Why Atlanta Homeowners Should Visit a Kitchen Showroom Before Their Remodel: A Local Designer's Guide

The $15,000 Mistake That Almost Happened in Peachtree City

Last spring, Sarah Thompson from Peachtree City was ready to order $15,000 worth of kitchen cabinets online. The sleek white shaker-style doors looked perfect on her computer screen, the measurements seemed right, and the price was within budget. Just one problem: she hadn't seen them in person.

"Thank goodness my neighbor convinced me to visit Turan Designs' showroom first. When I saw those same cabinets in person, I realized the finish would show every fingerprint – a disaster with three kids and two dogs."

Sarah's near-miss isn't unique. According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association, 31% of homeowners experience significant regret about material choices made without seeing them in person. In Georgia's humid climate, where materials behave differently than in other regions, that percentage jumps even higher.

As a design-build firm serving Fayette County for over 20 years, we've seen countless Atlanta-area homeowners learn this lesson the hard way. The good news? A simple showroom visit can prevent these costly mistakes while opening your eyes to possibilities you never imagined.

This guide will walk you through exactly why visiting a kitchen showroom is essential before your remodel, what you'll discover during your visit, and how to make the most of your showroom experience. Whether you're in Peachtree City, Tyrone, Newnan, or anywhere in the Atlanta metro area, understanding the showroom advantage could save you thousands of dollars and months of frustration.

The Hidden Costs of Skipping the Showroom

Online vs. Reality: The Georgia Perspective

We've all fallen into the trap. You're scrolling through Pinterest at midnight, saving gorgeous kitchen photos, convinced you've found "the one." But here's what those perfectly styled photos don't tell you about remodeling in Georgia.

First, there's our famous Southern light. Atlanta's intense sunlight streams differently through our windows than it does in a Seattle loft or Manhattan apartment. That trendy dark gray cabinet color that looked sophisticated online? In a sun-drenched Fayetteville kitchen, it might appear almost black, making your space feel like a cave by 2 PM.

Climate Consideration: Georgia's humidity affects every material choice. Wood expands and contracts more dramatically here than in drier climates. Those budget cabinet doors that looked identical to the premium option online? In person, you'd notice the cheaper construction that won't withstand Georgia's moisture cycles.

Consider what happened to the Johnsons in Newnan. They ordered bamboo cabinets based on glowing online reviews from customers in Arizona. Six months after installation, the doors wouldn't close properly due to wood expansion. The fix? Complete cabinet replacement – a $12,000 lesson in why local climate matters.

The Pinterest Problem

Pinterest and Instagram have revolutionized kitchen design inspiration, but they've also created new challenges for homeowners. Those stunning kitchens you're saving? They're photographed with professional lighting, often digitally enhanced, and styled within an inch of their lives.

"I can't tell you how many clients come in with Pinterest boards full of kitchens that would never work in their homes. They don't realize that the 12-foot island they love would leave only 24 inches of walkway in their galley kitchen."

— Teri Turan, Lead Designer

Take the recent project in Sharpsburg where homeowners fell in love with open shelving throughout their kitchen – a huge trend on social media. During their showroom visit, they realized the maintenance reality: dusting dishes weekly in Georgia's pollen-heavy environment. Instead, we designed a combination of closed storage with strategic open shelving that gave them the look without the headache.

What You'll Discover in a Professional Kitchen Showroom

Touch and Feel Experience

Walking into a professional kitchen showroom is like test-driving a car instead of just looking at photos online. You immediately understand quality differences that no amount of zooming in on website images can reveal.

Cabinet construction becomes clear when you can run your hand along the edges, feel the weight of the doors, and examine the joinery. In our Tyrone showroom, clients often express surprise at the substantial difference between cabinet grades. "I thought all soft-close hinges were the same until I felt them side by side," one recent visitor noted. The premium hinges close like a luxury car door – smooth, quiet, controlled. The budget versions? They catch halfway and slam shut.

Countertop Testing in Our Showroom:

• Hot pans directly from the stove
• Red wine and coffee spills
• Knife scratches and daily wear
• Cleaning product compatibility

One Peachtree City couple changed their entire countertop selection after seeing how certain quartz patterns showed every water spot and fingerprint. They opted for a leathered granite finish that hides daily use while still providing the durability they needed.

Scale and Proportion Reality Check

Nothing replaces standing next to a kitchen island to understand if it's truly the right size for your space. Online, every island looks proportional. In person, you discover that the 10-foot island you loved would dominate your kitchen like an aircraft carrier in a swimming pool.

