A kitchen designed to you, built to plan.
Kitchen design and remodeling in Charlotte, for people who will not gamble on the priciest room in the house. One designer makes every choice line up, from the first sketch through to the last cabinet pull. Nothing is left to chance.
A kitchen is a six-figure decision you live with for twenty years.
Most kitchen projects go sideways the same way. Cabinets get ordered before there is a real plan. A layout looks good on Pinterest but fights how you actually cook. Finishes get chosen one showroom visit at a time, hoping they add up, and they rarely do. Then the project drags, the change orders pile up, and the homeowner ends up managing trades they have never met. The wrong kitchen is expensive to live with and far more expensive to redo.
A designer-led kitchen reverses the order. The plan comes first. Then every cabinet, surface, and fixture is chosen to serve that plan, and one person stays accountable for the result.
The taste of a stylist. The accountability of a designer who stays in charge.
Virginia Tesi trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has spent more than twenty years in fashion and interiors. She reads proportion, light and material the way a stylist reads an outfit, and she brings that eye to every Charlotte kitchen. She holds ASID and NKBA credentials. One designer, on the hook from the first sketch to the last day, so nothing drops between the drawing and the build.
- FIT Graduate
- 20+ Years
- ASID Allied Member
- NKBA
Everything that makes the room read as one intentional space.
A layout designed around your life
We start with how you actually cook, host, and gather, then plan the space to serve it. Work zones, traffic flow, island size, seating, and storage are decided on paper before a single wall is touched.
3D renderings before anything is torn out
You see your kitchen in realistic 3D and walk through the choices, so there are no expensive surprises and no decisions made under pressure on a job site.
Cabinetry specified to your space
Every cabinet is drawn to the inch. We specify across six trusted lines: Craft-Maid, Lauriermax, Kith, US Cabinet Depot, Forevermark and North. The line is matched to your budget and to how the room has to work.
Finishes and fixtures chosen and sourced
Countertops, tile, hardware, lighting, plumbing fixtures, and paint are selected as one coordinated palette and sourced for you, so the finished room reads as intentional, not assembled.
A buildable spec set
You receive a complete plan any quality builder can execute, with the drawings and selections documented so nothing gets lost in translation.
A designer in charge through the build
Optional design and build management keeps Virginia accountable through installation, coordinating trades so the finished kitchen matches the plan and you never become the project manager.
Three steps, one designer accountable throughout.
Discover
It starts with a short call, then a free visit to your home. We walk your space, talk through how you live and what you want the kitchen to do, and give you an honest read on budget and what is possible.
Design
We plan the layout and render it in 3D. Then we specify the cabinetry and pick every finish as one palette. You see the whole kitchen and sign off before a thing is ordered or torn out.
Done right
Add build management and Virginia runs the trades through install. The kitchen you approved is the kitchen you get. Materials are ordered before demolition, so the job keeps moving.
What that process is worth.
Every one of these started as a room somebody had stopped seeing. The plan came first, and nothing was ordered until it was right.
1990s laminate to a brass farmhouse kitchen
Almond laminate, a soffit, and a closed pass-through became one open room with a farmhouse sink and unlacquered brass.
Oak cabinets to white shaker
The footprint stayed. Replacing the oak, opening the sightline to the dining room, and adding a seated island changed how the room is used.
Cabinetry is the bones of the kitchen.
Cabinetry is the biggest part of most kitchen budgets. It is also the part most worth getting right. We specify custom and semi-custom lines, picked for your design, your storage and your budget. Then we draw them to the inch, so the install is clean and every door and drawer lands where it should.
- Craft-Maid
- Lauriermax
- Kith
- US Cabinet Depot
- Forevermark Cabinetry
- North Cabinetry
- Craft-Maid
- Lauriermax
- Kith
- US Cabinet Depot
- Forevermark
- North Cabinetry
An honest investment, priced by scope.
