Kitchen
Secret #12
How does a Kitchen Designer sell you 'empty space'?
A
Breakfast Bar, a Towel Rail Space and a Bin Space
have a lot in common - because they all take up 'space' in the kitchen
without costing much.
All they require
is enough worktop to hide the secret, perhaps some end panels or a leg
or two for support and a towel rail.
It is very cheap
to supply conventional laminated worktop for a kitchen. The average
cost for a three metre (12 feet) length equates to less than the cost
of an average single kitchen cupboard with door.
However, upon looking
at the amount of space that these three mirages take up within the kitchen
on the plan itself,
it can be easily understood why a customer might be led to believe that
it results in great value for money for the kitchen presented. It certainly
is a superb way of diverting their attention from the lack of cupboard
space. (refer to later on in Kitchen Secrets) Customer's
who haven't had a breakfast bar fitted in their previous kitchen can
be easily 'suckered in' by the designer in order to hit their budget.
There are many selling points to a breakfast bar -
"A breakfast bar is superb - not just to have your dinner at if you
want - it's great to have a coffee at, to read a newspaper on in the
morning and for a friend to sit at and join you when you're cooking.
Apart from that, it doubles up to offer a lot more worksurface."
Of course…
what the kitchen designer really meant to say was -
"Breakfast
bars are great because they take up lots of room - and if I can get
you to like it, then you won't notice the lack of cupboards in your
kitchen. If you don't notice the lack of cupboards in your kitchen,
then you'll probably think what you're getting is good value for money.
If you think
it's good value for money then I'll probably get a sale without having
to discount any extra so I'll earn lots and lots of money. Yee Haa!"
A towel and tray
space can be quite useful. An example can be found on figures 1 &
2 in Kitchen Secret 7. It does take up some space that might be put
to better use though. Most people find that they can hang up their dishtowels
in a better place. A gap created between units for a towel rail can
start to look ugly after a while due to discolouring of end panels on
either side. This happens because end panels tend to be made of an inferior
material compared to doors. Another cheeky 'addition' a designer may
sneak in is an extra 10cm (3 inches) to the width of a towel tray space.
This does nothing apart from increasing the overall width of the kitchen
by utilising bigger 'gaps'.
A 'bin storage
space' can even be 'sold' -
"In a lot
of kitchens that I design now people ask me if I can include a roll-under
bin storage space. It's a lot handier under the food-prep worksurface
to immediately get rid of waste."
Bingo - the customer
is happy with the extra 'feature' in his / her kitchen. The designer
is happy that the extra 'feature' has perceived value - yet it was introduced
to the design for virtually free.
However, there are
other ways to increase 'perceived value'. If a customer doesn't wish
to have a breakfast bar, a designer can still 'sell' the benefits of
them keeping a small table in the kitchen. Even if they have a dining
room. Imagine the amount of potential costly cupboard space that a designer
could remove from the final cost with the introduction of a table into
the design. Of course a successful 'sales designer' would draw the table
into the design - and the best part of it from the designer's perspective
is that he doesn't even have to supply the table after 'selling' it!
To summarise…
By successfully selling 'space', a designer can vastly increase his
opportunity of generating a sale. Whether it's selling the 'space' on
the wall to accentuate the 'feature canopy' in the design or disguising
the 'space' at the base level of the kitchen via a breakfast bar and
a bin space, its all just a different way of selling nothing for perceived
value.
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