Best Virtual Kitchen Designer Tools

Remodeling your kitchen can be an expensive and time-consuming undertaking. While many people have ideas for their new kitchen, turning these ideas into an inspired and organized plan can be tough. The good news is, you can use technology to make the process easier. Kitchen design software or a kitchen design app lets you create the perfect kitchen layout and visualize the design so you can determine if it will be right for your needs.

Kitchen design software and apps

Some of the factors you will want to consider when choosing kitchen design software are features, usability and performance. Here are some kitchen design tools to consider.

Home Design 3D

Home Design 3D is a general home design app that works great for kitchens. The app is available for Android users whose devices run on android 4.1 and above. You can use the app to not only create 2D and 3D drawings of your kitchen but also edit, move walls and decorate to your specifications. One of the advantages of the app is that it is easy to use, allowing you to envision the perfect kitchen (or multiple scenarios) in just a few taps. While the free version lets you create a kitchen design online, you cannot save your plans unless you upgrade to the Classic version that costs $6.99.

Platforms: Android and iOS
Features: Great usability, ability to customize designs
Price: Free or the Classic version costs $6.99
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

Houzz Interior Design

Houzz Interior Design is one of the best apps for anyone planning a home improvement project. The app doubles as both a shopping and ideas app, with more than 15 million photos. Houzz Interior Design is available for both iOS and Android and lets you take and upload pictures of your kitchen and then add features such as cabinets, lamps, stools and sinks onto the picture. Besides having an easy-to-use search interface, the app allows you to ask questions, get additional information and shop for kitchen appliances. Plus, the app is free.

Platforms: Android and iOS
Features: Great usability, added design elements, shopping app
Price: Free
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

Homify

Homify is a community-driven app that allows architects to interact with general users, making it easy to find professionals near you. This app is compatible with devices that run on Android 4.4 and above. Find ideas and design inspiration for your kitchen, filtering through the pictures by the best quality, recently added and most popular. There is also a feature that allows you to save photos for future reference. Through this app, you can get details about the architect of a given space and get in touch with them. The app is free and works well, delivering a great user experience without ads or in-app purchases.

Platforms: Android and iOS

Features: Help from architects, photo-saving feature, design inspirations
Price: Free
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

IKEA Place

IKEA is an interesting app that uses augmented reality and your phone's rear camera to view your room and place furniture in the space. This functionality gives you a sense of what your upgraded kitchen or room will look like once you add the furniture. The IKEA app is only compatible with devices that run on Android 7.0 and above. It's downloadable for free and does not have ads or in-app purchases. Use it to design a kitchen online and see how IKEA products might work in your space.

Platforms: Android and iOS
Features: Augmented reality, user-friendly interface
Price: Free
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

Planner 5D

The Planner 5D app is great for creating floor plans, adding items to photorealistic renderings of your dream space and seeing if your ideas fit perfectly. Available for both iOS and Android platforms, the app includes 2D and 3D modes so you can experiment with over 4,000 elements in their catalog and visualize your kitchen in HD. These include floor plans, furniture, household items, appliances and decor. This versatility gives you a lot of room to customize the design by editing flooring, colors and materials. You can also convert your 2D floor plan to a 3D scene. Although you can download the app itself for free, the catalog of elements comes at a cost of $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year.

Platforms: Android and iOS
Features: Numerous catalog elements, lets you add and remove items to rooms to create customized designs, HD visualizations of spaces
Price: App is free, catalog at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

Magicplan

Although this app is widely used by experts and people familiar with rendering floor plans, the ease with which you can create a floor plan makes it great for anyone who is building or renovating. Available for both iOS and Android platforms, all you will have to do is take a picture of your existing kitchen at different angles and the app will help you create a proper floor plan for the room and fill it with virtual objects in a few minutes. In short, you will create virtual rooms with beautiful designs and see how things fit in the space. Once you finish designing your floor plan, you will have to pay a nominal fee of $2.99 for each floor plan before downloading the design on your device.

Platforms: iOS and Android and iOS
Features: Added design elements, great usability
Price: Nominal fee of $2.99 to download design
Get it: Google Play or Apple's App Store

Punch software

Punch software has improved on the strengths of various design tools, offering a wide variety of features for all tastes and abilities. The software functions on web browsers, Mac and Windows platforms and is meant for both building an entire home and designing individual rooms. This design software allows you to customize your design so you can create your dream home using intuitive tools and then visualize the project. While the software isn't free, you will get more utilities than you will from free kitchen design software online. These include Home Design Studio Essentials with quality home plans to inspire designing your home and landscape. There is also Professional-level Punch that offers advanced tools to let you create pro-level designs as well as Home and Landscape Design Architectural Series that is ideal for professional designers and architects. The price of this kitchen design software starts at $99.99.

Platforms: Web browsers, Mac and Windows
Features: The software lets you customize your design, large library of kitchen-related elements
Price: Starting from $99.99
Get it: Click here to get it

SketchUp

SketchUp is a powerful design tool that allows you to create your kitchen designs from scratch. The software only works on a web browser but is robust and versatile. It is relatively easy to learn and peer support is available if you need more ideas when designing your dream space. By simply visiting the software's 3D warehouse, you will find numerous kitchen designs from fellow users that you can manipulate by adding or removing elements to create a customized space. Although SketchUp offers its basic kitchen design software free, the paid PRO version that costs $65 offers much more.

Platforms: Web browser
Features: Great usability, support from fellow users
Price: Free or PRO version costs $65
Get it: Click here to get it

SmartDraw kitchen planner

SmartDraw is a kitchen design program and home design tool that lets you create spaces that are tailored to your needs. The software works on different platforms including web browser, Mac and Windows. It can produce over 70 different diagram types from flowcharts and graphs to floor plans and schematics. It has a clean and precise interface and is not cluttered with ads to buy kitchen products. While there is a free trial version, the SmartDraw kitchen planner comes at $297.

Platforms: Web browser, Mac, Windows
Features: User-friendly interface, great usability, ability to create a customized design
Price: Costs $297
Get it: Click here to get it

Prodboard

This feature-rich software works on web browsers only, allowing you to place furniture and add cabinets to your kitchen as you try out different ideas. You can also select the Autopick feature and the Prodboard will do the work for you. The kitchen design software has a closet planner and photorealistic graphics to provide an enhanced user experience. Automatic cost calculation helps to determine the best value for money as you alter your project.

Platforms: Web browsers
Features: Added design elements, design ideas, help from the software
Price: Starting from $212
Get it: Click here to get the software

The bottom line

Before choosing a kitchen design tool or app, make sure it will meet your current and future needs. Designing your kitchen will make the space more functional and increase the value of your home. With the different moving parts involved and the expensive nature of the project, you will want to keep efficiency in mind. While you can use free kitchen design software, consider the paid ones if they have extra features you may need to create your ideal kitchen.

Looking to remodel other rooms as well? Check out this list of the best virtual room design tools.

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