MarkMc

I can't reproduce the problem. I'd start by saving and reopening, maybe even reboot. Try a new file and see if that does it. Post plan with problem.

Just this time. Place a cabinet in plan so it is NOT next to another cabinet, open it, set toe kick to closed toe-always present. Close the DBX Hold the shift key down, select the cabinet, now in the bottom toolbar select make architectural block, done. The extension will not go away when placed next to another cabinet. IF you want only one side to extend, AND need to move it around for some reason then place the cabinet next to another cabinet do the above. If you don't like the little artifact of the cabinet side that shows in up in the toe area on the side that does not extend down, set that side of the cabinet to NONE. If having no side bothers you there is a work around placing a symbol for the side in the back (I'm not going to go into the how to for that.) The shift to make a block trick has been on the forum in the past. No idea who posted it but that is how I learned about it. When I saw it I tried it so I would remember. No idea if it was for this particular use or something else but thanks to whoever posted it. I don't do videos except occasionally for clients that I have agreed to do training for. I post things that are meant to be tried out- take a trip down the rabbit hole. If someone does try and then runs into trouble then asks a specific question I answer it. Maybe think about taking a risk at learning by trying. Often you find out interesting things you did not know when stuff does not work. Given a choice between- I can be right (it should just do this) or I can get what I want ( go down the rabbit hole and find a way around it) I prefer the latter.

look at the cabinets on the left in the picture and READ what it says about blocking. Sorry but I must have unblocked the cabinet on the left when taking the picture. Blocking does what you want easily. To get rid of the artifact of the toe on the right set that side to none.

Exactly correct. Molding is first done in the cabinet DBX so it stays with cabinet if you move it. NO the cabinet is set on the floor, toe height and depth set o 0", bottom separation removed and no bottom. The 3 sided symbol becomes a door as part of the cabinet. Again so it moves with the cabinet and like the molding can be changed on the fly without fussing with position. The default separation is set to 0" so that the side stiles don't come down to the floor. You could also leave the default separation and make the left and right stile 0". In either case the area above the base is split to get separations there. This can be done with overlay or inset. I spent a couple of hours going down a few rabbit holes trying to make it with 3 separate door symbols. With the info given you can do it in far less time and learn along the way. Give it a try.

There's also something I used to do often before changes to cabinets were made (still have to use it for side extended back) Insert a door symbol into the back of the cabinet. Both these cabinets are configured the same. Only the X offset of the symbol is different. Which method depends on what other information you want to generate from the plan and how hard you want to work getting it.

I had a client that did several varieties like this. Most often they had me use separate pilasters since they liked how that worked for installation. Some were inset, some were frameless cabinets. Here are some alternates. You can also use a custom door for the pilaster after adjusting the symbol specs.

@Jon-Mullwoods Took a bit to work out best way to do lots of variations with the least work. Simple inset valance without molding is a piece of cake using this and just a door symbol. Where it gets tricky is when the valance is proud and has a molding. Unfortunately, there are some inconsistencies in how I expected update bounding box was working. When I tried using separate door symbols for the sides and the fronts all was fine until I tried changing the cabinet size. That made it so the bounding box offsets needed to change; too much guess work. So I came up with this. I used the cabinets with those door symbols to just make a bases with 3 sides. Made cabinets as noted below (make a style palette once configured) Changed origin, stretch planes and bounding offset. This appears to work pretty consistently allowing the cabinet width to change. I have not yet tried depths though, that might require separate symbols? (more than I want to do right now At least for a standard depth cabinet you can have a library of doors for each valance and swap them on the fly as needed. The other thing this allows is changing the molding on the fly. Since the default moldings material is not the same as the cabinet default material they need to be painted, easy enough IMO. I left some white just to show. NOTE-The plans used to make a straight door symbols can be used to make another with mitered ends (needs bounding box changed to use in the method making bases) OR float them OR make the entire base symbols from solids. Not sure which is best in the long run, might be to make the entire base from solids and convert those cabinet door symbols.

YES-Box Construction- NO Bottom; Front, delete bottom separation, zero shelves; back custom face-delete bottom separation. change blank area to opening. Save to library when done.

I always lean toward making things into symbols and saving the original plan(s) that are CAD. I find that behaves better for me than placing arch blocks or cad objects. Have done this sort of thing as doors, millwork, and/or fixture interior symbols depending. With a saved plan it's easy to change the type of symbol to suit. Tricky part as noted is the stretch zones/planes and origin offsets (which can be altered on the fly). But that is well worth learning. Some are best with molding profiles separate but often worth the effort to incorporate the profile prior to making it a symbol.

