Jeroen Cruiming: Make more use of specialists in the chain

Of course I thank Archicomm for the opportunity to provide 'The Pen' here once. Always nice to give your opinion and especially now to all architects in the Netherlands. However, I do have a critical note for you. What does it come down to? Well ... the cooperation with architects does not always run smoothly. I am not saying that you are necessarily difficult but I am saying that sometimes you could be more flexible with your designs. Because, never forget for whom you are doing it in the end: the end customer, right?

I see in my day-to-day work that most discussions are about the value of aesthetics versus that of functional aspects. For my profession, this involves the kitchen. On paper a kitchen can look beautiful in terms of lines and design, but at the same time the design does not always turn out to be practical to use. Of course I understand that architects are asked for their style, and when we ask them to make adjustments to it, I understand that architects are not always unhappy about it. This is not to say that the aesthetic aspect should be snowed under. On the contrary. But ... the beautiful - the aesthetic - becomes "normal" for the end customer at a certain point. However, if the functional is not right, the end customer suffers every day.

Case in point. In the sink cabinet of a beautiful kitchen, a Quooker vessel was to be installed. Of course, this is not strange but if we followed the architect's design and instructions, maintenance or repair of the Quooker would become difficult. After all, the vessel was impossible to remove after installation. We failed to convince the architect to modify the design. That was strange. Even an architect does it for the end customer, right? In the end we solved it ourselves in consultation with the end customer but it marked the discussion: it became a battle between aesthetics and functionality. Don't get us wrong: of course we are not in the chair to undermine someone's design. But at the same time, we also have our own name to uphold. After all, the end customer expects us as a kitchen specialist to think about the do's and dont's in the kitchen.

It was all a little too laborious but this event did not stand alone. The discussion is held more often and I think that is unfortunate. However, I maintain: a kitchen is much more than just a picture to look at. In our segment, the kitchen is often the epicenter of the home. Therefore, my appeal to the architects of the Netherlands to make more use of the specialists that are there in the chain. Ask a lot. Over-demand perhaps. Take your client to the relevant showroom or concept store. Gain your information. Specialists have done the preselections and therefore know what functionalities are involved with the customer in question. We can therefore learn much more from each other than we might at first
face would think.

And if we can optimize that collaboration, in the end there is only one big winner: the end customer!