Discuss Planner Tips and Tricks on IKEAFANS.com. We're Personalizing the IKEA Experience. Planner Tips and Tricks - Discussion, tips and tricks for using the IKEA Home Planning software..
The IKEA Kitchen Planner software is fabulous for helping to create an IKEA Kitchen, but it does have it's little quirks and idiosyncracies. Here's a running list of tips and tricks that might help you bend the planner to your will!
EATING BAR OR OVERHANG You want to choose "Worktops" then "Extra Worktop". That will give you a 20" long piece of countertop that you can move with the arrow keys to where you'd like it to be, and you can change the length to whatever you want it to be (up to 96" max) at the left of the screen. If you move the countertop with the mouse it will snap next to the cabinets instead of off the back of them where you want it, so make sure to use the arrow keys. The countertop defaults to a height of 36" only, so if you're planning a bar-height (42") bar or are using 39" high base cabinets, you'll find the overhang protruding from the middle of the cabinets rather than sitting on top of them. You'll have to use your imagination here!
APPLIANCES
Under the Appliances tab in the planner, there is a choice of "Your Own Appliances". These appliances act as placeholders in your plan but don't add anything to your bottom line total. Each appliance has a little icon. Make sure you have the icon facing the right way in your 3D view or you'll get warnings that you can't open doors.
Every "your own" appliance can have their dimensions changed to what you want them to be. If you want to indicate a stacked washer and dryer, for example, choose the washer and change the height to 72 inches. If you have a trash compactor or other undercounter appliance that isn't available, select a dishwasher or washing machine and change the dimensions.
Note that the defaults of the appliance sizes are not necessarily American standards. The range and fan are 24" wide by default.
If you place a fan cabinet above a range and then choose a microwave, the microwave will replace the cabinet...not the look you're going for. To rectify this, you can stack two fan cabinets on top of each other and select the microwave for the bottom one. You'll end up with an extra fan cabinet and a microwave on your component list, so make sure to remember to not order them and subtract the cost from your bottom line in the planner. This trick also works under a horizontal cabinet.
The planner gets upset with you if you put drawer cabinets next to a range. It feels that children will open the drawers and use them as steps to reach the stovetop and presumably then proceed to flambe themselves. So expect a little red warning should you do that.
COVER PANELS
If you have trouble placing the cover panels because it refuses to snap them in, just move them in the 2D view into the middle of the room, turn with the turning arrows and then move them with the directional arrows.
There are no horizontal cover panels such as you would use for the back of a peninsula or island. You can line up some base cabinet panels if you like, but it's hard to get them in a straight line.
CABINETS
Pressing CTRL and clicking on a component will allow you to move it without "snapping".
Sometimes you can fool the planner into stacking cabinets by stacking the cabs on the wall and then slipping the base cab under it with the arrow keys. This works particularly well when you're trying to create a "hutch" look or an appliance garage by using an 18" fan cabinet set directly on the countertop, topped with a regular wall cabinet.
In the 2D view, you can click and drag a box around the cabinets, which will highlight all of them. Then you can manipulate them as a group with the arrow keys. In the 2D or 3D view, you can hold down the SHIFT key while clicking each cabinet you want to group, then you can move them all together.
You can only use the arrow keys to move cabinets in the 2D view (layout) not the 3D.
Change the ceiling height to much higher...9 feet or so. Sometimes it's easier if you stack the cabinets together in the middle of the room, then use the arrow keys to move the stack to the wall. The 2007 planner is a lot pickier than the 06.
Sink cabinets, when selected, will give you a menu option to pick a sink and a faucet. Fan cabinets will give you options for fans and microwaves. Oven cabinets will give you options for wall ovens. All of these appliances will show up in your list so make sure to delete them if you don't want to order them!
ROLLFRONT CABINETS These cabinets are designed to sit on the countertop, however the planner refuses to put them there. I've occasionally used the tallest rollfront and scooted it right into a base cabinet, which has the effect of having the very top of the rollfront protrude above the countertop, approximating the look of a rollfront garage.
SAVING FILES
To save the file to IKEA, in the planner choose File/Save to IKEA. You'll be prompted to enter a username (email address) and password. Pick a junk email address and a generic password, not a password you use otherwise. I use ikea2006...so you can pick something like that. That way when you post the info publically it won't compromise your privacy.
You can save up to 5 plans on IKEA's webspace, and not only can other people access it and post options there for you, you could access it right from IKEA as well.
SPECIAL ROOM COMPONENTS
To "fake" an opening in a wall, you can create a window that is the size of the opening in height and width and set it so it is 0 inches above the floor. Then it will look like a glass wall in the planner.
You cannot place cabinets on inner walls, only on the outer walls of the room. See if one of the room plan shapes fits your room best to avoid having to use too many inner walls.
Inner walls can only be used if attached to a room wall, so you can't use them to create columns, and you can't turn them, so you can't use them to create soffits and ducts. What you CAN use is the HEATER component on the "Room Design" screen. The heater's dimensions and height above the floor can all be specified, so you can create a soffit by specifying the height and depth as 12", the width as 84" and the height above the floor as 84" to create a one foot square soffit that is 7 feet long. The heater can be rotated to extend away from the wall if needed.
Columns that are not attached to walls can be created by using a couple of the tall filler pieces and changing the width. Change the toekick choice to Capita 8 3/4 to avoid the floating toekick.
I cannot seem to get the planner to run on my computer. It freezes within minutes, then a box with some ".exe" error message comes up, and the planner shuts down. I have a one year old Thinkpad and have never had any problems running any other kind of software on it.
I have already tried uninstalling and reinstalling the program. Any ideas of why this might be occurring?
You know, I've heard of other people with the same issues, but I've not heard of how they were resolved in a consistent manner. There are some folks who just don't use it. Sorry that I'm not more helpful, but you are not alone.
That said, there are other ways to plan you kitchen without the planner- Sketch-up is a free program that many have used here.
Read through this thread for helpful links on using Sketch-up!
Hi! - don't know which version you are using...if it's 2007 or 2008. I still have to upload the 2007 version, but I have 2 versions from 2006 at this link:
You will not have all the current options available, but you might find a more serviceable version. Otherwise, try using Google SketchUp - there's a link to it above on the blue bar - Tools and Links. One of our members uploaded all the different cabinet sizes so you can design your kitchen with that 3D tool instead.
Of course, another option is to take your measurements and post here for some help - we have lots of great designers who live for this sort of thing!
Good luck - hope that helps!
Susan
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I'm going to meet with Bob at the store to get some in person help. I hope I could come to you another time if I have a question I cannot figure out. Stu
Hi did the mission statement. Started a thread so hope you can read if interested.
Tried again with the measurements to enter the 4 doors and 1 large window in the planner. This time I was unable to get it to register the inches, writen or using the " mark. I am still not sure what to do about the allowance for the tile back splash being removed.
I have one more idea I will enter in the feet and inches and see if it converts to metric. Why are we using metric? Does the 2006 planner have inches? I never did well with metrics. Thanks C
How do I move wall cabinets to be higher up the wall? I have an 88" oven cabinet next to some glass-fronted 30" wall cabinets over a sink, and want to align the wall cabinets to the top of the oven cabinet? And how, oh wondrous genies of the IKEA software, when you post pictures from the planner, do you get it so that it doesn't show you the insides of the cabinets? Thank you!
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