Turning down the Daytime Backdrop intensity usually helps, sometimes also turn down the sun.

For a number of years now I've used a series of default sets each with a specific layerset and dimension defaults to do dimensions. They are only used for doing dimensions and then I revert to the printable default set and layerset. They live in the drop down, select one, drag, go back to printable. Set them up for both plans and elevation view, number and name them to be in a group. It's more than what I care to explain here (and years ago someone from Chief told me that's not what they are for:)) Get in touch if you want to see them. What I have right now may not be exactly what you are after since once in a while I set them up on the fly. Note that you can define reach and final position for (proximity fixed) for each string. Once in a while the thickness of a wall or other plan objects make require overriding proximity fixed but less than 10% or the time. Fastest method I found. For large plans it can also be helpful to set up a cad layer to use as a mask which usually means a second printable layerset. Sorry if this sounds like voodoo but I can show you and we can take it from there. (not today- most of the week is ok though)

IF there was a mistake in the macro the result would not show. The difference is I created a named macro in the Text Macro Management DBX. Typing there you do NOT use the % signs. BUT I just saw that the first "(" in my post does not belong, sorry. Still correct in the plan though. Creating a named macro allows it's use from the drop down, OR using % sign with just the name. as in %carcass_h%. Once you have a named macro you can also export it to a folder and import into a plan for later use. As macros get more robust/complicated you really want to have them named.

Create a custom object information field in your cabinet defaults. Here I called it carcass. Create a new macro (height-(countertop_thickness+toekick_height). Select the field and place the macro there using the drop down. FWIW if I were doing this I would set the default box height to what I wanted and set the default height off the floor. An advantage is less likely to forget to order toe kick NOTE- be careful relying on the macro if changing cabinet construction. - IF you just uncheck toe kick the macro will still subtract that amount. To get it to read the macro to read properly you need to set the toe height to 0. Plan attached No toe.zip

In current versions- since X13 easy.

Don't need X16 this has worked for years. Box Construction, Full Overlay. Set the bottom separation equal to depth desired + 3/4" (in this case 2") and do NOT alter the reveal from default

Made this up. I used a textured glass so it shows. Adjust as needed. This has both doors as a single symbol. If you want handles of some sort add them to the symbol. The rest gets complicated, more advanced than I did here if you want to change more. What follows involves altering origins, advanced sizing stretch planes and/or bounding boxes. Some is already done on the included door symbol. Open that to get an idea- then go read up on symbols. Doors can be made as two different ones that overlap on top of each other. Then you can add hardware to the cabinet BUT you will need two different hardware symbols to sit properly. If you want to show them open then you have to make a symbol for that which is offset and has the width locked. If the cabinet construction is other than shown then more changes. If need bigger can be done but figure out how it's built first !! A cabinet can't be done that actually works in Chief. I don't think it worth using funny walls and sliding doors as started below but YMMV ;-> Glass slider cab.zip

@GeneDavis"Side Panel CRP 10" is a wainscott panel -i.e center panel with framing bead included- that I use for one brands door (a CRP 10) For every brand I have ever used I make my own doors instead of what they have. For myself IF were a Wellborn dealer I would have made a wainscot panel for the door and another for the doors. IF I needed an outside edge profile for the door I make that as part of the wainscott panel. I use counters for that, as shown in the thread that DBCooper linked to. For the outside profile just add another molding that is offset by the width of the rails and stiles. Hard part is getting the advanced sizing, bounding box offset and stretch planes correct. For some reason (at least in X15 but may have changed) often also need to change the z origin. Starts out looking a bit odd too. Slapped this together faster than finding an old one.

I do it this way- plan attached. If you change door style then change the seperation size. I always include the framing bead in the wainscot panel I use to make these. Easy to change rails and styles, framing beads, locations number of panels. Should have mentioned that once converted to a symbol which I didn't do here you can also change stretch planes and zones. multi panel door.zip

@GeneDavis Pretty sure you already know that I was a dealer, what you have to say about all those jobs getting done is nothing new. I just took the OP at what they said: "best way to get the cabinet information out of Cheif Architect and to the Cabinet Manufacturer." Similar questions have been asked on here by cabinet dealers in the past. I've run into plenty of design build outfits that get themselves set up with a cabinet manufacturer, was doing drawings for one for a while, so would not be surprised. OTOH if it were "too custom" it would likely be easier and not need an answer.

