Getting Started with CabDesign
Overview of the Three-Step Workflow
CabDesign connects cabinet design, material selection, and cut list optimization into one continuous browser-based workflow. When you build cabinet runs in the designer, your project measurements flow directly into your material catalog and cut list optimizer without manual dimension re-entry.
This connected process eliminates errors from re-typing part sizes at the saw. Every cabinet component retains its dimensions, material assignments, and grain orientation across each stage of your shop build.
Setting Up Your Shop Details and Construction Defaults
Before starting a project, fill in Shop Details: your shop name and contact for the top of every quote and drawing, the pricing defaults every job starts from, and how high your wall cabinets hang. Shop Details keeps these in the cloud, so it asks you to sign in first. Sign-in is free, with Google or email.
How you build - carcase thicknesses, joinery, reveal gaps and toe kick dimensions - is set in the Designer's construction editor, and saving a project's setup as your shop standard lets every new project inherit it. Measurement units are set from the unit picker on any tool: CabDesign supports millimeters, centimeters, decimal inches, and fractional inches down to 1/16 inch across all tools.
Account Sign-In and Cloud Synchronization
Signing in with a free Google or email account enables cloud project saving and multi-device synchronization. Signed-in projects automatically back up to cloud storage so you can access your designs across different devices in the shop or office.
If you prefer to work without an account, the Designer, the Materials Library, the Hardware Library, the calculators, and all the guides work right away in your web browser. Four tools keep your work in the cloud and ask you to sign in first: the Cut List Optimizer, StackDesign, Shop Details, and the AI Designer. Local browser storage keeps standalone tool settings saved on your current device.
Working with the AI Designer
The built-in AI Designer assistant provides interactive help directly inside CabDesign. You open it from the Designer page, and you can ask it dimensional questions, review cabinet specifications, and receive project setup guidance in plain English.
The assistant reads your saved design to offer clear, plain-language recommendations for cabinet dimensions, material selection, and layout options, so it asks you to sign in first.