Until I started dabbling with Microsoft Word, I never realised
how versatile it is. Like most computer programs, you just end
up using a tiny fraction of the functions they offer. In this
guide, I’m going to show you what an ideal program Word is for
our purposes and explain the few simple commands you need to
master to create great looking kitchen plans.
I’ve tried several professional kitchen design packages before,
but found most to be overly complicated and time consuming. If
I can’t get to grips with something within the first few minutes
I lose patience pretty quickly.
THE DRAWING TOOLBAR
To use Word for our purposes we’ll be making use of the
‘Drawing’ toolbar. If your version of Word isn’t already
displaying this go to the main Word toolbar and click:
View > Toolbars > Drawing
Next, we need to make sure that the unit of measurement is
Millimetres (mm):
Tools > Options > General > select Millimetres from the
‘Measurement units’ drop down box
Now set your page up properly:
File > Page Setup > Margins > Set Top, Bottom, Left & Right
Margins to 20mm – this will allow plenty of space for your
drawing while still being within the printable area for your
printer. Select the Page Orientation you prefer – Portrait or
Landscape.
Once this is done it’s time to start ‘drawing’. Before we do
though, let’s cover some basics.
QUICK START GUIDE
1. accurately measure the room (remember the tip about measuring
at floor level and again at a height of 900mm, then taking the
smaller of the two)
2. note your sizes down on a simple line drawing
3. mark doors, windows , radiators, boilers and other
permanent features on your plan
4. mark position of power sockets, light switches
5. mark position of water supply, waste pipes and gas supply
if present
6. mark position of any boxed in pipes, sloping ceilings, alcoves
or any other feature which may affect your design DRAWING
WITH WORD
For our purposes, the majority of commands we will be using will
be available with one click straight off the Drawing Toolbar and
will be for simple lines, shapes and text boxes.
Occasionally, we’ll also use some special commands which can
normally be accessed by right clicking on the object you’ve just
drawn and choosing an option.
Your drawings can be as elaborate or as simple as you want to
make them. You can add colour, text, special ‘fill’ effects and
more. I would suggest you keep them relatively simple though.
So long as you or your fitter can understand it and it’s
accurate, then that’s all that really matters.
You can see a couple of examples of plans I’ve created using
Word at the end of the section. These should give you a good
idea of what you can do quickly and easily with the program.
The Grid The whole ‘key’ to successfully using Word to produce
accurate drawings is to set up the ‘Grid’ correctly. To do this:
Click on the Draw drop-down button on the Drawing toolbar
Draw > Grid >
• tick Snap Objects to Grid
• Grid Settings: Horizontal spacing: select 1mm from the drop down box
• Grid Settings: Vertical spacing: select 1mm from the drop down box
• Leave Grid Origin ticked if it is already
• Tick Display Gridlines on screen
• Tick Vertical every: 5mm
• Set Horizontal every: 5mm
Like most graph paper you can buy in the shops, your Planning
Grid will now be made up of 5mm squares.
When designing your kitchen you will find that 100mm is a
significant size, because this size will be the building block
for your kitchen plan. As you’ve already read, most kitchen
units and appliances are sized in multiples of 100mm.
We’ll be creating our plan to a scale of 1:20 so each 5mm square
on your plan will represent a length of 100mm on your kitchen
floor. This makes it very easy to layout your cabinets and
appliances as you will see.
Mark Merrett is a professional kitchen designer and author of “How to Design Your Perfect Kitchen in Just 15 Minutes Using Microsoft Word” of which this article is an excerpt. If you would like to download your free copy and receive the companion guide, “Essential Kitchen Installation Tips”, go to SimpleKitchenDesign.co.uk