For a design or design-and-installation project, your first payment initiates and covers the Design & Planning phase — measurements, cabinet and finish selections, and your complete layout and design package. It is not an extra fee: it credits in full toward your total project cost.
Once your selections are locked and you've signed the contract, each invoice you pay releases the corresponding order with the vendor — your cabinets, countertops, and hardware move forward in step with your payments, never ahead of them.
Your Design & Planning fee credits in full toward the total project cost, and if the final contract ever exceeds your signed proposal by more than 10%, you're released from the agreement with no obligation.
If you're purchasing cabinets, countertops, or hardware from the showroom without design or installation, there's no design retainer. After you sign your contract, each item is ordered as its invoice is paid — the same payment-triggered approach, kept simple for a product order.
For any project, the exact milestones and amounts are laid out in full in your written proposal, and we walk through every one with you before anything is ordered. There is no 50% deposit and nothing sitting with us ahead of the work.