Head First into Kitchen Design

Our first designer we’re diving into is Ryanne – a cabinet designer with a degree in interior design.

Ryanne studied Interior Design at Western Carolina University and had a minor in art.  Due to the economy recovery from the recession, when she graduated in 2013, she had a hard time finding a job in interior design.  More recently, in 2017 she got a job at a custom cabinet business who also just recently opened a Kitchen and Bath Design Center.

She says her interior design degree helped her learn the fundamentals of design but there was so much more to learn when she started working in design.  In school, you only have 4 years if that to learn all you can about interior design which is often not enough. So depending on your job, and the programs they use there, there is almost always a large learning curve.  

Ryanne mainly designs kitchen and bathrooms.  She has client meetings weekly and on days where she does not have a meeting, she works on designing the cabinets in Cabinet Vision and ordering cabinets and other design elements like lighting and tile from the vendors.  

A common misconception that she runs into, as an interior designer, is that the clients expect a complicated remodel to be simple, cost-effective, and done in a timely manner, even as they run into problems.  Remodeling a home is a very extensive and time consuming. Ryanne says, “The most common misconception is that remodels don’t take that long. The TV shows a full remodel in a 30-60 minute TV show, but there are many things going on behind the scenes that are happening that are cut out. Even the smallest remodel can take a month or more!”

Her favorite part about her job is the family atmosphere that is in the workplace and her ability to interact with clients and make their design dreams become a reality.

Happy designing, Ryanne!