How We Work
By bringing together modern manufacturing and design technology with traditional crafting techniques, we have proven great quality does not have to cost vast sums. We take advantage of this combination of tradition and tech to offer a bespoke alternative to the formulaic approach of the high-street showrooms and at much better value than brands charging London prices.
We work in country houses of all sizes, from cottages to manor houses. Our bespoke kitchen designs take inspiration from both the great periods of English architecture and the architecture of our client's homes.
Being flexible in our design approach allows us to create modern family spaces which achieve the perfect balance between period personality and modern convenience.
In 2023 we celebrated our 20th year. A fundamental element of our success to date has been our insistence on keeping our feet firmly on the ground. By not sticking our heads above the parapet. It’s likely you have found our website through recommendation; 80% of our clients find us this way. We don’t advertise.
Our grounded approach reflects us as individuals. It is honest, uncomplicated, and devoid of unnecessary flamboyance, over engineering and cost. Instead, we prefer to take an empathetic approach to each project, working closely with our clients, listening to their opinions, and advising as best we can. We think it’s important to respect the efforts and funds our clients are investing into their projects by being as careful with their money as we would be with our own. That might sound a bit twee. But it’s how we behave.
We hope that by having explored our website, you are building a picture of our genuine commitment to delivering excellent personal service and outstanding quality at great value. Being a small team of 25 makes us big enough to design and make several rooms for a country house, but small enough to remain very closely connected to each project, from inception to installation.
While every project is unique, each usually follows the pathway below:
Initial contact
We will first discuss your kitchen design project over the ‘phone or Zoom to establish whether we are the right company for you. At this early stage, were are most interested in your project’s location, its timescale and the team you are building to deliver it. Budget is also worth taking time to discuss. It is impossoble to give you the budget needed to deliver your brief at the eary stage, but as a guide, small kitchens tend to fall into the £60-£100k bracket, and larger kitchens fall into the £100-150k bracket. These allow for design, cabinet making, installation, hand painting, sinks, taps, appliances, hardware and VAT, with some rooms costing less, and some more. We always will work with you to achieve your budget.
First meeting
If you are comfortable with these levels of spend, it is then sensible to meet in person to discuss the project in more detail. This initial consultation design meeting typically takes two hours, after which we will spend time analysing the space, researching the best appliances to suit the brief, planning out the room to scale (which we do in pencil at this first stage) and producing a detailed quotation to deliver the room as per your brief. We ask for a fee of £1500 (which includes VAT) to undertake this initial work, with this fee being removed from the cost of the kitchen when commissioned. You are of course also very welcome to visit our design studio and workshop in Wiltshire where you can see working kitchens, look at appliances from brands such as Miele and Sub Zero and look at other projects in progress.
Initial kitchen plan
Ideally we start work from your architect’s drawings, but if none are available we’ll survey the kitchen space when we visit and create our own CAD drawings. Using the humble pencil, we then explore and sketch out various options for your bespoke kitchen’s layout before reaching a preferred option which we think meets the brief we have been given by you. Our proposed kitchen design plan is then presented to you either via Zoom or in person along with a detailed quotation for the work and a detailed supporting letter explaining our thoughts. We will invest around eight hours of work into this stage, and we plan to respond within two to three weeks of the first meeting.
Commissioning us
If you are happy with our bespoke kitchen design proposals and the budgets presented, we ask to be commissoned which you can do by either paying a £2,000 design fee or a deposit of 15% of your quotation. The former allows us to work on your kitchen design elevations up to the point that they are presentable as a 3D model. The latter also books time into the workshop to make the kitchen or joinery you have commissioned. We will then meet again to run throught the kitchen design aesthetics and proportion in more detail. Once engaged, we can also then provide drawings and services plans to your general contractor and other specialists to assist with their areas of the project. All of our design fees are encapsulated within our quotations up to the second revision of our detailed design drawings. Design changes requested beyond these sets of amendments are charged at £95 + vat per hour. We charge in this way to encourage clients to instruct all changes at the same time. This helps us remain efficient and competitive.
Kitchen colours and ironmongery
There are several decisions for us to work together on with you on at this stage, such as paint colours, timber finishes, flooring types, worktop material and hardware types and finishes. Choosing colours and finishes can be daunting, so included in the cost of your bespoke kitchen is a two hour colour colour consultation with Hannah Anderson, at our design studio in Wiltshire, to help pull together your scheme.
Communication
Personal service is a corner stone of how we operate, and initial meetings and the design process will be overseen by Nick Anderson, Guild Anderson’s founder and managing director. As we undertake around 45 projects per year, Nick is unable to remain the first point of contact throughout the entire project, and you will be glad to hear Nick has an experienced operational support team working alongside him including designers, project managers, project co-ordinators, cabinet makers and installation teams. You will spend more time with Sam Willis than others. Sam is our project manager and under his leadership the team will coordinate all the practical aspects of making, delivering, installing, painting and finishing the project.
Sam will remain in close communication with you and your general contractor or project manager at all stages to maintaining timescales and coordinating all the elements of the project.
Installation
Once the work is completed in our workshop, we will deliver, install and, if appropriate, hand-paint your bespoke cabinetry. We use a trusted team of fitters and painters to undertake this work for us; the team we used have worked for us for many years and used to be employed by us directly.
Finishing
We work very hard to minimise snags in our furniture, and generally install with very few or none. However, if they do happen, we have a dedicated furniture maker to address them as quickly as possible.
Aftercare
We are a team that believes in good old fashioned personal service, and we are proud that our first client twenty years ago is still our client today. We take a very down to earth and pragmatic approach to how we deal with issues, and if there are any problems caused by our cabinet making, we will resolve them. 80% of our new clients come to us through reconmendation. We’d like to keep it that way.
To discuss your project further please contact design@guildanderson.co.uk, or call 01747 820 449. You can meet some of our design team here.
Visit our kitchen design studio in Tisbury
Clients visiting our kitchen design studio near Salisbury can see our handmade kitchens close up. We also have a variety of appliances here including Sub Zero, Miele, Fisher & Paykel and Everhot. Please contact us to arrange a visit.
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