Architect Project with David Russell
Architect Project with David Russell
During October 2020, I undertook an interesting project with David Russell, an architect based in London. David had been commissioned to project manage a high specification kitchen for a client in New York.
The design was not without its challenges – not least the fact that the architectural drawings had to be produced in imperial measurements in deference to the American customer. The client had certainly done his homework and had requested that we design his kitchen using Blum LEGRABOX, our premier drawer system, with the Stainless-Steel finish, along with a large selection of AMBIA-LINE drawer division products. He was very focused on the detail of his individual cabinet layout, allocating specific drawers to particular functions. He had even outlined minimum storage heights for named drawers. David Russell prepared some detailed cabinet drawings, showing a mixture of inset & overlay situations, one cabinet also included an unusually large bottom overlay feature. A truly bespoke design for a discerning client.
This task came along at a time where we at Blum are in the transition period between different cabinet planning software systems. I took the opportunity to first plan each cabinet in our outgoing DYNAPLAN software. I have personally been using this system for over 20 years and I am very familiar with it. I knew that the storage height facility would be calculated for me with the exact runner positions required in order to achieve the storage parameters required by the kitchen user.
I then took the opportunity to repeat the exercise in our Online Cabinet Configurator. The first thing that strikes you when comparing the two systems is that the visual interface is so much more modern and informative. Cabinet Configurator produces a 3D image of the cabinet as you put it together. The parts list it produces also show photographs of the individual components that make up the drawer – useful for David Russell Architects who had not used Blum products before. Cabinet Configurator, launched October 2020, also produces .dwg CAD (Computer-Aided Design) drawings that can be used for the manufacture of the cabinets. I am confident that going forward Cabinet Configurator will be a huge benefit to everyone in the supply chain. Having used both programmes I can say Cabinet Configurator is hands down an improvement over DYNAPLAN and after this project, I know someone who will agree with me.
Written by David Grant - Blum Technical Team
Matthew Glanfield
Author