If you're doing this yourself, for a really basic idea of what the area will look like, the Ikea planner is free and simple enough to use. It does have a learning curve on it, but it's not hard.

It won't work with Macs though.

Wow that price seems steep for drawings. You could take your design to a local Lowes or Home Depot and have them draw it up for free. If your design is set you could you ask the cabinet maker and GC exactly what information/dimensions they need and draw it with paper and pencil. Otherwise there is Better Homes and Gardens software, Ikea as cocontom mentioned, and others that I forget the names of, LOL.

Thanks cocontom for the IKEA idea. I'll give that a try this evening when I get some quiet time. Mom2lilenj, do you know if I go to Home Depot/Lowes, do they actually give me something to bring home? Or is it theirs unless I buy from them?

It may depend on how much detail there is to your cabinets. Software usually has limitations, and if the KD is planning something special, it could be difficult to represent...But WOW that's quite a price. $300+ per hour?!!!! I need to start a business... ;-) If you're having something fairly basic, you could buy some Better Homes and Gardens software and do the wall elevations for much less, and likely, less time.

rhome410, actually she's charging $115/hour but is estimating 10-12 hours for my various "runs"...which includes the kitchen, laundry room and bathroom. I think the per hour price is not too bad (or am I wrong?) and I can understand how detailed hand drawings might take quite a bit of time but still overall it does seem a bit much especially in this age of computerization...but maybe it's as you say, the software is limiting and maybe KD's don't really use it much. My kitchen might have one or two oddities but basically I think it's pretty straightforward...it's interesting that you think I could learn and use BHG in less time than 10-12 hours....I've been a little intimidated by it....have you used it?

I have the pro version, Chief Architect, which is the parent software, I guess you'd say, for the BH&G stuff. I admit that I have used it for years now, so may have a distorted view of its ease, but I think it's user friendly. I wish I was nearby, because I know that with help you could have wall elevations to see very quickly. Like I said, though, you will be limited by the door styles, etc. on the software, and if you have specially designed details, it may be tougher to represent them clearly and accurately for the cabinet maker. It also depends on how specific and detailed he needs the drawing to be. You can email me through 'my page' and we can talk about this more, and I will try to help if I can.

I went to HD, Lowes and an independent cabinet maker and they all gave me elevations to take home after about an hour(from the computer.) I didn't end up going with any of them, but I got a great idea of what the kitchen would look like.

As long as you have the measurements it's pretty simple.

Thanks positano and rhome410. Rhome, if you don't mind, I'll send you a rough drawing of the floor plan and you can tell me if you think it's complicated or easy...if you don't mind. Sometimes every step has seemed much more complicated than I ever imagined and once it's over and I've educated myself a bit more, I begin to think it's a lot simpler than I thought....wacky roller coaster ride, this remodelling! If you think it's pretty simple, maybe I could just go to HD and see what they can do for me...of course then I'll feel obligated to find something to buy there but it will probably happen sooner or later anyway.

The hourly rate isn't bad - less than my KD charged. However my KD firm had a computer savvy assistant who did all the drawings using CAD. I'd think it would be pretty inefficient to do it by hand these days.

A couple of the KDs I interviewed would give me the plans they drew for about $1500. So, it sounds about right. They were CAD drawings, though. My KD does both hand and CAD drawings. My GC likes that she also does hand drawings--I guess they are a lost art--most people do CAD or some other computer drawings. I don't pay her, though because her price is built into the cabinet costs, so I am not sure how much she would charge by the hour. I think if you aren't doing a lot of custom stuff or strange things, you can probably live with your computer drawings. Good luck.

gibby and kelleg, thanks for the feedback on the pricing...sounds like she's in the ballpark for what she is offering to do. I think I'm going to try to figure out a way to look at computer drawings first anyway because then it will be easier for me to say "well, what if I change this" if there is something I'm not sure of...I didn't get a chance last night to work on IKEA but today is the first day of school so I have a few hours in front of me to give that a try. Once I'm as sure as I think I can be, then I'll see what I want to do about drawings, if the cabinetmaker still wants them. He says he can do the ones he needs for his guys...so if I have the ones I like, maybe that'll be all I need. Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.

You shouldn't lose sight of the expertise you are paying for when you hire a designer to work with you. It sounds like you have a lot of hands and not a lot of chiefs who can execute your ideas. This is a recipe for the nightmare projects described in detail on these boards every day.

As far as drawing by hand, versus drawing by CAD, there is very little time difference. However, it isn't obvious what those elevations are going to look like based on the plans. Your designer will need to do a few renditions to see what works, and what doesn't, and then discuss it with you and make additional changes to get to a place where you are happy and the design works.

I have no idea if you can get these services for free from Lowes or Home Depot. I don't know if the staff producing those drawings have the same design expertise that your kitchen designer has either.

If you know exactly what you want, you don't need a designer to prepare these drawings, (though at $115 per hour, it sounds like a pretty good deal). You can certainly learn to use the myriad of software programs available and get an idea of what you may be getting.

However, if you really don't know, spending a little money up front to find out, and not have to make decisions while under construction and the cash register is ringing, is usually a good investment.

felixnot, I hear you. DH and I were just talking about that last night. When we started this process, we really had no idea of the complexity of a kitchen remodel and of the myriad of decisions we would be making. The more we get into it, the more we want it to be done correctly...and suddenly we realize that if we are essentially paying the same money out that we thought we could save because it was "simple"! Luckily, the KD I've been working with has pretty much been with us in the process and has supported our efforts to really explore what we want on our own schedule...and at this point we really have spent a lot of time thinking it through and looking at different options (with the amazing help of the GW'ers)...we feel like we're just now getting the confidence to say "this is it" and this next step of seeing what it will look like in a rough way will be a big help in that process. I'm glad we hadn't already hired someone when we started and fiddled while the clock was ticking but as it comes together that may prove to be the next step.

I'm in agreement with the definite advantages of following through with the KD. Will the cabinetmaker be dealing with you or the KD? If the KD will be answering his questions, I'd definitely want him working with her drawings. The only thing that bothers me about this whole thing is the fact that all the drawings are hand done. Hand done drawings are cool, and will certainly do the job, but what if you want to make changes? Will you be paying the whole per hour amount again to have them redone to be what the cabinet maker needs? With computerized drawings, changes can be made much more quickly and easily.

rhome, that's my issue as well. I guess we've all become spoiled with the ease of doing that kind of "fiddling" on computers. I've spent the morning trying to draw out what drawers, cupboards, etc that I want and I can certainly see why it is time-consuming and a dying art! But I can also see how, if one had spent hours drawing it out, one might not be terribly open to fiddling with changes...and I've already had a couple of conversations with cabinetmakers that I didn't go forward with because they clearly were more interested in having me accept their ideas rather than listening to what I needed. The cabinetmaker I am working with is very flexible. He has lots of experience with the KD and compliments her work but doesn't require it. As you all know, lots of decisions ahead...just got a GC bid this morning that is $50K over our budget! So more work to do....

No matter who draws it or how, you would want to figure out for yourself what size/width cabinets you want, where you want drawers rather than a drawer and doors, etc. And after you do that, you'll want to map out your belongings and make sure you've made a place for everything in the part of the kitchen you'll want it to be.

rhome, you've just described my day! And probably the better part of another one or two...and keeps my mind off solving the budget problem...:-(