Thanks for posting that. I used Sketchup to do a 3D kitchen layout but would love to use to for a floorplan.

The key issue is whether you are trying to design the house or create construction documents - two very different goals. Many homeowners tend to think of the "design" of a house as a "plan" when, in reality, it is just one of many ways to help someone to visualize the actual design and it is not always a very good one for complex designs. Plans, elevations, details and schedules work well for builders because they aren't trying to evaluate the overall design, only build the house one piece at a time. IMHO nothing compares to SketchUp for preliminary design at any price (SketchUp basic is free, SketchUp Pro is $495, the Student version of Pro is $49/year and a trial version of Pro is free.) Since it is unlikely a homeowner will have the knowledge to draw a set of construction documents I would suggest sticking to preliminary design and hiring someone with the proper experience to do the rest. A SketchUp model can be easily looked at in plan view especially with the Section Tool shown in the link below. It doesn't take a skilled drafter much time to enter the information from a SketchUp model into a 2D CAD file because the drafter can use the tape measure tool to find all of the dimensions (if they are not already labeled in the model) and it is possible to import a 2D version into almost any CAD program (Pro has DXF export and the free version will need a plugin script that is available free online.) SketchUp may seem intuitive and for a grade school student it is but for a house designer it has so many valuable features that it requires taking a course at a school or online to be used effectively. You should study and experiment for a month before starting to design your house. There are books available at Amazon and online courses from SketchUp and from SketchUp for Dummies/aidanchopra.com. When I open a SketchUp model from 10 years ago I am surprised at how few of the features I was able to use. There is never an end to learning with any CAD program. Each new version of the software adds incredible features. SketchUp view inside model

We're doing a major remodel / rebuild that encompasses more than just the kitchen. Our architect uses Archicad for Mac. He is advising us on interior design, but our design budget was used up months ago. So I found a program for the Mac called "Live Interior 3D" on Apple's "App Store" for $39 and thought I would give it a try. It has been great. I imported the 2D PDF of plans from the architect and then traced walls in my app, then added windows and floors, etc. and added furniture. Architect and I will have discussions about design concepts for living room / kitchen (mainly so far) and I'll draw them up and share screenshots and we'll chat about it. So he helps with design direction but I do the work of creating the visualization. Now that we have it, we can use it to consider color, flooring, etc. You can add lights, change size and luminosity, change time of day, etc. and the program renders shadows etc. We used this technique (combined with very helpful ideas from this forum) to determine that we would go with a counter height eating area on our peninsula with a seat at the end. Once we had that, I figured I could get a nice 30" drawer in before the prep sink. Also used it to visualize a 36 vs 30 inch range (going with 36). Then last week we met with the cabinet guys and I gave them screenshots and ideas (including custom depth for an upper cabinet for a microwave near the fridge). It's not in any way a kitchen design program per se that will give you quantities of cabinets. But it doesn't for instance let you change the cabinet face style etc. You can change wood color. You can import objects from sketchup, including searching for objects online through the software interface. Here's our "fridge wall". At the top will be other top-hinged I imagine cabinets but I was lazy and didn't put them in. The cabinets (where the micro is put) are 18" deep so we can put a decent microwave in their. I showed this to the electrician yesterday and he made a mental note to put the power receptacle in the cabinet above it. Also told us to have the cabinet guy put in a shelf that would support the weight of the microwave so we don't have to hang it. Right now I'm modelling different sizes of range hoods from ProLine to figure out which one will both look good and give us 1000+ cfm venting. Here is the range wall (opposite fridge on end of U) with the geometry of this hood: http://www.prolinerangehoods.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=32_46&products_id=200 Here is a rendering: I created the range hood geometry by adding 2 blocks and giving them a metal surface texture. To the right of the range we **could** fit a 24" Miele Chef. I'm going to defer this purchase, but based on this modeling we're going to run conduit now, and put in Miele-friendly drawers so in the future if we want to add it we'll be able to without totally ripping apart everything. Really easy to use program if you're Mac-centric like me. Great tech support too. http://www.belightsoft.com/products/liveinterior/overview.php

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!