Need Tips/Help with Sketch Up for kitchen plans

16 years ago

I've downloaded Sketch Up, taken the tutorials, and bought a book - Sketch Up for Dummies. So now I'm reasonably OK with the basics.

However, I'm at a complete loss as to where to begin to use it for my kitchen plans. I'm sure that part of my problem is that I'm not yet familiar enough with the tools and rules.

I could use a little help getting started. Should I start with an aerial diagram of the floor plan and then build it up? Or should I do one wall at a time & "pull" it forward?

I welcome any and all suggestions.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (5)

miaolinwei
16 years ago
This is what I usually do when designing a kitchen. I never used Sketch Up, what I use is 2020 design. First get a paper out, draw and measure your existing walls and the height. Second place your appliances on the paper, since all the appliances spots are set(unless you are moving it to other places), Third figure out what you need, like pantries, spice rack, drawers cabinets, and other things like that, do only the base first, after you done with the base, the wall are pretty easy to figure out.

Good Luck
grannysmith18
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm not sure I understand what you mean. I've already got my kitchen plans drawn on paper, and jpegs on the computer. What I'd like to do is create a model on the computer using Google Sketch Up.
Related Discussions
Please help me sketch a floor plan
Q
Comments (25)
Olliesmom -- actually, I noticed a lot of natural light. It didn't feel closed in. The fact that all of the main rooms overlooked the courtyard made it feel connected to the outdoors. The courtyard seemed like the hub of the house. The POH house had cathedral ceilings in the family/kitchen and in the living room. The master bedroom had a cathedral ceiling. The dining room would have been cathedral, but they flattened it out at about 11' up and had an artist put a beautiful subtle design up there. If you walk through the plan: Living room -- large windows into the courtyard, there were small windows flanking the fireplace in the POH house. Whenever you have windows on two walls, you get more light. Dining room -- French doors onto lanai, large front windows. Kitchen/breakfast -- French doors opened onto the lanai. Windows over the sink on the opposite wall. Family room -- French doors opened onto the lani. Windows were put on the POH house on the opposite wall as there are no neighbors on that side of the 2 acre lot. The builder moved the fireplace to the inside wall of the POH house at the opposite end from the kitchen. That freed up the outside wall for larger windows. Master bedroom -- French door opened onto the lanai. Large bow window on the back. The only downside that I could see from building it as a one level house is that due to all of the cathedral ceilings, there was no attic space. There was a pull-down stair in the garage, so I believe that's where the only attic was located. Also, look for where you'd put a pantry (if needed) or a broom/vacuum utility closet. That's about the only thing that came to mind in my functional critique when walking through it. I noticed on the actual plan, there is a stairway up to the room above the garage. I didn't see a stairway, but I might have missed it in the POH house. There is a large closet off the foyer for storage. I did like the economy of that small foyer. It was enough to give you a transitional entrance, yet no space was wasted as in some foyers.
...See More
House Plan sketches for Review
Q
Comments (14)
Thanks! We have gone over the zoning requirements with a fine-toothed comb and talked to the zoning dept already. We are allowed to build the driveway within the setback as long as it is at ground level. I would also prefer 8 ft to the south rather than the minimum 6 ft because the neighbor's driveway goes right up to the property line and I would like some garden beds. I assume with a fence on the north side and a 10 ft driveway, (12 ft total - we only had 8 at our last house with less than a ft margin near the building) and 8 ft to the south, that leaves us with 35.5 feet of buildable width including walls - eaves can protrude another 6 inches/ ft of setback. I have read through all the zoning minutes for the past 3 years and it looks very likely they will allow us to encroach another 4 ft or so combined on the rear/front setbacks, though I would like to plan for the actual space legally allowed and enjoy that extra 4 ft of parking maneuverability if we get it. The plan I drew is 34 ft front and 42 ft depth. I would like a porch, but we can get away with steps and a small roof entry if necessary. I have prioritized the living room and dining room placement and openness. I have tried switching the mudroom and kitchen, but it leaves me with stairs that are difficult to place and issues with the front door being centered. I forgot to label it on the first floor plan, but we need an entrance to the basement on one end of the stairs. With them going up from the kitchen, I was hoping they could be entered across from the office door, rather than by the front door. Thanks for your advice!
...See More
Need kitchen remodel layout help, please. Sketches and pics included!
Q
Comments (8)
Thanks for the advice, Kristine! I moved some things around in the Ikea planner like you suggested. Your suggestion for the fridge location is where my fridge is currently located. I moved it in my original plan because I dislike how much it sticks out into the middle of the room. I could probably solve that issue by getting a counter-depth fridge. I need to do more research on that because I am concerned that we won't have enough fridge space with a counter depth model. I frequently put cookie sheets in the fridge and they take up the entire depth of my current fridge (a side-by-side model). I think I could fit them in a counter depth fridge if I got the kind with 2 french doors on the top and the freezer on the bottom. I moved the wall oven/micro over to the far left wall because I didn't want to make the peninsula any shorter than it already is. It is only 6 feet and any smaller seems like it won't be long enough. I would like to be able to have enough space for 6 girls to be working around it at one time and 6 feet will already be tight (3 girls on each side). I do really like moving the cooktop to the far left wall as well. It seems to give me a lot more bottom drawers for storage along the top wall which would be great. I was only able to fit an 18" cabinet between the cooktop and the wall oven. I'm not sure that is enough space on that side. I think I remember seeing that 24" of working space should be the minimum. I could get more space by using a range instead, but I don't really like that setup. I frequently use both the oven and the stovetop at the same time with 2 people cooking. So the person using the stovetop is always in the way of the person trying to open the oven. I would really like to have the 2 separated.
...See More
Sketchup Floor-plan & Initial Interior Design Sketch
Q
Comments (39)
Allison, just saw your thread as I haven't been here in a while but I think if you're four years out, wait until your about one year out as you said. Lot of talk here about "forever houses" and how most really aren't because life circumstances change, same is true here. Mrs. ARG and I have GC'ed three houses over 40 years and those worked out but we bought two other lots with the intention of building but for a variety of reaons, sold them. But that doesn't mean you can't be getting ready and learning about residential design, especially the intangible aspects of it. Here's a link on some good books to read https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3281434/book-suggestions Probably "Patterens of Home" is one of the better ones. And a thread on what makes for good house design https://www.houzz.com/discussions/3285825/what-makes-a-house-have-good-design As far as the arguement of "floorplan or no floor plan for the architect", every architect is different of course, but when that happens to me, it doesn't limit me as I'm looking at a floor plan more in DIAGRAMMITIC terms as oppposed to actual physical terms and asking question like "What do you like about this?". And then once I learn that, ask "Have you thought about this.....?" as I begin to freehand ideas. But if you have a plan, don't get too "stuck" on it and be open to other ideas. I've had clients that have said "But we've spent MONTHS on this", like the task is akin to washing a car with the more time spent on it, the better the result. Design doesn't work that way. As an example, here's an example of a client working diligently on a design(s) and what we (and I say "we" because it's always a participatory process) came up with. Client plans: And what we came up with: But of course, Mark and Jen (the owners) were great listeners and for this to work that's what you and your aerospace engineer husband needs to be. FWIW, here's his thread: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5401415/stuck-with-floor-plan But the best of luck in your build. Exciting times ahead!!
...See More
flatcoat2004
16 years ago
Well I start by building the walls of the rooms I am interested in. If the room is 11'x14', and the walls are 6" thick, I draw a rectangle 12'x15', then I use the offset tool to draw another rectangle exactly 6" inside the first. Then use the push/pull tool to pull the 6" "walls" up to your ceiling height. Voila ! you have a room !

