Our Process

Over the years, we have evolved our process to seamlessly dovetail our craftsmanship with our clients’ dreams and aspirations.   

Our kitchens and furniture are skilfully handmade using time-honoured cabinetry, hand-painting and finishing techniques. From the moment you step inside our Suffolk workshop to meet Andy and the team, you’ll feel inspired and, most importantly, in good hands.

Welcome sign
Wood working workshop

1 / Meet and Greet

two mugs of coffee

Visit us at our workshop

We love nothing more than inviting clients to our workshop along the Suffolk Heritage Coast. We feel that it’s important for you to see and feel the quality of our craftsmanship and meet our team. You may even decide to combine your visit with a trip to Snape Maltings, Thorpeness or Aldeburgh. We’ll happily recommend some great eateries.

Andy patiently gives as much time and attention to those of us who ‘hum and ha’, and his design is detailed and imaginative. The product is really beautiful.”

Rachel Booth

2 / Home Visit

Tape measure

Getting to know your kitchen space

To create a bespoke kitchen that meets your design expectations and works in harmony with your lifestyle, Andy will visit you at home. He carefully considers your design options by listening to you and accurately measuring your space to identify opportunities and limitations.

3 / Design

Draughting Compass

Designing your fully bespoke kitchen

Andy has over 30 years experience designing bespoke kitchens that complement every home’s architecture and story. As a client, you feel at one with the design and very much at the centre of the creative process.

We needed to revolutionise our kitchen layout and Andy made many helpful and innovative suggestions.”

Michael Street
Stack of sawn wood

The finest timber

Wood planer

Time-honoured techniques

Hands holding a mortice and tenon joint

Made with precision

Alec handpainting a kitchen

Handpainted with care

Dave sawing onsite

Fitted to perfection

4 / Build

Planer

Bringing your new kitchen to life

Andy and the team carefully handcraft all our kitchens and furniture.  Every design detail, no matter how small, is treated with the same high-quality workmanship. As a client, we encourage you to visit and see your kitchen come to life – it’s really quite a wonderful experience.    

5 / Finish

Paint Pot

The perfect finish

We believe a beautiful kitchen deserves a beautiful finish. Our furniture is hand-painted in our workshop before assembly to give a softer, quality handmade finish, which is impossible to achieve with spray painting.

I cannot recommend Vale Designs enough. They are a fantastic company and the end result is brilliant.”

Paul Collins
kitchen fitter marking round the bottom of a kitchen island leg

6 / Installation

Vale Designs Van

Fitting your kitchen

A kitchen is only as good as its installation, which is why we’re just as meticulous with who we choose to fit our kitchens as we are with our design and build. Andy and David (our fitter) have worked together for over 30 years. No matter how uneven or quirky a space is, David is wonderfully skilled to fit any of our designs.

Visualise your dream kitchen

Whether you have dreams of a contemporary shaker or aspirations for a more classic design, we’ll help you achieve them.