The New York Times, March 19, 1998

A Straightforward Formula
For the Most Common Renovations

PICTURE THIS HOME! KITCHEN, PICTURE THIS HOME! BATH
Autodesk; $49.99 each; Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0; at least 16 megabytes of RAM; 60 megabytes hard-disk space recommended.

Besides being the most frequently renovated areas of the American home, kitchens and bathrooms are also the most modular, the most formulaic and the most dependent on standard products. They are a perfect match for the Picture This Home products, the easiest and most enjoyable of the multimedia home design aids.

What is most appealing about these two programs is their modesty. Six-page Quick Reference Guides replace the usual dense, jargon-heavy user manuals. And the introductory brochure reminds you that the final stages of home renovations take place in nonvirtual reality ("keep in mind that moving the plumbing around can be a major hassle").

Picture This Home divides the remodeling job into four simple categories: planning, shopping, decorating and pricing. Its generic room plans are easy to manipulate. It took me an hour to customize a suburban-size galley kitchen into one of those irregular New York prewar tunnels. You can work back and forth between different views of the same space.

And when (inevitably) you cannot decide where to put that window, you can always take a break and go "shopping." The kitchen software's shopping experience puts many kitchen showrooms to shame. First, you select the appliance type -- let's say a cooktop stove. You then tick off a list of preferences (gas operated, chrome finish, Kitchen Aid, for example) to bring up selections that meet your criteria. You can then choose Thumbnail to view small pictures or go straight to product information.

One drawback is that the shopping inventory is completely American: no chic Miele washer-dryers and no streamlined Bosch dishwashers. Some of my favorite smaller American companies, like the venerable Chicago Faucets, are not included, either. But the program did include one of my all-time favorite appliances, the hard-to-find Kitchen Aid gas chrome cooktop with Daisy burners.

Unfortunately, the Picture This Home products, which have no direct link to the Web, can't possibly keep up with the fast-changing market for products; the Sub-Zero 550 refrigerator you covet is here today and gone tomorrow.

When you have returned from shopping (with similar trips for counter tops, cabinets, flooring and paint colors), you put in your selections, choose Project Costing to check the price and then switch to 3-D viewing. Two grades of rendering allow you either to work quickly in three dimensions or to show off the design in a slower-forming, high-quality image (and to convince skeptical family members that you have not just been playing computer games).

The program recommends that you consult the local building code, but city dwellers, beware. While Picture This Home may be all you need before hiring a contractor in the suburbs, in New York City, the Department of Buildings must approve any work where plumbing fixtures are to be added, removed or moved. Without the proper approval, your new bath or kitchen may as well remain just a picture.