[JeffGuy]

I've been planning my kitchen remodel with customized Varde units using pencil and paper. I've seen some great recommendations here for proposed kitchen designs, so I thought it would be worth posting the design here to get comments. But the Kitchen Planner (which is the same as the Home Planner, right?) doesn't seem to include any freestanding units except Udden which aren't even close in appearance. I have the 2008.1 version of the Home Planner - does anyone know if any other version includes Varde and if so where I can find it?

[DesignDiva]

There are two different categories, one for built-in kitchens and one for freestanding units...the Varde and Bravad and Udden are all under the freestanding folder.

[JeffGuy]

Hmmm. I only have the Udden in the freestanding area. Can I ask what version of Home Planner you are running? Are you running the US version (is there a different UK version)?

[DesignDiva]

Ah...if you are not in the US then you do have a different planner, since the Faktum European system is different than the Akurum US system of cabinets. I was assuming you were US since your entry for "My IKEA" is Boston!

	Faktum definition Faktum is the European equivalent of Akurum; that is, the fitted, frameless, component kitchen cabinet line, which when paired with door and drawer fronts as well as interior accessories makes up the full kitchen cabinet system.

	Akurum definition Akurum is the North American equivalent of FAKTUM; that is the fitted, frameless, component kitchen cabinet line, which when paired with door and drawer fronts as well as interior accessories makes up the full kitchen cabinet system.

[JeffGuy]

Your assumption was correct - I was running the US version. At the time I was running the 2008 US version. I installed the 2009 US version, but that one did not include Varde either. I then installed the 2009 UK version, and that one had some Varde but as you say it was the Faktum metric system so that wasn't very useful for me. So then I found a copy of the 2005 US version, and that one DOES have Varde in it. So are you running the 2005 US version, or what year are you running? Does someone keep an archive of all the different yearly versions somewhere?

	Faktum definition Faktum is the European equivalent of Akurum; that is, the fitted, frameless, component kitchen cabinet line, which when paired with door and drawer fronts as well as interior accessories makes up the full kitchen cabinet system.

[wd40]

The short answer: Yes the planner does have the Varde units built into it, but no, they will not show up on the list (at least for you and me).

The long answer: Apparently the program has a bug that prevents many of the items from being available for some people, although they are indeed included on the software's internal databases.

Seems like I'm not the only one who has experienced this "feature", even though according to one of the Ikea employees involved in the testing of the software (who frequents these forums), that was not supposed to be the case...

And it does happen in both 2008 and 2009 versions of the planner, which are actually the same program with just different databases (the executable is exactly the same between both versions).

[JeffGuy]

wd40, thanks for your answer. I figured that if this works for some people and not others, the most likely cause is a difference in Windows version causing some unexpected incompatibility. So I tried this on another system I have access to. This did NOT work on my system that was running XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2 (i.e. Varde and others did not show up). But it DID work on a system running Windows 2000 SP4 (i.e. Varde and others did show up). Whoever this Ikea employee is, hopefully they will read this. They should try it on other Windows versions to find out which it is broken for - this will make it easier for them to reproduce and fix this.

[Espo]

Did you read the stickied posts at the top of the Homeplanner forum? I was unable to use some of the items from the 2009 version even though it was installed until I found the hidden files on my computer from the 08 version and deleted them. Since you have installed many different versions of planner perhaps you have some hidden files preventing your computer from accessing the newest version. I run Vista, BTW .

	BTW definintion BTW means By The Way

[JeffGuy]

Thanks, no I hadn't read the note, but after reading it I see that it applies only to Vista, and I was testing with XP and Windows 2000. The c:\users directory only exists in Vista along with the option to disable desktop composition, so that is definitely not the cause of my problem. There is apparently a bug with HomePlanner 08 and 09 when running with Windows XP SP2 (and possibly other versions), but Windows 2000 and Vista are OK.

[NBeth]

Originally Posted by JeffGuy

There is apparently a bug with HomePlanner 08 and 09 when running with Windows XP SP2 (and possibly other versions), but Windows 2000 and Vista are OK.

Nope, I'm on XP SP2 and I've got all of Varde except the horizontally oriented open shelf. On the other hand I had to do a lot of cleanup before I could finally get the 09 version to install at all. There's something very odd about the installer and then as noted, the program doesn't always know about its own internal parts.... that's one big reason why Ikea is developing a completely new platform--and we're all looking forward to seeing it!