Building our kitchen

I am about to embark on rebuilding our kitchen. Curious as to what people use for design/layout. Also, does anything provide a cutlist. I've tried sketchup and it seems hard to do but maybe I haven't played around with it enough. I usually use paper and mock it up and so far projects have turned out pretty good. But this one will be for everyone to see. Any ideas welcome.

Thanks

I use sketch up to make perspective drawings to show other people. We iterate on those drawings until they like it. Then I use a regular 2D drawing program to make shop drawings. The shop drawings are the usual three views with loads of dimensions. There may also be details of tricky joinery. From those drawings I make cut lists for lumber, and layouts for sheet goods.

There is an extension available for sketchup that builds an export file for Cutlist Plus Fx. It has a few quirks, but works pretty well. You build your models in the usual way. You mark the material types for all the components (red oak, cherry plywood, etc,), and then run the exporter. Import the resultant file into CLP and it will do the cutlist and layouts.

When you are at the concept stage of design, there is no need to model cabinets in detail...just use simple boxes until you settle on a layout; then you can model the cabinets in detail if you will be doing the building. Also, there are lots of cabinets and appliances and the like in sketchup 3D warehouse that you can use for initial modeling.

Perhaps I’m old fashioned, large drawing paper and a pencil and ruler. Each cabinet gets an individual drawing, the design and materials standardises the cut list pretty quickly.

The most common kitchen layout program is 20/20. It also has the biggest library of ancillary design elements (faucets, sinks, appliances, tile, hardware, etc) so you can get a very realistic 3d image of what your completed kitchen will look like. It sounds gimmicky, but it's actually a very valuable tool. When my clients see the finished drawings, they almost always realize there are design changes they want to make, but hadn't thought of until they see the virtual finished product.

20/20 is expensive, and I wouldn't recommend buying a license for it unless you're going to do multiple kitchens and you have time to learn the program. I have a designer who does my drawings remotely then emails them to me. I give her the room dimensions and all the design elements and she sends me back the elevation views, the 3d renderings, and the floor plan.

As for my custom cabinetry, I design all that with a pencil, T-square, and triangle. For me personally, it's just easier and faster. My cabinets don't really work with design software anyway.

As for cutlists, I write it out by hand. Most cutlist programs don't work for me because I add corners with coped finished panels to all visible cabinet sides which changes the box dimensions. Writing out the cutlist usually only takes about 20 minutes (base cabinet stiles are all the same length; if I know one upper cabinet panel's height, that will be the same for all upper cabinet panels, etc.) Writing it out by hand also forces me to visualize the construction which speeds up the process.

I think of cutlist programs like a Festool router. They're great if you account for every possible adjustment, but miss one and everything will be wrong. Since almost every cabinet I build will have a sightly different formula (this one has a 1/4" inside reveal, that one has a 3/4" inside reveal. This double door cabinet gets 1/2" overlay hinges on the left and 1-1/4" overlay on the right) cutlist programs will almost certainly screw me up.

Just my two cents. I'd be happy to give you the contact info for the designer I use. It's cheaper than buying a license you may not use again.

Hi Zachary
We had our kitchen redone this year and it turned out great. We had a kitchen company do the job with some of my involvement. I did drywall repairs and complete painting, a little electrical work plus the coarse planning, and all the moving of stuff and quite a bit of cleanup. Took my plans to them and they made good suggestions. They hired top notch subcontractors and managed it all smoothly. Had I elected to install myself it would be done in a couple of years while I tried to find a new wife.

We set up a temporary kitchen in the basement and used that for about 10 weeks. Fridge remained upstairs and we had no oven or stove. Everything from the kitchen was in boxes which crowded the basement.

Making cabinets would have cost as much as buying them and they would not have turned out as good. Like so many things, if you can buy manufactured items that meet the need, don't try to save money building yourself. Factories are awesomely efficient.

We went with mostly big drawers in the bottom cabinets instead of cupboard doors. We're not getting any younger and getting things out of the back of cupboards was becoming a challenge.

The Corian countertops with Corian sink are expensive but worth it. Once the base cabinets were in the countertop guy showed up to measure (with surveying equipment). Then we waited about a month for fabrication. It went in perfectly. The sink is a seamless part of the top.

We had new vinyl flooring installed. It took the pro's a day.

Our approach left me with plenty to do and a real sense of owning the result.

Tom