Island Testing Checklist:

• Comfortable passage widths (42 inches minimum in work zones)
• Seating arrangements and knee space
• Work triangle efficiency
• Appliance door clearances

We recently helped a Fayette County family avoid a major mistake. They planned a massive island based on their contractor's suggestion, but after walking through our showroom layouts, they realized it would block their dining room access. The solution? A smaller island with a connected peninsula that provided the same prep space without the traffic jam.

Cabinet heights tell another story in person. Standard 36-inch uppers might work perfectly, or you might discover you prefer 42-inch cabinets for extra storage. One Newnan homeowner, who is 6'3", was thrilled to learn about proportion adjustments that would prevent years of head-bumping.

Local Material Performance

Georgia's climate creates unique challenges that showroom visits help you navigate. Our design team has tracked how different materials perform in local homes over two decades, and we share this knowledge during consultations.

Wood Performance in Georgia Homes:

• Cherry: Darkens dramatically in our strong sunlight
• Maple: Stable but shows humidity stress in certain finishes
• Engineered materials: Consistent performance but quality varies widely

Paint finishes present their own considerations. That trendy matte black might photograph beautifully, but in a busy Peachtree City kitchen, it shows every fingerprint and water spot. We demonstrate how different sheens perform and guide you toward finishes that balance aesthetics with practical maintenance.

The Turan Designs Showroom Experience

What Makes Our Tyrone Showroom Different

Not all showrooms are created equal. Big box stores offer quantity but lack the personalized expertise that makes the difference between a good kitchen and a great one. At Turan Designs, our Tyrone showroom reflects 20+ years of creating award-winning kitchens specifically for Georgia homes.

The moment you walk in, you'll notice the difference. Instead of generic displays, you'll see complete kitchen vignettes featuring actual projects from Peachtree City, Newnan, and surrounding communities. These aren't staged sets – they're recreations of real kitchens we've designed and built, complete with the challenges we solved and the innovations we implemented.

Our Design-Build Advantage: When you ask, "Can we move this wall?" or "How would plumbing work here?" you get answers from professionals who handle both the creative vision and the technical execution. This integrated expertise eliminates the finger-pointing between designers and contractors that derails many projects.

As NKBA-certified professionals, we stay current with industry standards while maintaining deep knowledge of local building codes. This combination means your dream kitchen is both beautiful and buildable – no surprises when construction begins.

Interactive Design Process

Modern technology enhances but doesn't replace the showroom experience. Our 3D visualization stations let you see your actual kitchen transformed in real-time. Upload photos of your current space, and our designers can show you different layout options, color schemes, and material combinations.

But here's where physical showrooms maintain their advantage: you can touch the materials you're seeing on screen. Love how those cabinets look in the rendering? Step over and open the actual cabinet, test the drawers, feel the finish. This immediate tactile feedback helps you make confident decisions.

Our material library goes beyond simple samples. We've created combination displays showing how different countertops, backsplashes, and cabinet finishes work together in actual lighting conditions. You can literally walk around these combinations, viewing them from different angles and distances – something no online tool can replicate.

Client Success Story

"Turan Designs transformed our very outdated kitchen into a beautiful and very functional kitchen that we absolutely love! The showroom visit changed everything – we could see how different materials worked together and test actual cabinet functions. Teri designed it to include our requests while also offering great advice about features we didn't know existed. Seeing them in the showroom made us realize we would have regretted not including them."

— Kimberly Williams, Peachtree City

The Williams discovered soft-close drawer slides, pull-out trash systems, and LED interior cabinet lighting during their showroom visit – features they hadn't considered when browsing online. These additions cost less than 5% of their total budget but dramatically improved their daily kitchen experience.

7 Things to Do During Your Showroom Visit

Pre-Visit Preparation

Success starts before you arrive. These four preparation steps will maximize your showroom experience:

1. Measure Your Space Accurately

Bring complete measurements including:

• Room dimensions (length, width, height)
• Window and door locations with trim measurements
• Existing appliance dimensions
• Utility locations (electrical, plumbing, gas)

Pro tip: Take photos of your measurement sheets. Many clients forget their papers but have their phones.

