How to add a kitchen planner to your cabinet website (and what each option asks of you)

If you run a cabinet showroom or dealership, your website probably has a gallery, a list of the brands you carry and a "book a design appointment" form. This article is about how to add a kitchen planner to your cabinet website: the practical options, what each one needs from you, and how the setup actually works when the planner uses your own cabinets and prices.

Why a form alone leaves buyers stuck

Think about when people shop for kitchens. A planning guide from 3D Cloud, a company that builds kitchen design software, describes a typical case in its 3D Kitchen Designer Decision Framework: "A homeowner is up at 10 PM scrolling kitchen ideas on their phone." Your showroom is closed. The only thing your site can offer at that moment is a form that promises someone will call tomorrow.

Some buyers fill it in. Many keep scrolling until they find a site where they can do something: try a door style, lay out their walls, see a rough price. The same guide says that when customers have already placed products and seen an estimate online, "the discovery phase is mostly done" by the time they sit down with a designer.

So the question isn't whether buyers want to plan before they call. It's which tool you give them to do it.

Three ways to let buyers plan on your site

Option 1: A better booking form

The simplest upgrade. You keep the appointment form but ask better questions: room size, layout (L-shape, U-shape, galley, island), door style they like, budget range, timeline, and a field to upload a sketch or photos.

What it needs from you: an hour to edit the form, and someone who answers fast. Every lead still waits for a person.

What the buyer gets: a promise of a call. Nothing to look at tonight.

Good fit if: you do mostly custom work, every kitchen starts with a site measure, and you have no published price list.

Option 2: A PDF or online catalog

You publish your door styles, finishes and box sizes, often with "starting at" prices. Buyers can browse and pick a look.

What it needs from you: a designed catalog that you keep up to date every time a price or a door style changes. Outdated PDFs are a common source of "but your website said..." conversations.

What the buyer gets: inspiration and a sense of your range, but no layout and no total. They still can't answer "what does my kitchen cost?"

Good fit if: you want something quick and your buyers mainly need to see styles before they visit.

Option 3: An embedded self-serve planner with your catalog

The buyer draws their room, places your base, wall and tall cabinets, picks your door styles and sees the result in 2D and 3D with a running price. When they're done, they save the design and leave their name and email, ask a designer to review it, or (for online stores) add the whole kitchen to the cart.

What it needs from you: your catalog in the planner (SKUs, sizes, door styles, prices), a few minutes to put the planner on your site, and someone to follow up on saved designs.

What the buyer gets: a kitchen they can look at tonight and show their partner in the morning.

Good fit if: you sell stock or semi-custom lines with a real price list, or you sell RTA cabinets online.

What to check before you pick a planner

Not every "kitchen planner" fits a dealer's website. Before you commit, check these points:

• Is it your catalog? A generic design tool with cabinets you don't sell creates a layout that you then have to translate into your own lines. The planner should use your SKUs, your sizes and your prices.
• Does it look like your site? Your logo and brand color, on your domain, not a link that sends buyers to someone else's brand.
• Does it work on phones? That 10 PM browser is on a phone.
• Where do the designs go? Saved designs, contact details and designer requests should reach you right away, with the layout attached, not as a bare email address.
• How hard is the install? If it needs a developer and a two-month project, it probably won't happen. Look for something you or your web person can paste in.
• Who keeps prices current? You should be able to update a price yourself, or import a new price list from a spreadsheet.

How to add a kitchen planner to your cabinet website with CabiPlan

Here is what the setup looks like with CabiPlan, step by step. You can try the live demo planner first to see what your customers would use.

1. Load your catalog

New companies start with a 274-product starter catalog that you can edit to match what you sell, or you can import your own catalog from a spreadsheet (CSV). Door styles and prices are yours.

2. Set your look

In your dashboard, under Planner & Embed, add your company name, logo and brand color. The planner shows them in its top bar.

3. Allow your website

On the same page, add your site's address under "Sites allowed to embed your planner." Browsers won't show the planner on any site that isn't on that list, so nobody else can put your catalog and prices on their page.

4. Paste one line of code

The easiest option is a floating button. Paste one script tag before </body> on your site:

<script src="https://app.cabiplan.com/embed.js" data-company="your-company" async></script>

That adds a "Design your kitchen in 3D" button to your pages; a click opens your planner in a pop-up. You can change the button text and color with data-label and data-color. If you'd rather give the planner its own page, point it at an element with data-target and it shows inside that page instead. And if you're on a plan without embedding, every planner also has its own link that you can put in a menu, an email or a social post.

5. For online stores: send the design to your cart

If you sell online, add data-cart-event and the planner gets an "Add to Cart" button. The design is priced on CabiPlan's side, saved as an order in your dashboard, and handed to your page as a list of SKUs, quantities and prices, which your store then puts in its own cart.

6. Follow up on what comes in

Saved designs, leads, designer requests and orders all land in one dashboard, with email notifications on every plan. When a buyer asks for a free designer review, you get the request with their layout attached, so your first call starts from their actual kitchen instead of a blank form.

Which plan covers which option

Putting the planner inside your own website (the floating button or a full page) is part of the Starter plan and up; the pay-per-order plan gives you the planner on its own link. "Add to Cart" into your store's cart is on Pro and Enterprise. Check current prices on the pricing section, since they can change. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial of everything in Pro, no card needed.

A simple way to start

You don't have to pick one option forever. Many dealers keep their appointment form and add the planner next to it: buyers who want to talk can still book, and buyers who want to try things at 10 PM can start designing with your cabinets. If your website today ends at "book a design appointment," start your free trial, load your catalog and paste the button on your site.