Georgia Country Kitchens
French Country Kitchens...Southern Style!
Monday, February 06, 2012
  • Custom Built French Country Kitchens

    There has always been something unique about southern country kitchens. Perhaps its that they look like they just "happened," that your grandmother composed her kitchen's design over the course of a lifetime; that the warmth of her hospitality radiated from her kitchen; that you could feel biscuits baking, Sunday dinner cooking, her hand guiding yours across a faded recipe. Even in our "big" cities, Atlanta, Nashville, Birmingham, Columbia, Raleigh or Jackson, Grandmother's kitchen had the scent of spring blooms and the light of open fields, bright, breezy, comfortable.

    And character, they had character. Filled with cook books, cooking art, pots and pans, tools and gadgets, bowls and measuring cups, grandmother kept abreast of popular trends and technological progress.

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  • In kitchens framed with exposed beams, draped with bead board walls, you'd find ice boxes, kelvinators, wood stoves and gas ranges, biscuit boards and kitchen aids, and in time, all electric GE and Westinghouse appliances. Grey or white washed walls turned blossom colorful, windows framed our southern light, and always, always, folks gathered in the kitchen to help prepare the food we know as distinctly southern. The food of our forefathers, the staple of our culture.

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  • Southern Style Country...

    Southern country kitchens reflect the wedding between the traditional and modernity; the melding of function and design into a unique style that combines the agrarian heritage of our culture with our embrace of all things new. Space and sunlight merge, our palette is soft and fresh like the jonquil's late winter blooms; clay and slate are our earth tones, bright whites like lofty morning clouds and ivory shades like boiling afternoon thunder peaks dominate; and no matter how compact the space, we stretch it toward the light, toward the sun, toward the yard or field.

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  • ...French Country Kitchens

    Southern Country Kitchens have one more distinct trait, a certain Gallic "Joie de vivre" that pulls into our kitchens elements of our everyday life as well as remembrances of things past. We fill shelves with books and vases and framed pictures of long forgotten relatives and post cards, and our children's faces; we hang favorite images and beaten copper mixing bowls, and delft platters and church calendars on our walls. We feel the light streaming through windows and see our backyard gardens as Monet saw Giverny, and we beamingly invite all comers to watch us cook the evening's meal.

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  • And We Cook...

    That's really why we care at all about our kitchens. We cook, we feed, we clean. Each element has its place and its needs. A French Country Kitchen Southern Style embodies modern technologies that allow us to more efficiently accomplish all three tasks, while we enjoy doing them. It's really that simple. We work together to create a sanctuary where success is not merely measured by gastronomical achievement but by comfort and fulfillment and simply the feeling of being surrounded by all that pleases you and the knowledge that this is the center of your universe, this is "home."

 

Why we are different and why you should care...
 
...The really easy part is demolishing your kitchen.
 
After that it gets harder.  But wait! Why should it get harder? Why should you put up with missing parts, damaged appliances, sub-standard materials, code violations, shoddy workmanship and delay after delay? Why are missing in action sub-contractors and surly installers the rule in kitchen remodeling, not the exception. Isn't there a better way?
 
Georgia Country Kitchens knows there is. It is a method to start and finish your kitchen remodeling on time, without delays, and to your complete satisfaction. Our method is based on detailed planning, competitive procurement and purchasing practices, careful logistic and storage management, task evaluation and most importantly, complete on-site management.
 
Our site office, an self contained unit, is parked at your home. Our satellite links provide communication to our work site from home-based support staff, while we supervise each and every well defined task, receive and check inventory and motivate our team of specialty contractors to do the best work they have ever done for each and every client.
 
Briefly, the process is this: A prospective client decides that we might be the company to build the kitchen of her, or his, dreams.  Often, the client will have arrived at a figure, a budget, that they feel they can afford and that will allow them to start and complete the project.
 
