Everyone knows upgrading a kitchen is a smart financial move. For those of you who enjoy cooking, it may make sense from a purely personal view. Whatever your motivation . . . you need a concrete idea of what you want to add and subtract from your current kitchen. A kitchen design program is immensely helpful when it comes to creating a vision of your new kitchen. Once you start using these programs, you will be utterly stunned. They allow you to insert different styles, colors, layouts and even particular products in certain situations. A quality program takes it a step further. It will create a virtual kitchen for you in a two or three dimension format. You can then “walk” around in your kitchen and see it from various angles and so on. It is impressive.
Yet, not all of these programs are created equal. In truth, you get what you pay for when you use economy versions. Obviously, the more expensive versions provide you with more features and options to assist you in visualizing your new kitchen.
Before you hire an architect, it is well worth the time to purchase a design program for these reasons:
- You design your kitchen (and other home projects) at your own pace.
- Making changes to your design does not incur additional costs like those from an architect.
- The better software programs will have a bill-of-materials component, so you instantly see the cost impact on your design changes.
- Knowing how much you can afford, you can make changes thoughtfully and still stay within budget.
- With draft plans, you can take your time visualizing living inside of your design. Imagine yourself preparing various meals with the foreknowledge of knowing where everything will be stored, accessing food and cookware, along with preparation and clean-up.
- Creating your own design is fun. It’s a great way to get the entire family’s thoughts and create a kitchen that will serve everyone.
- Finally, take your time. Kitchen upgrades are expensive even on the most frugal budgets. Make the right investment in the design tools first (hardware and software.) Failing to do so could result in committing to a bad design that would lead to both financial and functional disappointments.
