NKBA Explains Certification Qualifications for Members

Dear Janice:

The last issue of KBDN included a letter from a reader upset that she didn’t meet the qualifications to be an NKBA-certified designer. While we feel for Ms. Wiechman, the NKBA is very proud of the high standards we maintain in awarding CKD and CBD certifications, and we will not lower those standards in order to make it easier for designers to be certified by the NKBA. We “walk the talk” in upholding the integrity of our certifications.

NKBA certifications reflect true expertise. In order to become a CKD or CBD, a designer must have at least seven years of full-time design experience, as well as 60 hours of industry education. In addition, before becoming certified, a CKD or CBD must pass both an academic exam and a design exam.

Designers who meet those requirements are welcome to join the NKBA, document their qualifications, and take the NKBA certification exams. The CKD, CBD and CMKBD certifications are for the finest kitchen and bath designers – not for those looking to just add another group of letters after their names

Laura Domanico
Senior Manager of Education
National Kitchen & Bath Assoc.

Reader Cautions Designers About Moving Outdoors

Dear Janice:

Having just read Sarah Reep’s column “Selling Outdoor Kitchens Creates New Profit Niche,” in the September issue of KBDN, I beg to differ that all interior designers or kitchen designers should automatically look at outdoor spaces as a new profit niche.

I am both an interior designer and a certified landscape designer. For the last 10 years I have designed a lot of outdoor spaces. It’s not that I resent others in my field moving outdoors, but I feel that they need to be prepared to do more than design an outdoor patio space. In designing these spaces, there are a lot more issues to deal with than might appear on the surface, nature being one of them. If you want to design outdoor spaces, you need to get educated in terms of the rest of the landscape and learn plant material. Don’t just design the patio space and leave the rest to the contractor.

There is a learning curve to all of it. Just like having good subs for your interior projects is essential to your success, you must use licensed, knowledgeable landscape contractors for your outdoor projects. In fact, in the state of California, you have to be licensed to be a project manager on this type of project.

I think that the landscape designers who have put a lot of time and effort into learning and practicing their craft should be respected as such, and you should think twice about taking on an area where you may not understand all the liabilities that go along with it.

Joni Wilson, principal designer Inside Out Interior &
Exterior Design
Davis, CA