Best is a very subjective term. Some might think that the best is the one that is the simplest to learn straight away. Some might think that it's the one with the most abilities to manipulate things. Some might think it's the lowest cost option.

However, it's hard to beat SketchUp in capabilities and cost, since it's free. The BHG version of Chief Architect would probably be next for homeowners, and the $200 version can do quite a lot for someone who has the knack of spatial relationships. Neither will work well for someone without that knack. And that's not really "softwearable". Ikea is a distant third, because it's very very limited in what you can do. But, it's a lot easier for most people to grasp, which can get them started for a basic layout.

For pros, the industry standard remains 20/20. It probably has 85% of the market, because it's supported by all of the cabinet manufacturers. ProKitchen has the other 15% and is beginning to also be well supported by the cabinet companies. Chief Architect isn't used in kitchen design except by builders or architects because it doesn't have the cabinet company plug ins. You have to set the attributes yourself. Revit is also used by some architects and builders, but again, it isn't cabinet industry supported.

Someone on here found a program "Sweet Home 3D"- a freebie, didn't look bad for home use.

Otherwise what LWO said- except I disagree about Chief (but as you said some might think...)

I have 2020, Chief Architect, Envisioneer, Turbocad, and Sketchup; have worked with Pro Kitchen and Auto Kitchen.

After over a decade with 2020 (quite good at it too) I switched to Chief 4 years ago and have not looked back. I personally know of three other shops that use it exclusively (aside from folks on the Chief forums.) I only use 2020 for quick down and dirty, very simple jobs. Even then I use 2020 almost exclusively for ball park pricing (not availabe in Chief). All final pricing is done using on line systems of the mfg.

Attributes: Doesn't take very long to set up templates for each manufacturer, any cabinets that need to be "built" get stored in a user library. The only advantage I see to 2020 is pricing and even then only 2 of the 5 brands I use support it any longer, only one will stand by the pricing. I will say the learning curve is tough. Not sure any pros are looking for software recommendations on here so leave it at that :)

A couple of years ago, someone said they used the NKBA Virtual Planning tool, and that's what I've been playing with. Very easy to use, and free. I can do a plan with measurements, but more importantly, do 3D images, which showed me how my kitchen would look from every angle imaginable. I googled for other free tools and tried them, but I ended up coming back to the NKBA one due to it being virtually "Kathy-proof"...lol..

Kathy