SJ&J Design

Name: SJ&J Design
Telephone: +1 510-384-0152
Rating: 4.6

31 Reviews

Kitchen & Bath Designers

1 Hire on Houzz

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About Us

Berkeley's Award-Winning Kitchen & Bath Design Firm

We are an Award-Winning design firm that specializes in living spaces transformed. With nearly 20 years of experience designing kitchens & baths in our community, we've built a solid reputation and a long list of happy, satisfied clients -- many of whom have become good friends. When we began this business, we brought to it our own perspectives as home owners living in this remarkable community. The omnipresent challenges of limited space, older architecture and substantial construction costs have shaped the way we do business and work with our clients. Your home is your single largest investment and providing a real and lasting value is our core objective when working with you to remodel your kitchen or bath. We love collaborating with our clients -- we'll help you transform your current kitchen or bathroom into the fabulous new space you've always wanted. We specialize in creative, thoughtful design (always keeping the house in mind) -- from traditional to transitional to contemporary.

Services Provided

3D Rendering, Basement Design, Bathroom Design, Design Consultation, Floor Plans, Home Extensions, Kitchen Design, Laundry Room Design, Mudroom Design, Outdoor Kitchen Design, Project Management, Sustainable Design, Universal Design

Areas Served

Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, Emeryville, Hayward, Lafayette, Moraga, Oakland, Orinda, Piedmont, San Francisco, Tiburon

90 Projects

Frosty White Marble Transitional Kitchen

Rift Cut White Oak, Statuary Marble, and Zebra Wood

Modern Berkeley Living

Asian Inspired Farmhouse Kitchen & Great Room

Business Details

Business Name

SJ&J Design

Phone Number

+1 510-384-0152

Website

www.sjandjdesign.com/

Address

Berkeley, CA 94707

Typical Job Cost

USD 1,00,000 - USD 5,00,000

Cost range is for Construction budget

Followers

248 Followers

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31 Reviews for SJ&J Design

Newest first

Michael Bowers

It is almost a year since our kitchen remodel. We are loving every minute in this space, and get nothing but rave reviews. Catherine knew exactly how to fashion the space and got us in touch with an excellent contractor. Though we had a few bumps along the way, i look forward to work with Catherine again!

20 December 2018

Neil Oktavec

I really love my new kitchen. Custom Spaces was instrumental in helping design, drafting the layout and sourcing a contractor for the project. They were wonderful in providing a great sounding board for ideas for my kitchen. I am writing this review quite a while after my kitchen was finished, so have the benefit of having “lived” in it. It is a highly functional, efficient and beautiful kitchen. My friends all love it as well. It is great space to entertain, cook for myself or cooking with a lot of helpers. Custom Spaces assisted me in making some pretty daring choices that I ended up loving. The design really maximized the space is my apartment, creating a true multi-purpose kitchen with wet bar and seating area. Catherine was always very generous with her time and an enthusiastic co-creator of my kitchen, which made the project fun, despite all the normal burdens and hassles of undergoing a large project.

24 January 2018

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you for your review Neil!! It was great working with you!!

sun_g66

We are happy with our new kitchen designed by Custom Spaces. Catherine helped to turn our ideas into a design and she helped with the details, like suggesting cabinet manufacturers and appliances to sink and faucet fixtures. Catherine was easy to work with and Ann, in the office, was responsive in providing estimates and ordering materials. One of the greatest assets of working with Custom Spaces was their help in suggesting contractors. We were pleased with Hassan Dudjo of HD Baths. I recommend Custom Spaces for kitchen remodels. I’d work with them again.

7 December 2017

crashley76

Custom Spaces did a great job helping design our kitchen remodel. We really appreciated their expertise and they were able to pick finishes and colors that we never would have thought of. We got a great contractor referral through them, too. We were really happy with the whole process from start to finish.

22 November 2017

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you SO much Ashley!! You're the Best and it was so much fun working with you. Wishing you all the best this Holiday Season!

Brendan Kneram

My wife and I worked with Catherine Nakahara to remodel our kitchen and we couldn't be happier with the results. We had a fairly specific design in mind, but we had no idea how many variables that we would need to account for or where to even begin. Catherine patiently walked us through the entire process from design, pulling permits, to coordinating a general contractor, and the results are better than we could have imagined. We can't wait to go back when we're ready to renovate our bathrooms!

9 January 2017

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you SO much Brendan. It was such a joy to work with you and Elise! You are the best clients ever and I can't wait to help you with your bathroom when the time comes.

amysierrab

Catherine Nakahara of Custom Spaces Design, Inc., has been a supporter of my Acupuncture practice, Mitchell Family Acupuncture in Berkeley, for nearly 4yrs. I am very happy to review her very unique Kitchen and Bathroom design sense and expertise, professionalism, kindness and generosity. I have been to her website many times for inspiration. When I want design work done for my home kitchen and bathroom I know I will turn to Catherine and Custom Spaces to do the work. She and her team are amazing and her showroom is airy, light and filled with beautiful tile and cabinetry. A visit to her showroom is inspiring in itself!

