The Chauvin House

103 Clipper Cove

Shelby Youtsas Real Estate & Design — Kitchen Design Pricing
Shelby Youtsas Real Estate & Design

Kitchen design pricing, three ways

Every tier is priced per square foot of kitchen. Choose how far you want me to go — drawings only, drawings plus buying, or drawings plus running the whole job.

Proposed kitchen — olive cabinetry, brick flooring, aged brass and cream zellige
Proposed kitchen · 103 Clipper Cove Original brick · refined oak & glass
The design direction

Where the home has been, and where it's going

The brick is the thread backward. Running from the foyer through the kitchen, it's original to this 1981 Acadian and it stays exactly where it is — warmed up and worked around rather than ripped out, because it's the one material that tells you what this house has always been.

The thread forward is oak and glass, both used with far more intention than the house has seen. Oak becomes a deliberate material instead of a builder default — a carved, furniture-grade island, real casing, cabinetry that reads as millwork. Glass gets pushed everywhere it can go: mullioned doors, leaded panels, upper cabinet fronts, so light travels through rooms that currently stop it cold. Olive cabinetry, aged brass and a soft cream zellige hold the two eras together.

Proposed foyer concept — original brick with refined oak and leaded glass

Proposed foyer — shown for direction only, outside the scope of this proposal. It's here because it makes the argument in one frame: the original brick left underfoot, with refined oak and leaded glass layered over it. That's the same move the kitchen makes, carried house-wide.

Material palette

OliveCabinetry & hood
BrickFloors throughout
Refined oakIsland, casing, doors
Aged brassFixtures & hardware
Cream zelligeBacksplash
GlassMullions & cabinet fronts

Every one of these gets a model number, a finish code and a placement drawing in the plan set. That's the difference between a design and a mood board — the trades can bid it line for line without guessing.

The three tiers
Tier One

The Handoff

You have a contractor. You just need a plan he can build and bid from.

$10/sf$2,000 minimum
  • Dimensioned floor plan and cabinet elevations — every box, drawer and door sized
  • Door style, stain and paint colors, hardware, moulding and trim details
  • Appliance, plumbing, lighting and outlet placement
  • Full spec sheet with model numbers and quantities
  • One revision round
One site visit — measure & walkthrough
Not includedOrdering, contractor communication, site checks, or anything after the plan is delivered.
Tier Two

Plan & Selections

You want the plan, and you want me to buy everything and vet the quotes.

$16/sf$3,200 minimum
  • Everything in The Handoff
  • Cabinet sourcing across prefab, semi-custom and custom, with real cost comparison
  • Bid packaging to three trades and one apples-to-apples comparison sheet
  • All ordering, order tracking and lead-time management
  • Delivery, damage claims and substitutions handled
  • Contractor questions answered start to finish
  • Two revision rounds
Three site visits — measure, pre-cabinet, install
Not includedScheduling trades, change-order review, or weekly oversight.
Tier Three

Fully Managed

You want to make decisions and nothing else. I run the kitchen end to end.

$28/sf$5,600 minimum
  • Everything in Plan & Selections
  • Trade scheduling and sequencing across every crew
  • Scope written plainly for Spanish-first trades
  • Change orders reviewed before you sign anything
  • Invoices checked against work actually completed
  • Photo progress report every week
  • Punch list, closeout and warranty documentation
Weekly site visits through completion
Not includedTrade labor and materials — those contracts stay between you and the trade.
$2,000
Due at signing on every tier. That's the Tier One project minimum, and it reserves your spot on my calendar. The remaining balance is due at project completion — delivery of the plan set for Tier One, final walkthrough for Tiers Two and Three. Because the deposit is the same across all three, you can start at Tier One and move up any time before demo without renegotiating anything.
Price by kitchen size

What it costs at every size

Measure wall to wall, including the island and any pantry or bar wall you want drawn. Minimums apply to smaller kitchens.

Kitchen size Tier One Tier Two Tier Three
120 sf — galley$2,000$3,200$5,600
160 sf — small L$2,000$3,200$5,600
200 sf — standard$2,000$3,200$5,600
220 sf — 103 Clipper Cove$2,200$3,520$6,160
260 sf — island & pantry wall$2,600$4,160$7,280
320 sf — open kitchen & bar$3,200$5,120$8,960
400 sf — large open plan$4,000$6,400$11,200
One exception. These rates hold for kitchen construction budgets up to $100,000. Above that, Tier Three bills at 8% of the construction budget instead of per square foot.
Competitive position

Where these rates sit in the market

How it's usually pricedGoing rateSame job, my rate
Percent of kitchen budget 4–10% is the NKBA guideline. Certified designers often quote 10–20% when they manage the job. On a $45,000 Lafayette kitchen: 4.9% at Tier One, 13.7% at Tier Three with management folded in.
Flat design package $1,500–$7,500 nationally for concepts, layouts and 3D. $2,000–$4,000 for a standard kitchen — and mine includes cabinet elevations most packages bill extra for.
Hourly Lafayette designers run $50–$200/hr. Kitchen specialists nationally run $75–$250/hr. $135/hr, used only for extra revisions and one-off advice — never for full projects.
Per square foot $5–$17/sf across a whole house, with kitchens sitting at the top of that range. $10–$28/sf of kitchen only — the most drawing-heavy room in the house.
Managing the build Construction managers charge 5–15% of project cost on renovations. Built into Tier Three rather than billed as a separate line.
Markup on goods 15–25% is standard when the designer does the buying. None. Tiers Two and Three include the buying, so you pay trade cost.

Sources: NKBA design-fee guidance; Angi and HomeGuide 2026 kitchen design and interior designer cost data; homeyou Lafayette, LA designer survey; HomeAdvisor 2026 construction manager fees; CostOnce and CostFlowAI 2026 Louisiana remodel indices. Louisiana construction runs roughly 10–14% below the national average, and these rates are set to that market.

Add-ons
Walk & Plan session
90 minutes on site, verbal direction, written recap. Credits toward any tier.
$350
Extra revision round$450
Extra site visit
Within Lafayette Parish
$225
Add a bathroom
Same tier, same scope, priced separately
$11/sf
Rush turnaround
Plan set in under 14 days
+20%
Travel beyond 25 miles$0.70/mi
Terms
  1. $2,000 due at signing on every tier — the Tier One project minimum. Work begins when it clears.
  2. Remaining balance due at project completion. Tier One completes at delivery of the plan set; Tiers Two and Three at final walkthrough.
  3. Upgrading costs nothing extra. Your $2,000 applies to whichever tier you land on.
  4. Goods are paid by you directly or funded in advance. I never carry material costs.
  5. Anything past the included revisions and visits bills at $135/hr, approved in writing first.
  6. Drawings and specs are yours on final payment, for this property only.
  7. Structural changes requiring a stamp go to a licensed engineer or architect. I coordinate; I don't seal.
Shelby Youtsas Real Estate & Design

Rates effective August 2026 for Lafayette Parish and surrounding Acadiana, and hold for 90 days from a written proposal. All renderings are proposed design concepts, not construction documents. The foyer rendering is shown for material direction only and sits outside the scope of this proposal. youtsas.com  ·  @youtsas

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