See your new kitchen on screen before you buy it at IKEA
All IKEA fans like you and me are avidly reading through the pages of the new IKEA 2008 catalog. But did you know there is an IKEA software kit to help you redecorating your home?
One of these tools is the IKEA Home Kitchen Planner, which is especially designed to help you furnish that area of your house. It includes the complete kitchen bedroom section of the IKEA catalog and enables you to plan your kitchen's new decoration without moving anything a single inch.
Home Kitchen Planner features a very simple interface where you to create your kitchen's floor plan, choose the new furniture and even see how everything looks in a three-dimensional image. The program also generates the approximate budget and enables you to upload data to the IKEA server, so that they're ready to use when you visit your local store to buy the furniture.
On the downside, I was disappointed with the program's overall impression: the interface looks dull, furniture is poorly drawn and the 3D rendering is clunky. I guess software development is not IKEA's strong point.
IKEA Home Kitchen Planner is a cheap, efficient way to check how your new IKEA kitchen will look like before actually buying anything.
User reviews about IKEA Home Kitchen Planner
by Anonymous
Kitchen planner.
I have just down loaded it & cannot change feet & inches to meters. It does not show kitchen furniture once the ropom has been sized More
by Anonymous
Ok, but not intuitive.
Basically, it's an ok planner. I like the simple steps (room size, 2D plan, 3D visualisation).It's a bit 'clunky' though. Things don't go where you want them to, things snap to where you don't want them to, some things flip 180 degrees without warning, some things you can't rotate etc etc.None of these quirks has any feedback either - if I knew *why* it won't let me turn a cupboard round so that the doors aren't against the wall, I'd at least have a chance.Oh, and the movement controls for the 3D are backwards: press the left arrow to turn it right etc. Annoying!
Pros:
Nice 3D visualisation; I like the way you can move things in 3D.
Cons:
Unintuitive interface. Clunky and slow. More