation was e-mailed. The aesthetics and functionality (we actually planned on using our kitchen) were simply brilliant . The design was clean, soft-modern and artful. Just what we had imagined in our mind's eye. We agreed to the sketch-phase with no changes.
Claude and Fari next presented a scaled, full-color CADD poster and
pricing. The pricing/production scheduling were extremely fair. After a few minor tweaks, we signed up and were "off to the races".
BTW, if you hold the original CADD drawing up to our completed kitchen, it looks like they shot an advance photogragh. When you review the CADD, that's exactly what your finished product will look like - down to the faucets. It's uncanny.
Euro Kitchens and Baths also utilizes an amazing group of venders (stainless steel fabrication, counter tops, installers, etc.) that produce equally perfect work.
Now that the kitchen has been in everyday use for three years, it still looks as brilliant as it did the day it was installed. All of our friends/family love spending time in it. We have had 20+ friends in the kitchen all at the same time and it flows like a stream. If designed correctly, the modern-day kitchen is the place in the home that you tend to spend the most time in (excluding sleeping,etc.).
We also recently completed the additon of a wet bar and 8' x 2' fireplace by Claude and Fari. Again, we could not be happier with their magnificient work!
They treat every job like its their legacy.
We could not be happier with their work, or give them a higher recommendation. Enjoy!!
Ray and Debbie read more