I can't endorse or give free advertizing to any business in particular. Unless you have something specific in mind the general designs can be helpful.

my stepmother constantly remodels (with very good results) she uses home improvement stores and instead of an interior designer she found a good experienced contracter (since she would need one anyway for installations or personal changes to h.i.stores' designs.

Generally speaking the folks at the local Lowes, Home Depot may or may not know that much about interior design. They assuredly have some experience in helping the customer decide what type of kitchen cabinets will work with the available space and within the price range you submit to work with. Thoughts to keep in mind: The local home improvement store folks are there to help you buy their store's product available. (Some do offer various degrees of Custom Mill work cabinets.) An Interior Designer generally must have a degree to use that title. This means not only have they had classes in the design and color aesthetics of creating a space that is a pleasure to LOOK at but also they know the time and flash ratio of how quickly FIRE can travel through a given room based upon the fabrics and composition of the furniture and building materials used in creating th room. They KNOW what a load baring wall is and what it does and how you might be able to work with the space if you wanted to open it up "removing" the load baring wall in some manner. An Interior Decorator MAY know these things as well, but may likely NOT as it isn't necessary for them to have a degree. Good Taste in creating a "LOOK" is their forte! To the best of my knowledge the Local HIS people are NOT going to visit your home to SEE exactly what you have going on...and then build on it from there. Once I've seen a space and started getting ideas on what a client wants to ultimately create and do with the area, I further look for clues on their personal tastes. Colors, possible collections or passions they may want to incorporate, display, or reflect in the final design. For a Kitchen space especially you want to think about...are you EXPANDING the existing space? How's the existing electric situation, do you have enough breakers already available? Are you added appliances or replacing them? Is this to be a full remodel or partial? Are you planing to stay in THIS HOUSE, or thinking of selling in the next three to five years? Are you older (over 55) or younger (under 35) do you have children now; or planning to soon. Is anyone who would use the kitchen physically challenged in any way? How much do you entertain? Is your Kitchen the "Hub" of the house, or would you like it to be? Personally I think it's a great idea to see what you can find out from your local people...it's free, and you have nothing to loose either way...as long as you keep in mind that YOU need to take responsibility for all final decisions...same as you would in approving any other service you hire.

Yes- HomeDepot for cabinets. They did a fine job.

my parents use home depot. IT WAS A DISASTER. they sent the wrong appliances, damaged appliances, the cabinets did not fit etc. The Home Depot gave them gift cards to make up for it, but it couldnt make up the time it took for the kitchen to be done. (A 3 month process took almost 6)

I used Home Depot. We designed my kitchen using their computer program so I could see the finished look. We bought our cupboards from them..they were lovely. My kitchen is 3 years old now and still looks like brand new and I would highly recommend Home Depot. Your service is only as good as the nindividuals who work thre, I guess.