Kitchen Designer Association ?

The things to consider as to whether or not there should be an association for kitchen designers / planners is how do you determine what is a designer and then how would they accredit themselves to an association without there being any checks to prove that they are a true designer / planner.

So what quantifies a designer? in reality anybody who can put a pen to paper and put something together that resembles few units in a room and as every kitchen is different and every body's interpretation of a design is different then it would be hard to quantify.

How would a designer / planner be accredited to a body? This would need an existing body to have an additional arm that would have the time and organisational skills to set up a system where by a designer planner could pay a fee to sit an in person exam ( taking ID with them) and a yearly subscription to maintain their association which would not be out of financial reach. The exam would be necessary to prove that the designer / planner understands and can demonstrate the knowledge and skills  required to plan a kitchen safely knowing all the current legislation and best practice guidelines, I so often here my customers say "Oh I never thought of that" or " I never realised there was so much to think about", I tell my customers that I would not expect them to know all the issues involved in designing a kitchen because I would not expect to be able to do their jobs.

Once a designer has sat this exam and can demonstrate their knowledge it is only then that the designer comes in to their own as a true designer because an individuals flair and imagination to create something that is 'outside the box' becomes a a truly individual work of art.

The KBSA is probably in a good position to do this. But we have to be careful who joins as a professional designer otherwise any tom dick or harriet can join and then we are back to square one.

In my opinion a body for designers is a must and this would give the public something to look for when searching for a reputable person or company. I do know that there are independents out there at the moment who are members of a body that use that bodies name as a way of attracting customers but I have come up against these people and their designs and plans are sometimes not only awful (my view) but downright dangerous and no thought to the ergonomics.

I also believe that companies should not be aloud to abuse the said designer association as this would also just become another logo in the window and eventually dis-credit the industry body because they could keep the said logo and membership and then employ somebody who is not up to the job, so the membership should be for individuals and they can take this with them to the companies that they work in and then the companies can say that they have an industry body designer working for them.

Another point to consider is that when a kitchen extension is being built it is followed through by building regs and it is soon to become the most dangerous room in the house but when the room is built and signed off by building regs all the real dangerous bits are designed in by somebody who has no professional qualifications who can say what is safe and what is not.

Thanks
Russell