- QualityCabinets, a unit of Masco, further broadened its online design tool offerings at the KBIS Kitchen & Bath Undustry Show, launching an application built on Google SketchUp, an online collaborative software application. The move follows a January launch by QualityCabinets of ProCision (shown), an online design application for professional installers.

QualityCabinets latest system features 3-D cabinet models available in the Google 3D Warehouse. Designers select from a range of QualityCabinets styles and color options for the project.

“QualityCabinets 3-D product models translate nicely into any professional software rendering program, so there’s no need to sketch twice,” says Mark Johnson, FAIA, CKD, AIBD, director of architect relations and education for QualityCabinets. “These cabinet models make it easier for design professionals and their clients to visualize the space and determine what product options will work best.”

The collection in Google Warehouse includes a 3-D kitchen model of a loft space designed with QualityCabinets to meet the needs of Generation Y. Google SketchUp was developed to provide quick 3-D forms for conceptual stages of design, including a repository of 3-D objects that accelerate the design process, called the Google 3D Warehouse. SketchUp cabinetry design models can be converted into all major CAD products without having to draw designs twice.

QualtyCabinet's parent Masco has developed research into lifestyle trends that will affect cabinetry buying and remodeling choices of baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y demographics.

Masco Cabinetry, home of the KraftMaid, Merillat, QualityCabinets and DeNova brands, recently completed the GenShift 2011: Lifestages Redefining the Kitchen study to help architects and designers better understand how the collision of social, economic and generational influences impact kitchen design.

The survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of Masco Cabinetry from February 28-March 2, 2011 among 1,027 U.S. adult homeowners aged 18-65 years old. Results showed:

• 22% of homeowners 18-65 felt that a place for feeding pets is a top-three kitchen extra, compared with only 10% who felt they needed a space for wine storage.

• While 63% of Baby Boomer homeowners, aged 45-65, plan to stay in their current home over the next five to 10 years, 75% don’t feel that their current kitchen is universally designed to meet their needs.

• Gen X homeowners, aged 35-44, are staying put and nearly half (49%) think they will spend up to a decade in their current residence

• 40% of Gen Y homeowners, aged 18-34, embrace the concept of multigenerational living and expect their parents will live with them in the future.

 QualityCabinets also reached out further to consumers with the introduction of Twitter at www.twitter.com/qualitycabinets or follow directly with Twitter handle @qualitycabinets, and a QualityCabinets Facebook page at www.facebook.com/qualitycabinets