Kitchens and bathrooms, unit by unit
Build the kitchen, an island or a peninsula, or the bathroom vanity from units in the standard widths, with the worktop and the rules of thumb, and give the fitter an elevation of each wall.
In the video0:45
How to do it
Open Furniture (U) in the toolbar. In the kitchen group, pick Kitchen units and click by the wall where it goes, or Island units for an island in the middle of the room. For the bathroom, pick Vanity units in the bathroom group.
Select it. The panel on the right shows each wall’s row as a small elevation: click a unit to change its kind, its width in 10 cm steps or its wall unit, move it left or right, or remove it. “Add a unit” puts one beside it. The row keeps the length of its wall, and the panel says which units gave way.
“Corner on the left” or “Corner on the right” turns the run into an L, and both into a U, with a corner unit in each corner. Further down, set the heights, the fronts, the handles and the worktop.
“Peninsula on the left” or “Peninsula on the right” builds a peninsula off that end of the run: a drawer and a door unit under a worktop in one piece round the corner, an end panel, and bar stools on its outer side. Pick Peninsula above the units to set the stools and their overhang, turn on “Units on both sides”, or press “Remove the peninsula”.
Read the rules of thumb at the bottom of the panel: the dishwasher next to the sink, 30–40 cm of worktop beside the hob, the fridge away from the oven, the work triangle, a dead corner, or a row longer than its wall. Round a peninsula they check the room too: 1.1 m in front of its units, 0.9 m past its end and 0.8 m behind the stools, and in Norway whether a 1.5 m turning circle fits in front of it.
Press “Drawing for the fitter”: an A3 sheet in Drawings with each wall seen from the room, and a peninsula from both its sides, every unit numbered with its width, the heights, a unit list, the finishes and a key plan.
Good to know
- A kitchen drawn as one block in an older project stays as it is. “Make it from units” in its panel, or the offer in the furniture picker, turns it into units where it stands, with the sink, the hob and the fridge in place.
- The worktop runs over the row and round the corners, with overhangs and cut-outs for the sink, the hob and the basins. In 3D you see the fronts, the handles and the plinth; on the plan the wall units are dashed.
- The material list counts the units by kind and size, the worktop in metres, the cut-outs, the fronts and the handles, and DXF has a block for each unit.
- Or ask the assistant: “a new kitchen along the north wall: the sink under the window, the dishwasher to its right and a tall unit for the fridge”, “make the drawer unit by the hob 80 wide” or “add a peninsula with bar stools”. It moves a peninsula to the other end or takes it away, and when it furnishes a kitchen with no room for an island, it puts in a peninsula with stools where one fits. See The assistant.
Questions and answers
Which units are there, and in which widths?
Base units with doors or drawers, a pull-out, the sink, the hob over an oven or drawers, a dishwasher of 45 or 60 cm, an under-counter fridge or freezer, and a wine cooler of 30 or 60 cm; wall units with doors, a lift-up door, open shelves, the hood or the microwave; and tall units for the fridge or the freezer, a pantry, and an oven tower with a microwave or a coffee machine over the oven, or the oven alone. Widths go in 10 cm steps, as they are sold, and base units are 60 cm deep on a plinth. A row keeps the length of its wall: a wider unit takes its room from the fillers first, then from the door and drawer units nearest it, never below the narrowest they are sold in.
Can I have a peninsula instead of an island?
Yes. A peninsula runs out from one end of the kitchen, with bar stools on its outer side or units back to back, and it suits a kitchen with no room for an island. The panel measures the room round it: 1.1 m in front of its units to work, 0.9 m to get past its end, and 0.8 m behind the stools to sit, or 1.1 m to walk past. In Norway it also says whether a 1.5 m turning circle, or 1.3 × 1.8 m, fits in front of it: a home that must be accessible needs one in the kitchen.
Where do the rules of thumb come from?
The figures are from the Kitchen Planning Guidelines of the NKBA, the US National Kitchen & Bath Association: 30–40 cm of worktop beside the hob, 23 cm behind a hob on an island or a peninsula, a 30 cm overhang for the knees and 60 cm of worktop for each stool, the bottom of a microwave no higher than 1.37 m, and a work triangle of 3.6–7.9 m. The dishwasher by the sink and the hood over the hob follow them too; the fridge away from the oven and the dead corner are plain sense. They are advice, not rules: you decide.
Can I plan the bathroom the same way?
Yes. Vanity units gives a vanity with one or two basins, wall-hung or standing, with drawers or a tall cabinet beside it and a mirror cabinet over it, and it has a drawing for the fitter too. The WC, the bath and the shower are in the bathroom group of the furniture, and the tiles and wet-room panels are in Floors, walls and ceilings.
Is the kitchen on the application drawings?
Yes, as a fixed fitting: the application plans show the kitchen and the bathroom without the loose furniture. The fitter’s sheet, with each wall seen from the room, is a drawing of its own and isn’t part of the application.