@GeneDavis that will work for how and where you get your cabinets, it should also be fine working with a small custom or local small builder and some of the Amish makers. OTH if you are ordering cabinets from almost any brand manufacturer typically carried by Kitchen Dealerships, almost every cabinet catalog in Chief, that will not be acceptable. They require an order that uses their nomenclature and format. A few higher end places are willing to have staff input an order based on that kind of info, one or two lesser brands will do it for an additional fee. You are still left to check their codes, which are unlikely to match the CA default, against what you have written to make sure you will get what you wanted. If you get the wrong thing it's your problem. Note that while some brands require drawings; in ALL cases what is written on the order takes precedence and none will accept responsibility for what the drawings show. The written order takes precedence always!! Yeah Chief will never be 2020, but doesn't mean a KD using those brands needs it (not all support it anyway) I'm proof, I got rid of it when I got X3 and ordered plenty of kitchens doing what I described. That turns out to be faster and more reliable (matches what I have in Chief) than hand writing orders or manually inputting from scratch into and online system.

Just allows use of commas for other purposes which I've found important. I know that. I've found that is not an issue the way I set up the custom fields, in part because it is easier to delete information in a few clicks than to type it. The mods are the longest and as a rule all of the other custom fields I put in can be accomodated easily. No have not, not sure what the advantage is please explain what and how? Do you mean it can make a spreadsheet template faster than manually? Does not take long to make one and can be altered for a different brand. I'm not sure that it would be easier to feed in all the rules needed but then I have absolutely no idea having never talked with AI It wouldn't take me all that long since I've done it enough. A tip that can help- DO NOT go down the hole of trying to automate everything. Some things are just not worth the effort compared with an occasional use in a year- easier to just type. Such as when writing macros for labels don't try to write one that does everything in a brand. (had one for one brand that did most and was set to do wall, base and tall. Took forever and was eventually broken by an update) It's A- not worth the time, B- harder to adapt to another brands nomenclature. Rather write something simple that does basics of what changes per cabinets and suits just the most common base, another for wall, another for tall. Use those in the default. Oh and almost forgot- need a custom field for the label and set the default cabinet labels to read from that field. Then as you go along add special cabinets to library as SPs with the custom fields in them. Only worth making maybe a dozen per brand (you can always copy and paste one from old plan if not in library). Those SPs can be used on a cabinet to adjust another brand. Well, at least for the adventurous

This answer may or may not make you happy. In short you can, but it's not simple in most cases. This may be totally inadequate for you current skill level but it's what I can do for now. At least to let you know it can be done. I'd been getting everything needed for Mfg out of Chief for since around X6 until I retired last year for a variety of cabinet brands from basic to full custom. Getting the information- Depends in part on how you have the information there and how you placed something. The short easy answer is that if you place something using the Door Back Inserts in the DBX of the item (door or drawer) OR if you place it from the library in the Shelf dialog; that can show up in a schedule. If you change a shelf or shelves to a rollout in the DBX there is no way to show it. The longer answer is that the above rarely would meet my needs and also not always the most efficient method. So then... Let's go to the second part of your question first- how to get that information to the cabinet company. There are no brands that connect to Chief. It may be that some small full custom makers use CA but I don't know of many, just larger ones. So for the mainstream there are two choices to send the information to them. How to get info into Chief and then to the mfg- IOW create and order. First let me say that I can't explain this fully in a post here- at least it's more than I'm willing to try but here's the gist of it. You want to get all of the relevant information into a cabinet schedule. You need to match the cabinet brands nomenclature and sizing options EXACTLY. Ideally you have a PDF copy of their catalog and a PDF app that allows you to copy text. You want to have the cabinet labels match the makers nomenclature. There are several ways to deal with that. In general I used some macros and some cabinets kept in the library. For mods and accessories the easiest approach to that is to have codes in Object Information Fields, often some custom ones. There is a way to use style palettes to add codes to a cabinet in plan. I approach that by having some that are used often and include any that might apply following the principal that it's faster to delete some text than to type. When placing multiple codes in a field separate them with semi colons to help with "paste special". Easiest is if they use an on line ordering system. Most brands that I worked with supported drag and drop of things into the system. There are a few that will import csv or other files formats. IF you can't drag and drop then you are left with typing the info in. If they don't have an online system then the option is to make a spreadsheet template that matches their order form. I've done both. In either case start with a schedule in Chief. First temporarily delete any columns that are not needed for the order. Select the schedule. Copy it and "paste special" it into a spreadsheet. That is so that codes end up in separate cells, something that "paste special" is designed to do. Go Back into chief UNDO to put back the columns you removed. For drag and drop lock all of the cells in the spreadsheet, which should still allow copy. If your sheet doesn't there is an option to allow that. By locking the cells you can't screw things up. Place that on one side of the monitor, open the order form on the other and go to town. If a code is off you will know right away so keep the PDF handy. For using a spreadsheet template order form you first have to make one. Then paste special into a blank sheet. Copy and manipulate the columns and rows into a blank section. (more than I can simply explain here) Then line by line (though if you have done the manipulation well you can usually select all of the lines for a cabinet to copy and Paste into the template In many cases there will be one or more columns on the order form where you will have to enter some information manually depending on how the brand you're working with prices things. (like number of doors is often easier to just enter) NOTE- I have not needed to do this since Chief gave us the ability to swap columns for rows so that may be easier. I'd try it to see before going too far. I realize that this may not make sense if you are new, again sorry. I don't know of any of the folks on here who do training that have spent much time ordering cabinets as none are KDs. A few may be sharp enough to be able to work out the gibberish above and help you. I'm pretty much retired now and never did training per se except for drafting clients or on specail request. Training and setup or how to setup would be pretty time consuming. OTOH once done the system is pretty quick, very reliable and good at avoiding mistakes when used with best practices for ordering. That said if you choose we could talk about it more. I would not be available until November. Or just dive down the rabbit hole if your adventurous and be prepared to spend some time. (so don't try this with a deadline looming)

