Sam Thompson, Sales Designer
Experience
Sam has always had an interest in design, and this led her to studying Interior Design at DeMontfort University. While she was at DeMontfort University, Sam was shortlisted for a bathroom design award in a national competition led by C. P. Hart.
After University, Sam spent several years designing bathrooms before landing on kitchen design. She’s now been designing kitchens for over 10 years.
What ignited your passion for kitchen design?
Sam loves the complexity involved in kitchen design and the many challenges that it poses to designers. It’s also a great opportunity to help people improve their daily routines and think about their relationships with space in different ways.
What tips do you have for anyone in the market for a new kitchen?
Sam is full of really helpful tips that will help you to improve your kitchen’s functionality. For example, don’t have drawers on the same side as your dominant hand. This may seem counterintuitive at first, until you realise that if you open a drawer with your non-dominant hand this leaves your dominant hand free to pick up an item and begin using it straight away.
Another example would be to consider where your fridge goes. You may not think it matters, but Sam points out that if you’re making a cup of tea, ideally you want the fridge near to you with the hinge on the opposite side so the door opens away from you. This layout will allow you to pick out the milk and use it straight away without having to walk around the fridge door every time.
Sam's Design Philosophy
Sam can turn her hand to any design. She has a particularly useful skill of making everything look ‘homey’ and ‘lived in’, which is a benefit of her previous interior design training.
“I used to work with someone who would look at a design I’d done and comment, ‘Wow, that’s my perfect kitchen’, that is until she saw my next design at which point she’d change her mind and say, ‘No, that’s my perfect kitchen!’
When asked how she keeps producing these types of designs, Sam said ‘I think it’s because I need to visualise myself using the kitchen as a customer would on a daily basis and under different circumstances. For example, a person’s morning routine compared to their evening routine, what items are they using, when are they using them, and with which hand. Visualisation helps me to add the small details.’
Sam’s approach focuses on the layout and functionality of a kitchen because there are always issues with people’s daily usage of their kitchens. “People buy a new kitchen because there’s an issue with the one that they currently have, even if they aren’t consciously aware of it. It’s my task to figure out what they don’t enjoy about using their kitchen and to help them solve this issue.’
As with all Elements designers, Sam believes that having a general conversation with people to develop a rapport with them is the best way to find out information. A trained designer can then notice things and pick up on cues as the meeting progresses, including subtle issues, and what they’re doing out of habit rather than what is instinctive for them that will give them a more pleasurable experience.
“People sometimes think they don’t know what they want, but if you have the right conversation then customers end up ruling out more than they initially thought they could. The expertise of the designer in the initial consultation stage lies in knowing what questions to ask and how to guide the conversation, sometimes even more so than their kitchen design knowledge.”
When asked about the best part of her job, Sam smiled and said: ‘I enjoy seeing reactions to renders when I do presentations. It’s the first time the customer comes face to face with their kitchen, and the detail of the renders often surprises and delights them. It’s very satisfying to know you’ve interpreted their wishes accurately.’
Customer testimonial
"Big thanks to Sam Thompson... Sam patiently designed and incorporated everything we requested, for a recent B3 Homes, new build development, she ensured she fully understood the brief and delivered on time despite many obstacles and challenges thrown at her.
Having worked with Elements Kitchens for the first time, and with Sam as our design lead and contact, we were very impressed with the whole experience, and we look forward to working with her again in the future."
Amanda
B3 Homes Ltd
Sam's articles
As well as being beautiful, your kitchen also needs to be functional. In fact, the functionality of the kitchen is the most important part and will largely vary from person to person. It’s part of a kitchen designer’s role to help guide you in the design process to ensure that your kitchen matches your requirements. Here are five quick things that I regularly consider when designing kitchens for my customers.