2. Document Your Current Kitchen

Photograph your existing kitchen from multiple angles:

• Wide shots showing overall layout
• Problem areas that frustrate you
• Features you want to keep
• Adjacent rooms that connect to the kitchen

3. Create a Realistic Wishlist

List your must-haves, nice-to-haves, and definitely-don'ts. Be specific:

• Instead of "more storage," note "place for stand mixer, cookie sheets, and serving platters"
• Rather than "better lighting," specify "task lighting for chopping vegetables"
• Not just "island seating," but "comfortable seating for three teenagers doing homework"

4. Set a Realistic Budget Range

Know your comfortable spending range before you visit. This helps designers guide you toward appropriate options. Remember to budget for the unexpected – in older Fayette County homes, we often discover plumbing or electrical updates needed once cabinets are removed.

During Your Visit

5. Test Cabinet Functionality

Don't just look – interact with everything:

• Open and close doors repeatedly
• Pull drawers out completely
• Sit at different counter heights
• Test corner cabinet solutions

6. Compare Materials in Different Lighting

Our showroom features multiple lighting scenarios. View material samples:

• Under bright LED task lighting
• In softer ambient evening light
• Near windows with natural light
• In shadowed areas away from direct light

7. Ask About Local Installation Challenges

Every area has unique considerations. In historic Peachtree City neighborhoods, we often encounter:

• Plaster walls requiring special mounting techniques
• Uneven floors needing creative solutions
• Outdated electrical systems limiting lighting options
• Strict HOA guidelines affecting exterior ventilation

Common Showroom Mistakes Atlanta Homeowners Make

Learning from others' mistakes can save you time, money, and frustration. Here are the most common missteps we see in our Tyrone showroom:

Visiting Without Measurements

"I'll just get ideas today" seems logical until you fall in love with an island that won't fit or cabinets too deep for your galley kitchen. One Sharpsburg couple had to completely restart their planning after realizing their dream layout required moving a load-bearing wall. Always bring measurements – even rough ones help more than none.

Ignoring Existing Architecture

Your kitchen doesn't exist in isolation. That ultra-modern handleless design might clash terribly with your traditional Newnan colonial's crown molding and archways. Our designers help you find styles that enhance rather than fight your home's character.

Overlooking Local Building Codes

Fayette County has specific requirements that affect kitchen design:

• Minimum distances between cooktops and windows
• Ventilation requirements for gas appliances
• Electrical outlet spacing and GFCI protection
• Permits needed for various modifications

Focusing Only on Current Trends

Those navy blue cabinets might be having a moment, but will you still love them in five years? Our showroom displays both trendy and timeless options, helping you understand the difference.

Virtual vs. In-Person: Why Physical Showrooms Still Matter

The pandemic accelerated virtual design tools, and they certainly have their place. But for major investments like kitchen remodels, physical showrooms remain irreplaceable. Here's why:

Limitations of Virtual Tours

Even the best virtual technology can't replicate:

• True color accuracy (every screen displays differently)
• Texture and material weight
• Sound qualities (drawer slides, door closures)
• Actual scale perception
• Quality differences in construction

"The virtual tour helped me narrow options, but I needed to touch and see everything before spending $40,000."

— Peachtree City Client

Benefits of In-Person Material Evaluation

Materials behave differently than photos suggest. That "minor" texture variation in granite becomes a major design element in person. The subtle pattern in quartz that's invisible online might be exactly the visual interest your kitchen needs.

Professional Lighting Reveals:

• How glossy surfaces create glare
• Whether matte finishes show fingerprints
• How natural stone's variation really looks
• Which edge profiles cast shadows or collect crumbs

Professional Guidance Advantages

Our design team's trained eyes catch issues clients miss. During a recent consultation, we noticed a client gravitating toward a cabinet style that would make their narrow kitchen feel even smaller. By demonstrating alternative door styles in the showroom, we helped them achieve their aesthetic goals while actually making the space feel larger.

Your Next Step Toward the Perfect Kitchen

After helping transform hundreds of Atlanta-area kitchens over two decades, we've learned one universal truth: the best kitchen renovations start with informed decisions. Those decisions happen when you can see, touch, and experience your options in person.

Sarah Thompson, who we mentioned at the beginning, ended up with a beautiful kitchen featuring cabinets with a finish that hides daily life while still looking elegant. She made that decision in our showroom, not from her couch at midnight.

Ready to start your kitchen journey the right way? Visit the Turan Designs showroom at 125 Howell Road in Tyrone. Our NKBA-certified design team is ready to help you avoid costly mistakes and discover possibilities you never imagined.

Schedule Your Showroom Visit:

• Call: 404-394-2038
• Location: 125 Howell Road, Tyrone, GA 30290
• Hours: Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm

Your dream kitchen is waiting. Let's find it together – in person, where it matters most.