We receive a request for information, and respond. Based on the client's knowledge of what they would like to have done, and their realistic understanding of the cost involved, we schedule an in-home appointment, and we meet to discuss what they hope to see when the project is finished; when they would like to begin work, and review with them their budget figures.  Then, if we both agree that the design and proposed budget will work for both parties, we thoroughly inspect the area of renovation, and measure all areas.  Within a few days, we will have a preliminary floor plan in hand and a working materials inventory and labor analysis for review with the client. 
 
If our client's expectations and our proposal are mutually agreeable, we may be able to work together to create with them their own French Country Kitchen, Southern Style. Once you, our client, decide to proceed, the first of two agreements is signed by both parties. This first agreement is for site and structure analysis and kitchen design and specification.
 
Preliminary planning involves the non-destructive site analysis of the proposed new kitchen area. This may involve only the existing kitchen, or it may involve cannibalization of adjoining areas, and it may involve building of an add-on structure. Whatever is involved, all existing infrastructure must be located, plotted, and evaluated for improvement. Structural framing and flooring members, ceiling joists and roof jacks; ceiling and roof decking; interior walls and exterior sheathing, windows, doors and access points;  plumbing supply, waste and vent pipes; heating and air-conditioning ducts and vents, controls and low voltage wiring, electrical panels and capacity, wires, junctions, outlets, switches, fixtures; appliances and outlets; gas supply lines and cable and hard wired telephones are among the many elements that must be located. 
 
Property access, truck and vehicle access and parking, permits and permissions, insurance notifications, every element germane to the successful and timely completion of your project must be evaluated. 
 
The next phase is the actual kitchen design.
 
Working with you, every element of the design is defined, from the floor plan, all structural modifications or additions, the cabinet style , finish and accessories, hardware, counter-tops, sinks and fixtures, flooring preferences, lighting, appliances, surface finishes et al.  Everything that is necessary to build and finish your kitchen is detailed and listed, and evaluated for energy efficiency and environmental impact. 
 
This phase is completed when all requirements are specified, listed and quoted.    
  
This method assures "NO SURPRISES" and at the completion of preliminary planning, all variables, with the exception of the client's change orders, will be defined, and project costs and completion times will be accurately estimated.
 
The contents of the second agreement, for specific job performance and start to finish completion, is then determined  by agreement of you, our client and us, your contractor. This process can immediately follow the first phase, or be deferred by your request. Once we complete the kitchen design phase, you may even select another contractor, or indicate areas of the work you would like to do yourself. When the second agreement is signed by both parties, construction dates, beginning and end, are agreed to, and inventory acquisition will be initiated to be certain that all project materials are available on site at the time site work begins. We provide on-site storage of all items and materials required, or they are stored at our warehouse. No site work is scheduled to begin until all required components necessary to complete your kitchen are on hand. The start date of your project will be determined before the agreement is signed and will be based on your required materials and the scope of work to be performed.
 
Work on your new kitchen could begin the following week, or be scheduled to start later, after delivery of custom cabinets and components, some of which have as long as 8 to 12 weeks lead time. Because we wait, there are never delays while waiting for a needed item to be delivered; when we begin your job, we finish it on time and on budget! For you, this means you'll use your kitchen through the Sunday before the Monday we begin work! Yes, with our company, all jobs begin on Monday. And we will have you in your new kitchen on schedule, as quickly as possible.
 
We are happy to partner with your architect, designer or planner to build your dream kitchen.
 
About inventory, all materials are evaluated for LEED certification and compliance with green building practices. All materials are purchased in the client’s name, billed at cost plus, and may be paid by client funds through a draw account established at the clients financial institution. Management and labor draws are paid weekly through the same mechanism.  A final payment will be due upon completion.
 
To learn more about completing the process, including the design, procurement and installation phases, contact Georgia Country Kitchens today.    770-272-4338          
 
 
GeorgiaCountryKitchens.Com PO Box 549 Jasper, Georgia 30143