@KevinWaldron funny coincidence, I'm just wrapping up drawing 4 rooms of cabinetry for an outfit that uses Mozaik.

Insert into that statement what the original poster asked: I like the ease of creating floor plans and modeling basic interior design elements but curious about custom pieces.....We create a lot of custom pieces and incorporate custom wallpaper, colors, millwork, etc. that I’ll want to include in renders. Sounds to me like a typical CA user- a designer or draftsman. If you are building it yourself AND using CNC consistently there are better choices (though casework depends). When I send a job out to be built, they will take care of the CNC (and unlikely to offer a discount if I supplied a file) they may or may not accept DWG files which I can get easily from chief. Most often they just want a Cad drawing. I'm not so sure that casework on the whole is always better designed elsewhere, IMO certainly NOT SU. If what you are using supports import of DWG and you get familiar enough with Chief casework is a breeze. Now I would not want to draft anything like the rocking chair unless it was for myself to build since I work the old fashioned way. (even when I was the shop guy a few decades ago) If I needed musical instruments for a rendering I'd find something close enough, if really something special the client owned, I use a photo. If I needed either of those built I'd call a friend who does that. (before the shop guy tour, I was a Modelmaker/SPFX in NYC. We all knew and worked for each other. Nowadays all are doing other things-retired, painting, sculpture, drafting, musical instruments, furniture, play with model trains, selling real estate... ;-)

I've did a lot of work for IDs and KDs. Cooper gave you some good ideas and Valley showed a bit. Had this sample sheet in an easy to find place. Everything here was done completely in Chief and all of it saw completion at the job. I have more stuff but you should get an idea of what can be done. @ValleyGuyNice going, a good start. Few tips for both of you. When possible make symbols into cabinet doors-the valance with perimeter molding on it, even the backsplash as a cabinet door inserted into the back of the cabinet. For the latter you need to look into symbol origins and stretch zones/planes. In some cases to prevent resizing. The legs should be made to go from the floor all the way. Looks to me as if they are a bit proud as is the molding on them. Only need to make one, add to library, duplicate, open and rotate as needed. Always make symbols in a seperate plan that has four walls. Big enough you can copy as you progress, easier to go back a step or two if things get botched. Helps to remember what yo did later too. Have folders for saving symbol plans. #1- learn stretch planes, zones and 3D origins of symbols. Don't always try to make a symbol in one shot. Some things are done as symbol 1, change stretch or origin and make symbol 2, and or add a part convert, then symbol 3.... I often start with a pline box instead of a solid. Convert in place, copy in place, keep track of your cad layers, change fill or line for each copy. Transform replicate and offset copy are useful tools. (useful when working with boolean transformations) as in this Learn to use the delete surface tool. There should be some info on the forums some time in the past. Think about hacking parts from existing symbols- i.e faucet parts are useful to change to lamp or hardware parts. I've used stuff from library for lamps, furniture, cabinet hardware. Rotate a profile- convert it to solid, then explode, move face to origin. Can rotate other angles besides 360, for instance to get notched turnings. Don't know if it's still available but I would periodically license Revit Lt for a month- some high end suppliers have symbols that only open in Revit. Doing this you can convert them to something you can import into Cheif. When importing OR making symbols be sure to check ALL the tabs in the DBX-advance options always. Good idea to set as many materials as "use default" as makes sense. If there is likely to be a change in direction of wood grains use a seperate material for each direction now. Then you can still set them as use default. Rename the parts when working in the material tab. NEVER bring in Sketchup materials except images. Always find a compatible CA material during import. Manage your plan materials- merge and purge.