Kitchen/Home Design Software Recommendations

15 years ago

I'm just starting to plan my kitchen renovation and I'm trying to decide what kitchen design software to purchase. I'm a mechanical engineer and I work in 3D CAD all day long, but I've never designed a kitchen. I could just build the kitchen in my CAD package at work, but then I'd have to build all the components from scratch which would be very time consuming and possibly inaccurate. It would be nice to just be able to drop in cabinets and start playing rather than spending several weekends building cabinet models!

I would like to use the software now for working on my kitchen, but I may end up "building" my house in it and playing with other things, so I don't want to eliminate the home design software packages. My primary focus is on the kitchen though, so I don't want to sacrifice quality there to get the home design capability.

I could always go with pencil and paper, but I'm a hopeless sucker for a 3D rendering. I would also like decent representations of the kitchen with materials as I am not very good at choosing finishes and would like to see it before I buy it. I've tried a few of the free programs (Ikea's most recently) and have been frustrated with all the bugs and crashes. I'm willing to spend a little bit of money for this, but I don't want to go nuts!

So what design software do you all use? What are the pros/cons? Also if you have examples of things you've created in it that would be very helpful. Thank you all very much for your help. I'm sure I'll be asking for more help once I get started on layout. TIA!

Bri

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Comments (4)

bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
15 years ago
Bri - I found a previous thread discussing this topic (linked below). Also found another thread which is really focused on software but in which includes a number of mockups that were done using BetterHomes& Gardens software. related to this topic. In fact the first image is a BHG mockup and then, further down the post are several others.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg0316084311514.html

Hope these help

Here is a link that might be useful: previous thread re software
lnhardin
15 years ago
I used the BH&G Home Designer Pro. Originally started with just the Home Designer, but got a LOT more functionality with the Pro. It has all types of furniture, cabinets, etc you can essentially drag and drop. You can do design and then switch to elevations or 3D. Lots more functions I can't even begin to list here. We even did detail stuff like put in the Latitude, longitude and time of year to figure out sun angles and how deep our overhangs needed to be. It was pricey, but SO worth it.

No access to architects here, so we essentially did our own design. It still shocks me when we visit the build site that the finished product actually looks like the design! Learning curve is a bit much for a non-designer, but if you are used to CAD programs, I suspect you won't have any problems.

House should be finished in June.
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I purchased this about a month ago. I consider myself very computer proficient and have had no trouble learning the program. It is amazing the detail you can create with the program although it is very detailed work that takes patience. The instruction book that comes with the program shows you the basics - to get complex designs, visit the website where they show pictures of elaborate rooms with brief summaries of how they were created. With that said, it is much harder to design a house than I thought. I started off with a floor plan I found on line, created it in the BHG program, then started my modifications. My purpose in using the program is so I can walk through the house with my husband - he doesn't "see" the plan as easily from 2-D drawings as I do. All the details of building started to occur to me as I designed. For instance, how much wall space do you need above and below a window? If you don't know how houses are framed, then you have to find that information. That is just one of the many, many building details you need to know. I'm sure there are lots of users out there who learned how to design a plan to the degree that a builder can work from it. That wasn't my purpose in buying the software. I just wanted it mainly for my own entertainment and a chance to play with my design. When the time comes, the floorplan from this software MAY be useful when we ask Don Gardner Homes to make the modifucations we want. Nan
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Hi, I'm trying to decide between purchasing one of the Punch software editions or one of the Better Homes & Gardens. I've searched the Kitchens forum, Bathrooms forum, and Remodeling forum. On the Kitchens forum, I see people are using the Better Homes & Gardens software to do their layouts and work through designs. I don't see any mention of the Punch software over there. I see that some people here are using the Punch software, so I thought I'd ask for input here. If you're using Punch, which edition are you using? How has your experience been so far with it? What rooms or other things have you designed with it? I'd like to have the ability for different views and vantage points of the room, and somehow get a feel for how it would look entering, standing in the space, exiting, etc. And ideally, I'd love to be able to export in a digital photo of my existing room into the software and use it to do changes so I can get a closer idea of how it will look in reality. There are so many different edition flavors that I'm having trouble deciding on price point alone. Thanks in advance! Lee
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Hi Guys, I'm using sweethome3d to generate floorplans and 3D visualizations of our space. It's free and it's java based so it will run on windows/mac and linux (which sketchup doesn't support, so this was key for me). It's not perfect and you have to go through a lot of hoops to do complicated things (slanted roofs with skylights specifically!), but if you screw with it enough you can do some pretty powerful things. Their lighting model isn't ideal (really? No diffuse and specular surfaces at the same time!?), but it's fairly easy to use. here's some shots of the layout I did with it (arrows and text were added after in another program) And the current work in progress rendering of the new space: Here is a link that might be useful: SweetHome3D
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I've posted a couple hand drawn, graph paper floor plans on here in order to ask for help with kitchen design. Other posters have been eager to help, and I am very appreciative. However, I am having trouble because some of my measurements were off and things arnt to scale, ect. I'd like to post a nicer computer generated floor plan so it's easier for others to help. I had the Home Design app, but it was tricky to work with, and I had to covert everything to feet and inches as opposed to just inches. Can anyone recommend an app or site which is inexpensive and easy for novices to use? Thank you!
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rhome410
15 years ago
I use Chief Architect, which is the parent version of the less expensive Better Homes and Gardens softwares. I designed our house in CA, then my son, with help from his drafting instructor, who is an architect, did the construction drawings in AutoCAD. I have used AutoCAD, but I, too, am a sucker for, and somewhat dependent on 3D renderings and the Chief Architect products are great and very user friendly.

Mine does 2 types of 3Ds

Here is my kitchen in both:

And a photo of the real thing to compare:
bri29
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you all for your help! I'd read through the previous threads, but I'd already decided that the free programs weren't going to be enough for me. I just wanted to figure out where I'd get the best bang for my buck. Of course, now after seeing rhome's renderings, I want the expensive software! :)

Now I think I have to decide between the BH&G Suite and the Punch software packages. Either one of the ~$100 software packages seem to be pretty well reviewed, so it's going to be a tough call.

Thanks again,
Bri

Kitchen/Home Design Software Recommendations

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