Draw Countertop

 

Use this to draw countertops on top of base cabinets. Countertops accept tile, laminates and other countertop textures.

 

Also see the tutorial about cabinets for more information.

 

Contents

 

Draw Countertop

Cabinet Height

Adjust Size

Reflections

Cut Holes

Reshape

Rounded Counter Front

Backsplash

Hide Countertop

Lock Countertop

Apply Materials

Sinks and Faucets

Islands


Draw Countertop

 

Countertops are drawn on top of base cabinets in a kitchen, bathroom or office. To minimize seams, draw as few countertops as possible.

 

Example of applying a countertop to L-shaped base cabinets:

 

  1. Drag in base cabinets from the Directory.

  2. Choose Build> Draw Countertop.

  3. Move the disc cursor to the top edge of a base cabinet (important.)

  4. Click-and-drag to draw the countertop on the base cabinet.

  5. To make an L-shaped countertop, hold in Ctrl and click the countertop edge just above where base cabinets intersects to add new handles.

  6. Drag the blue handle to the end of the other row of cabinets.

  7. Adjust the other handles so the countertop overlaps cabinets properly.

  8. Right-click back countertop edges and choose "Backsplash."

  9. Drag a sink onto the countertop over the sink base cabinet - the one with no drawer in the way of the sink.

    Example:

 


Cabinet Height

 

When you draw a countertop it is drawn on the level of the countertops green disc cursor. This allows you to position the countertop on top of cabinets and other surfaces.

 

Countertop height can be adjusted by its center handle or right-click it and choose "Properties" from the pop-up menu.

 

Kitchen base cabinets are typically 34" high and 24" deep. Office base cabinets are 30" high and 24" deep which is a comfortable desktop height for most people (adjust the countertop for individual tastes.) Bathroom vanity base cabinets are usually 34" high and 21" deep. This can vary by manufacturer.



Adjust Size

 

Drag blue handles to adjust the width and length countertops. To set thickness, right-click the countertop and choose "Set Counter Dimensions..." or "Properties."

 


Reflections

 

Right-click the countertop, choose "Properties" and set reflectivity as a percentage - where a mirror is 100% and no reflectivity is zero.

 

To turn on reflections see Edit> Improve Edit Speed> Turn Off Reflections or just press the "M" key. The green dot next to the "M" on the tool bar indicates reflections are on.

Note: Reflectivity requires more rendering power because plan3D has to re-render this reflect image in the countertop. This requires plan3D to do double-rendering. If you have a slow computer or video card you should probably turn off reflections when you're editing. See Edit> Improve Edit Speed for more information.

 


Cut Holes

 

Cut holes in countertops for trash receptacles and other purposes using Build> Cut Hole.

 


Reshape

 

Hold in the Ctrl key and click countertop edges to add red and blue handles and change their shape by dragging them. Ctrl-clicking red handles also deletes them.

 

Snap To functions when dragging red handles so hold in the shift key if you need to disable this.

 


Rounded Counter Front

 

Right-click front edge of countertop and choose "Round Edge."

 


Backsplash

 

Right-click countertop near the wall and choose "Backsplash" to add one to that edge.

 

To change the height of a backsplash, right-click the countertop and choose "Properties" and enter a value for backsplash height.

 


Hide Countertop

 

Right-click countertop and choose "Hide."

 


Lock Countertop

 

Right-click countertop and choose "Lock." Repeat to unlock. You won't be able to add materials, sinks or resize the countertop if it's locked.

 


Materials and Textures

 

You can apply materials like tile, laminates, wood finishes and other textures to your countertop from the Directory. You may also enter keywords like "countertop" to find materials for your countertop.

 

See Materials and Textures for more information.

 

To apply a material to part of a countertop see Build> Draw Material.

 


Sinks and Faucets

 

Drag sinks onto countertops from the Directory. Move the cursor in a circular motion to fit the sink into thin countertops. If necessary, temporarily widen the countertop, drop in the sink, then resize it with the blue handles.

 

Position sinks above "Sink and Range" type cabinets that have no drawers underneath - so the drawers don't show through the sinks. There are also corner sinks to fit over corner cabinets.

 


Islands

 

Use regular base cabinets or peninsula base cabinets to make islands. Put wall cabinets over islands using peninsula wall cabinets and attach them to the ceiling. Add soffits to the ceiling if need be to hang the wall cabinets lower. See the Cabinet tutorial for more information and examples.

 

Draw countertops on peninsula cabinets, office desk cabinets and other cabinets in the same way described above. However, for angled islands, you'll need to adjust the corner handles to shape them at an angle.

 

Countertops on angled islands can be accomplished in the following manner.