Jim Kuiken Design

We hired Jim Kuiken Design during our new home build in Wayzata, MN. What began as a new relationship, developed into Jim being the designer that we will always work with on any home project we pursue.

We had lived the past 22 years in a more traditional style home and we were looking to create an open, airy and more of a contemporary cottage style home. It is rare to have a designer that not only understands your vision but clearly can design in all design styles. Rare! He is amazing to work with and does a fabulous job of balancing areas to invest in and other areas to save some money. This balance is really important – no matter what your budget. He would be our go to designer if we decide to build a more traditional style home as well.

I also loved that he was an amazing listener to how we lived our lives, our likes and dislikes and only then did he weigh in on trends in design. I loved that he took our ideas and exploded them into truly a unique vision and greatly stepped up our look.

I wake up every day – walk into my kitchen, go into our master bath, look at our gorgeous fireplace and it makes us so happy. That’s when you know you have worked with the best designer – you begin living and truly wouldn’t change a thing!

If there were 6 stars – that is how we would rate him! Thank you Jim.

Highly professional and organized, Active listener, and always met deadlines!

We were in the process of designing a new build and were using Houzz to collect ideas in “idea books”. One kitchen in particular caught our eye, and we contacted the designer in Minneapolis to ask what the wood was that was used. He replied within a couple of hours with the answer and we replied with “wished you lived in Nova Scotia so you could help us with the design of our new house!

We then looked at his website and read a testimonial from a client in Ontario, at which point we thought, why couldn’t we use Jim? We contacted him and after chatting with him about what we wanted, we decided to have him work with us. It was one of the best choices we could have made!

Everything was done via phone and Internet, from walking through the original design and vastly improving on it, exterior and interior colours, trim detail, bathroom and kitchen layout, tile selection, and much, much more. Jim was incredibly easy to work with, full of fantastic ideas and has excellent taste as seen in his portfolio.

One of our most memorable tasks was picking the exterior colour of the house. We had found a home on Houzz which we loved the colour of, but it was indicated on the photo. The house was in Minneapolis and Jim found it and asked the owners what it was. We now have it on our beautiful home in Nova Scotia…We cannot recommend Jim enough. He was fantastic, knowledgeable, professional and so easy to work with and full of great suggestions.

My wife and I purchased a 1940 Cape Cod 2 summers ago. We saved up enough budget to remodel our front driveway and entry way this year. And off we went…and began the search for an architect that could help us.

We interviewed four architects during the selection process, and fortunately for us, Jim was one of the four. First, he was referred by a trusted friend and local realtor. I’ve always viewed word of mouth referrals as the best. To simply put it, Jim knocked our socks off compared to the other three architects. I think what set him apart most was his desire to get a true “feel” for us, our home, our style and most importantly, our home’s character. He specifically came on multiple site visits to capture this “feel” PRIOR to giving us a bid or starting his work.

After those first few visits and interactions, Jim started to dive in. I would first note that Jim is a true Pro – always prompt, always courteous, never out to make a buck, or rush through a meeting/drawing/etc. We continuously felt that that our home and our project were as important to him as if they were his own home – that’s a rare gift and something we were blessed to find.

We thoroughly enjoyed the entire process. It was 5 stars – a perfect fit, a perfect design (which originally we had not envisioned), affordable and within our budget…and the list goes on. And the most amazing part of it – it never gets old. Every time we pull in our house and look at our new front entry (which was completely hidden before), we think what a privilege it is to live here. It’s timeless.

I’d highly recommend Jim to anyone looking for a great architect and person; and personally, I will never work with anyone else.