Easiest thing to do is to save it as a new design

So, does this mean there is a "save as" feature. Then, I could just go back to using my original template?

Yes, this is exactly how to do it.

Yes. Save your first one. Then go up and “save as”, call it something else and go to town.

Just name each one a different name . What I do often is just do the floor plan on the planner then copy and print 4 or five copies . I then use the floor plan to work out a layout. I have to say I find it easier to work on a piece of paper instead of messing with the planner sometimes. I do most of my kitchen designs without the planner I find it quite frustrating often. The copying of the floor plan is what I do regardless of the way I design .

Thanks much for the tips. I find the planner difficult enough to work with that I appreciate any helpful tips I can get. So, if there are other tips you have regarding this, I'd be thrilled to get them.

LOL for sure. I honestly find just doing it on paper is easier .

agreed - especially with its tendency to round up/down. I would do it on paper, then put it in so you can see the 3D rendering and item cost list.

If you're way into the modeling there is SketchUp. Pretty major learning curve has to be balanced against payoff but I LOVE it.

I take it SketchUp is not at all intuitive.

Let me see if I have this right. All the designing I do in SketchUp will be 3D, and then I'd somehow have to convert this with Layout if I need drawings of models that are only 2D. Correct?

No, you can actually create elevations pretty easily by changing the camera tool settings in SketchUp.

As far as it not being intuitive, if you are used to playing around with software until you get the sense for how it works aka "achieve a critical mass gestalt" to your knowledge, at a certain point you will find it pretty intuitive. Lots of people do. It really hangs on the balance of how much patience you have for that learning and how much it challenges you vs. how focused on immediate results you are. Also I guarantee that if there's something you need to learn how to do in SketchUp there's a well thought out video addressing that specific skill on YouTube.

Hire an online IKEA designer $300 for 3 versions. An experienced designer will be worth 3x's that with errors and redo's. You have to know clearances and how to work with IKEA's limited set measure parts and make them all work.

i have done myself and hired designers. A designer will also know every bracket, clip and accy needed. Just because you can design were to install cabs doesn't mean you are ordering all the needed parts and that it will all function.

I personally did not go that route. We designed and installed our own with some consultation of a designer who knew nothing about Ikea. I sometimes wonder if the kitchen would have turned out better if we had gotten Ikea skilled kitchen designers. I am pretty happy with it and we learned a ton, which was half of the objective.

One thing I will say, however, is that you should hire an installer who is familiar with Ikea kitchens. We installed our own and we took pains to get it right. In our basement, however, we had our contractor install another kitchen and they really made what, to me, was a significant error that did not need to be made.

To be specific, they did not understand that the microwave range hood needed to be bumped out in order to achieve opening clearance and their solution was to end the cover panels flush with the cabinets instead of the doors. Ikea makes a specific piece to achieve this bump out safely, so I still nurse a bit of bile over that. One of these days I'll fix it, but the point is a skilled installer wouldn't do that.

I think it's probably worth getting design services. Designers know stuff the rest of us don't.

Actually I am not at all averse to the idea of hiring a designer. I had even contacted two a couple months ago. The local one who gets great reviews no longer does the design service--he will just install after the homeowner has the completed set of plans from IKEA. The other (offers online services only) was booked out too far for our needs, but now with everything slowing down so much she could maybe be a possibility.

But, first, I need to work out some potential layout and wall changes in my head in order to be able to visualize so I can tell a designer exactly what I want to accomplish. Thanks much.

Right on, I totally know what you mean. Another cool technique is to get out all of the stuff you store in the kitchen, make a graduated drawer model on flat paper, and pick your drawer sizes using that. I did that and it was a total game changer. Not at all a replacement for mockups with the tool, just a different way of visualizing the problem.