Kitchen Design Software for a Mac?

14 years ago

I have spend a lot of time trying to find kitchen design software for my Mac. All the good software (Chief Architect or BH&G Home Design) is just made for PC's. I also looked at Google Sketchup but found it unwieldy with a very steep learning curve. I've only seen a few for the Mac, and I am disregarding the "pro" software that costs many hundreds or even thousands of dollars. I am concerned that some of the software won't easily show cabinet measurements and the like. So, the few I've seen for Macs are:

- Microspot's MacDraft Personal

- Microspot's Interiors

- Encore's 3D Home Architect

- Belight's Live Interior 3D

Does anyone have any feedback on any of these, or can recommend any kitchen design software for the Mac? Thanks.

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Comments (5)

weidiii
14 years ago
No...I looked too. In the end I wanted the extra money for "stuff"
you know in the hours you would spend researching, downloading, the learning curve, etc (and what would you use it for again?) you could go to Lowes or HD and sit down with a pro. I learned from friends that there was an excellent KD at a Lowes 55 minutes away ( there were many Lowe's closer) and there was no commitment to buy but I got my plans...ask around
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hgluckman
14 years ago
While not explicitly kitchen design software, Google Sketchup is available - for free - for the Mac. As I and others have said before it has a steep learning curve, but allows you to create detailed 3D models of pretty much anything you can imagine.

The comments by weidiii are well taken though. It is a big time commitment to getting it right.
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segbrown
14 years ago
I used Live Interior. It was somewhat helpful, I guess. I don't have a lot of experience with such programs, so don't take my "review" too seriously, lol.

Mostly I used it before we decided to just demo the whole downstairs and move the kitchen, so I was playing around with fitting things into our original space. That was frustrating, but I think it was as much the kitchen as the program.

My kd drew everything, didn't use computers at all, so I didn't have any 3D renderings. So when I got a plan from him, I sort of mocked it up in Live Interiors. There aren't a lot of choices of finish (or at least anything near what I was going to use), but it was mildly helpful.

Soooo ... I guess if you don't really *need* that $80, it's kind of fun. But I never ended up with anything that even remotely resembled my current kitchen. (I guess that isn't exactly a resoundingly positive take, is it?? I was jealous of many of the other pc-based renderings I saw on here. It doesn't seem like Mac has any consumer-oriented design programs like that.)
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artemis78
14 years ago
Sunset Kitchen Designer is handy and cross-platform---it's got its limitations, but does a decent job of modeling and is much simpler to learn than Sketchup. It comes free with "Kitchens: A Sunset Design Book," which is about $15 and has been useful in its own right (walks you through each decision---e.g., here are the types of counters out there, the pros and cons of each, etc.). Having the 3-D rendering capability was hugely useful for me because I'm a spatial thinker---things that sounded good on paper played out very differently in models.
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artemis78
14 years ago
Oh, looks like you can buy the software separately from the company that makes it, too. But honestly, for the extra $5 I'd get the book too. :)

The site doesn't list the Mac requirements---if you didn't notice the drop-down Mac option, you might never know it was compatible!---but it runs fine on my year-old Macbook, which isn't running Snow Leopard yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Punch Software Kitchen Designer
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