Cabinet Dimensions suitable for construction???

[SirJames]

Greetings - I have designed our dream kitchen remodel using HD Architectural 2014. Very happy with things so far.

Now I am going to build the cabinets. I was hoping that I could find a way to create very detailed, FULLY DIMENSIONED elevation views of each cabinet in a manner that is sufficient for actually making cuts. So far, all I seem to be able to produce are very basic, outside dimensions. What I really want are dimensions showing face frames, drawer boxes, etc... . I'm thinking this may not be possible with this software but thought I would ask. I don't really want to buy some other piece of software to do this

I am aware of the dimensioning tools but these seem to be oriented toward either basic exterior object dimensions or towards dimensions between different objects. "Manual Dimension" doesn't seem to actually allow me to dimension, say, a face frame.

Am I missing something?

Many thanks - James

[David J. Potter]

James, many cabinet makers use a program called "20-20" which is designed specifically for that purpose. Cabinets in Home Designer software are relationally correct but not explode-able into individual parts as you seem to want.
Chief Architect Inc software cabinets are for space planning and laying out, dimensioning, annotating and viewing for conceptual purposes.
In my twenty years of drawing kitchens I do just that, including dimensioned plan and elevation views but real cabinet professionals use my drawings for conceptual purposes only, they make their own measurements and use software specifically designed for cabinet making.

DJP

[Tijoda]

James,
I have been a kitchen designer for several years and have used "20-20" as mentioned above. It's actually a Chief Architect product and major manufactures like KraftMaid pay many dollars to have their catalogs imported into this software. I think you could be very successful using HD Architectual 2014, although I upgraded to HD Pro 2014. I've been working in Pro now for about a year so I have forgotten the dialoge box for the cabinets in Architectual, so forgive me. There may be more options for cabinet design in Pro (someone else verify this for me).

I would suggest that you use your current software for your overall layout. Then using CAD lines and the dimension tools you could design just one of each, the "base", "wall" and "full height cabinets(ie. oven cabinet). I would think it just too much work to do this for an entire kitchen. This detail will be enough for your cabinet maker to go off of, along with text discribing partial overlay, full overlay, inset, etc...... It's important that you not only show the face of your cabinets but a side view to reflect the toekick, if any, both height and depth. As far as molding trim, I know that even in Pro I have to struggle with stacked molding profiles on my house plans. The "offset" to do these stacking profiles is not available in Pro, but only in Chief Architect. But with a calculator and math you can get around that to capture a camera view showing your intent.

Hope this helps. I'm not a pro at this. I was very skilled at 20-20,( put our store #4 in the nation one year) but that was supplied by my employers and I have found that using Home Designer at home for my personal use, while limited is still very very good. I post here often when I struggle with something. But with perserverance I am going to be starting construction on our dream home in the next month or two. So keep posting when you have a question. There are so many great people here that can give good counsel.

Best to you,
Lisa
HD Pro