20 December 2016

Burr Leonard

My husband and I rue the day that we chose Custom Spaces to remodel our kitchen. We chose the company because we liked the modern look of its kitchens displayed on its website. What we got was uncaring service, work fraught with mistakes, and a project that took almost nine months to complete at twice the cost we’d estimated. We signed onto Custom Spaces in mid-May of 2015 with the expectation that the company would provide us with a kitchen design, order our custom cabinets, help us pick out our finishings, and coordinate with appliance and fixture sources. Right off the bat, we received less than stellar service. We had to call the company multiple times before someone returned our messages to schedule our initial visit to pick out our cabinets and finishings. At the show room, the designer, Catherine Nakahara, rarely left her desk to help us sort through the displays and choices, which I found disorganized and limited. During the next nine months, Custom Spaces made a total of one visit to our home, which was to do the initial measurements. Over this time, Custom Spaces was slow to return our phone calls and emails, was reluctant to provide cost estimates, and required all payments up front. What we did receive were numerous bills emailed to us for items we had not discussed. My husband checked with the manufacturers of some of these items and learned that Custom Spaces’ markups were up to 100% higher than retail price. In September, Custom Designs had told us that our cabinets would arrive in late October/early November. They arrived the day before Thanksgiving, some of them banged up, others the wrong size, and many pieces missing altogether. Catherine actually suggested that we live with the defective cabinets! When we declined that idea, she took weeks to re-order them. Meanwhile, we discovered that Custom Spaces had not double-checked the viability of some of the fixtures it had included in our design, which had to be changed. Other fixtures it forgot about entirely. Our “blind cabinet” insert was one of them. We had to locate an old email to show Custom Spaces that at we’d actually ordered it. We finally received this item, but it was the wrong size. Custom Spaces had also had not checked with our city building department for the placement of some appliances, causing a last minute reworking of the design. You would think that Custom Spaces would have gladly reimbursed us for the items we had to source ourselves. This was not the case. Custom Spaces resisted reimbursing us for a large piece of faulty cabinetry that it claimed it could not reorder and that we resourced ourselves. After a long, fruitless effort to obtain from Catherine how much she owed us – and if she would pay us -- we scheduled an in-person visit to her office to resolve the issue. By February, our kitchen construction had ground to a halt due to multiple issues. We did not receive all the corrected cabinet pieces until late February. Fortunately, we had fantastic contractors, Wilson Remodeling (Derek Wilson and Scott Miller) who did their best to deal with Custom Spaces for us and resolve the problems. Regarding Custom Spaces, we are left with a bad taste in our mouths from receiving uncaring service, little attention to detail, flip excuses, lack of accountability, and no kitchen for more than four months due to mistakes and delays.

4 March 2016

Comment from SJ&J Design:

I am very sorry you feel you had a unsatisfactory experience with Custom Spaces. The remodeling process is often longer than anticipated and can be frustrating for all parties, including the designer. But please keep in mind, the average kitchen remodel of your size takes approximately 4-months to complete from start to finish.

Custom Spaces makes every possible effort to ensure mistakes don’t happen, but unfortunately, on your kitchen project, delays and mistakes did happen and for that Custom Spaces is truly sorry. When a product arrives damaged or errors were made with the initial cabinetry dimensions, it typically takes 3wks to order and get replacements. Unfortunately, however, in your case, this was over the holiday break and consequently, it took even longer than normal to get the replacements, because our cabinet supplier was closed for a week over the New Year’s break. Burr, I never suggested that you live with the damaged cabinets. I worked with the Contractor to determine which cabinets needed to be replaced and ordered them immediately upon his approval.

Custom Spaces has complete confidence in its Contractors and we know projects will be done in a professional and timely manner. And we’ve worked with many of these contractors for +10yrs. So typically, we don’t often feel the need to make site visits, since our contractor’s are on-site and can usually handle any issues that might come up with the homeowners directly. If a homeowner would like me to make a site visit, I am happy to do so at their request. I don’t however recall, you or Michael asking me to make a site visit at any time. And please keep in mind, at that time, I had lost a critical member of my team, my showroom manager, and I was juggling upwards of +15 projects all by myself. While looking for a replacement, I was working with a parade of seven (7) temps over 2-1/2 months. I did my very best to maintain a high level of professionalism with all my clients, however it was an extremely difficult and chaotic time for me.

However, I do believe I did everything I could from the showroom to keep you & Michael updated, and informed. And whenever I had any updates on the Aluminum doors, I sent you & Michael an email immediately. When there was any news, to share with you, I did so immediately. But there were days when there was no information to pass along and consequently you did not receive an email from me on those days. And until we talked on the phone on Thursday, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to be holding your’s & Michael’s hand, or providing you with any additional support or attention on your project. If you had told me upfront that these were your expectations, then I would have tried my very best to be more available to you.