Most designer-led kitchens in Charlotte are a $75,000 to $200,000+ investment. Design is a flat fee by scope, so you are never watching a clock while you make decisions. What moves the number up or down:
- ·Scope of the layout change (keeping plumbing and walls vs. moving them)
- ·Cabinetry line, construction, and the number of custom pieces
- ·Countertop material (quartz, marble, quartzite) and slab count
- ·Appliance package and any built-in or paneled appliances
- ·Flooring, tile, lighting, and the level of millwork and detail
Signature
from $4,500
A focused refresh or single-zone redesign.
Premier
from $8,500
A full kitchen redesign with 3D renderings. Most common.
Bespoke
from $15,000
Full gut, custom cabinetry, layout changes.
Where Virginia runs the build, design plus management is 12 to 15 percent of the construction budget. On a $120,000 kitchen that is roughly $14,000 to $18,000. What it buys is one person on the hook at every phase.
Pricing is benchmarked to industry averages; final numbers confirmed at consultation.
Where a kitchen budget quietly goes.
Most of what you pay for is not visible from the doorway. It is the joinery, the hardware, and the storage specified around the way you actually cook.
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Detail
Pot filler over the range
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Material
Quartzite carried up the hood wall
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Detail
Farmhouse sink, unlacquered brass
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Joinery
Deep drawer bank in the island
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Detail
Prep sink and polished nickel
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Material
Quartzite island counter
Kitchen design across Charlotte and its best neighborhoods.
We are a service-area studio and we work by appointment. Our kitchens are in Myers Park, Eastover, SouthPark, Dilworth, Cotswold, Ballantyne, Matthews, Waxhaw and Weddington, and up at Davidson and Cornelius on Lake Norman. Planning one nearby? We would like to hear about it.
Kitchen remodeling questions, answered
How much does a kitchen remodel cost in Charlotte, NC?
Most designer-led kitchens here run $75,000 to $200,000 and up. A refresh that keeps the layout can land $25,000 to $50,000, a full renovation is often $50,000 to $100,000, and a custom kitchen with layout changes runs $100,000 to $250,000 or more. Cabinetry is the biggest single line, usually 30 to 40 percent. Hold back another 10 to 20 percent for surprises.
Is a kitchen designer worth it?
On a six-figure kitchen, a designer is the cheapest insurance you can buy. A contractor builds what is in front of them; a designer makes sure what is in front of them is right, before it is framed, plumbed, and impossible to change. The design fee is small next to the cost of redoing a kitchen you do not love.
What does a kitchen designer charge?
Across the market, fees take one of three shapes: a flat rate, often $4,500 to $15,000 or more by scope; a share of the project, usually 10 to 20 percent; or an hourly rate, commonly $150 to $200. Ask any designer which one she uses. Get it in writing.
How long does a kitchen remodel take?
Plan on three to six months from first sketch to final reveal. Design takes four to eight weeks. Cabinets and materials run six to twelve weeks, and that wait overlaps the design. Construction is another six to twelve. We order everything before demolition, so your kitchen is never sitting open waiting on a delivery.
Do you design to my taste or impose your own?
Yours. We start from your taste and make it buildable. That is the whole job. You approve the design in 3D before anything moves. The finished room should look like you live there, not like a designer signed it.
Do you handle the construction too?
We design every kitchen. Build management is optional. Take it and Virginia runs the trades and stays on the hook through install. Already have a builder you trust? We hand them a plan they can build from, and we stay close enough to protect the design.
What areas around Charlotte do you serve?
We serve Charlotte and the towns around it, from Myers Park and Eastover through SouthPark, Dilworth, Ballantyne, Cotswold, Matthews, Waxhaw and Weddington. We also work up at Lake Norman. We see clients by appointment. There is no storefront.
What cabinetry lines do you work with?
We specify across several trusted lines depending on your design and budget, including Craft-Maid, Lauriermax, Kith, US Cabinet Depot, Forevermark Cabinetry, and North Cabinetry, from semi-custom to fully custom.
Can you work with my budget?
We talk about money in the first conversation. The free visit includes an honest budget check. You find out early what your plans really cost, and where the money is best spent.
What if my kitchen is small or my project is modest?
Tesi Design is for homeowners investing in a kitchen they will keep, of any size. The consultation confirms fit, both ways, before you commit to a design.