Then you can cut doorways and windows out by drawing rectangles and deleting the openings. The tape measure tool is great for drawing guidelines to make sure you position everything just right, and at the right size.

There are online component libraries that you can simply download cabinets and furniture from.

There's a really good Sketchup tutorial on the IKEAfans website, it got me past the frustration point and into drawing models really quickly.

Good luck !
remodelfla
16 years ago
I"m going to try again with what flatcoat said myself. I tried Sketch-up and was totally daunted. I also tried LiveInterior which was a little easier but I still struggled with it. I had the most luck drawing in Excel but had trouble posting the drawings. You can see my thread that is currently running. I'd post a link to LiveInterior but can't remember where I saw it. You can do a search at the bottom and it might come up. I'll look to see if I can find it for you. You will probably be better with it then I was.
miaolinwei
16 years ago
oh, lol, my bad, I misunderstood, I never used Sketch up, but if you still can't figure it out, I could draw it for you using 2020.

Need Tips/Help with Sketch Up for kitchen plans

Comments (5)

miaolinwei

grannysmith18
Original Author

Related Discussions

flatcoat2004

remodelfla

miaolinwei

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

Need Tips/Help with Sketch Up for kitchen plans

Comments (5)

miaolinwei

grannysmith18Original Author

Related Discussions

flatcoat2004

remodelfla

miaolinwei

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

grannysmith18
Original Author