Custom Spaces is a unique “boutique” design studio and we offer a very wide assortment of decorative tile, counter tops and cabinet door options. If a client can’t find a specific item, we can always order it for them. Also Burr, you and I have a completely different recollection of the day you & Michael came to the showroom to pick your cabinetry and finishes. As is customary for me, I began by asking you & Michael what style of cabinetry and finishes you were looking for. You & Michael said, “something clean and modern.” Michael said he was going to let you pick the cabinetry and finishes so he didn’t get up. As I always do, I began putting sample doors and counter tops options together for you (on one of the chairs in the front of our showroom), then you & Michael could see how they would look all together. I had initially picked up a fireclay tile that I thought could work well, but then put it down, because I thought it might be a little too busy. But then you picked it back up and decided that it could work well. You asked Michael to come over and take a look and he seemed very pleased with the Aluminum cabinet sample door + Frosty white combination, Haze for the counter top and fireclay tile for the backsplash and he said he was looking forward to seeing everything come together in the preliminary design schematics.

And, I would like to address markups. Custom Spaces purchases in-cabinet amenities from our cabinet supplier at wholesale prices. Then, we apply a modest markup to our cabinetry, fixtures and finishes. Custom Spaces would never mark up a product 100% over retail.

Custom Spaces is required to take full payment for cabinetry, counter tops and tile up-front as this is also required by the vendors we work with.

Please accept our sincerest apologies again. I do however hope, that at least now you are completely happy and satisfied with your kitchen - as it was one of the most sleek and stylish kitchens designs I’ve ever created.

Thank you.

User

I worked with Catherine and Custom Spaces several years ago to remodel my kitchen and when we needed to design a media center for our family room I knew she would be a great match for the project. Catherine has an excellent eye for design which was invaluable in helping to create functional cabinetry for our specific purpose that looks beautiful in the space. We've had some time now to live with the design and wouldn't change anything about it.

22 February 2016Last modified:2 days ago

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you so much Chris! I was thrilled to be a part of it.
Thank you again for choosing Custom Spaces Design

Teresa Lesko

I utilized Custom Spaces for a specific part of my project-I already had a design and most of the moving parts of my bathroom remodel. I appreciated the help and design sense of the the owner of Custom Spaces in completing a necessary part of the remodel that I needed to work into the existing design.

29 November 2015Last modified:7 December 2015

Paul Ruxton

By the time we started a conversation with Custom Spaces, we already had a really strong vision for our kitchen and bath remodel. They truly listened to our ideas and brought great creative energy to the project. Communication was fantastic and Catherine and Ashley couldn’t be any nicer! The project finished without a hitch and we are absolutely thrilled with the final outcome.

27 April 2015

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you Paul & Eve it was such pleasure to work with you. Everything turned out SO beautifully and I am very grateful for the 5-star review!
All the best!

gaylepclark

The team at Custom Spaces here in North Berkeley did a great job recommending fixtures, solving problems and troubleshooting every step of the way. You will save time working the experts who have so many resources at their fingertips ready to share with you!

6 April 2015

Comment from SJ&J Design:

Thank you Gayle. It was a real pleasure working with you & John!

lambert4

We were very happy with the way our project went. Our designer Julie Drummond went above and beyond to help us; she even suggested a color for our dinning room which was not part of the project. Our project involved a complete redo of the kitchen and our two upstairs bathroom; one the guest bathroom the other our master bath. The design she created made better use of the existing space. I especially liked that the preliminary drawings were 3D and in a good color representation of the materials we had selected. She was a great help with some of the construction issues we ran into--including rerouting a heating duct and working with the tile subcontracter to get the tile right in the bathroom.

3 March 2015

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128 Comments

Commented: Cabinets?The color is called Greenfield and was provided by the cabinet maker, Sequoia Custom Cabinetry.

23 April 2017

Commented: What is the main flooring material?The floor tile was a color called Playela in a 12x24 size. It does not seem to be available anymore, unfortunately.

2 April 2017

Commented: What are the dimensions for bathroom? What dimensions for shower?The entire bathroom is 56.5" x 92" and the shower is 37.25" x 30.25".

14 August 2016

Commented: What is the bathroom length?This was a petite bath of only 67" x 84.5".

31 July 2016

Commented: Counter Top`This beautiful stone is called Verde Begonia. It's a type of granite and we can source it for you. Let us know what you need. We are located at 1603 Solano Ave in Berkeley, California.

14 July 2016

Commented: Wall hung toilet manufacturer and style?That toilet was provided by the homeowner so I do not know the specific but I can tell you it's a Lydia brand product.

10 July 2016

SJ&J Design