None of this, of course, benefits kitchen and bath designers or their clients.

The American Society of Interior Designers argues that most (though not all) practice legislation includes residential exemptions, and that this legislation is not about taking people out of the market, but rather protecting the public from those who are not competent to practice. And this may well be the intent.

However I can’t help but feel it’s a bit like my vacuum cleaner problem. Before these laws came along to “protect” me, I could actually get some help when a product didn’t work. Now I just get form A352664X to fill out and a phone number for a place where the closest thing I can get to a human being is a voice saying “press one now.”

The best “protection,” I’m convinced, comes not from laws written by people who don’t even know an industry, but from well-thought-out efforts that incorporate input – and buy in – from all affected parties. When it comes to public safety and consumer protection, the design community needs to work together, leaving legislation as a last resort.