Displaying Open Cabinet Doors and Drawers

Reference Number: KB-03159

Last Modified: April 12, 2022

The information in this article applies to:

Chief Architect Premier or Chief Architect Interiors

QUESTION

How do I specify certain cabinet doors or drawers to display as open so that I can see inside them in camera views?

ANSWER

Cabinet doors and drawers can be set to display open in both floor plan and 3D camera views. Additionally, the amount that the door/drawer is open can also be controlled.

To display open cabinet doors and drawers

Open the plan that you would like to display open cabinet doors and drawers in.
Using the Select Objects tool, click on a cabinet to select it, then click the Open Cabinet Doors and/or Open Cabinet Drawers edit tool(s).

The cabinet doors and/or drawers for the selected cabinet will now display open in both floor plan and 3D camera views.

Note: To close the cabinet doors and drawers, select the cabinet again if it's no longer selected, then click the Close Cabinet Doors and/or Close Cabinet Drawers edit tool(s).

To control the open amount of cabinet doors and drawers

Using the Select Objects tool, click on a cabinet to select it, then click on the Open Object edit tool.
On the Front/Sides/Back panel of the Cabinet Specification dialog that displays:

In Home Designer Pro, select the Front panel instead.
- Using either the Face Items table or the 3D preview on the right, select the desired door or drawer that you want to adjust, then change the Percent Open/Swing Angle setting to your liking.
  
  Starting in X14, the Percent Open setting was renamed to Swing Angle for cabinet door face items. A value between 0-180° can be specified for this field in X14 and newer program versions.
- Ensure that the Doors and Rollout Shelves box and/or the Drawers box located in the Show Open section are checked.
  
  Note: The Open/Close Cabinet Doors and Open/Close Cabinet Drawers edit tools are directly associated with these checkboxes. For example, if you click on the Open Cabinet Doors edit tool, then open the Cabinet Specification dialog, the Doors and Rollout Shelves box will be checked.
- If a single cabinet contains multiple doors and/or drawers, and you would like some of doors/drawers to remain closed, set the Percent Open/Swing Angle value for those particular Face Items to 0.
Click OK to close the dialog and confirm the changes.

MORE INFORMATION

If cabinet doors and drawers don't display, it's possible that the "Cabinets, Doors & Drawers" layer is turned off. Access the Layer Display Options dialog or the Active Layer Display Options side window, then enable the display of the mentioned layer.
When cabinet doors are set to display as open, shelves that have been specified as Rollout will also display open in 3D views. If a rollout shelf is contained inside of a door Face Item, the door must be set to a Percent Open value of 100 or a Swing Angle value of at least 90° in order for the shelf to display open. Cabinet shelves and added storage items do not display in floor plan views.
The properties mentioned in Step 2 of the To control the open amount of cabinet doors and drawers section can also be setup for a specific Cabinet tool by accessing the Default Settings . For example, if you would like drawers to always display open when using the Base Cabinet tool, you can check the Drawers box in the Show Open section of the Base Cabinet Defaults dialog.