How to Draw an Elevation Drawing for Kitchens, Bathrooms, Houses, and Commercial Spaces

SmartDraw makes it easy to create elevation drawings of all kinds for both residential and commercial spaces, including kitchens, bathrooms, closets, restaurants, stores, and more.

Step 1. Start with an Elevation Template

Start with a template under the Elevations category. Click New Document on the dashboard, choose Elevations, and select the blank Elevations template that best fits your needs. For example, if you want to draw a commercial kitchen, choose Restaurant Elevation. If you want to draw a residential kitchen, choose House Elevation. 

Step 2: Define Your Space

Define the space you're designing for. Set up a wall that will be the boundary for your elevation drawing, defining the width and height you'll work with.

You can drag and drop the Adjustable Wall symbol from the library docked to the left of your drawing area in the Walls, Doors & Windows (Elevation) library. 

You can also use a simple rectangle shape from the Shape drop-down in the Tools section of the SmartPanel to the left of your drawing area. 

Once the rectangle representing your wall is on the page, drag its corners or sides to stretch it to the size you need.

For a more precise layout, you can resize your wall by typing in the exact dimensions you need in the dimensions label. 

First, turn on dimensions under the Dimensions & Area section of the SmartPanel by checking the Show Dimensions box. 

Next, select the height and width of your wall, then enter your desired dimensions.

Step 3: Add Symbols

Add symbols to your elevation by dragging and dropping them from the libraries docked to the left of your work area.

Keep dragging and dropping cabinets, appliances, lighting structures, and more. 

SmartDraw has symbols for both residential kitchens and commercial kitchens. 

Search for Additional Symbols

To locate additional symbols, simply type a keyword into the Search for symbols field in the Symbols area of the SmartPanel to the left of your workspace. To start the search, click the magnifying glass icon.

Symbols matching the query will be grouped by the libraries they appear in.

Hover over any symbol to see its name.

You can drag and drop symbols you find directly from the search results.

Pinning Results

You can save the results for later use. To pin just the symbols that matched your search from a particular library, click on the plus icon next to the library's name and select Add result.

You can also pin the entire library by clicking Add library.

 

Step 4. Resize and Customize Objects

Once on the page, you can resize any symbol or style it with textures and colors as needed. 

Resizing Elevation Symbols

To resize a shape, select it and drag the handles located around the shape. Click on one of the growth handles (or squares) around the shape, then move the mouse, while keeping the mouse button pressed down, to change the size of the symbol.

Handles in the middle of the sides of the rectangle grow the object only in the direction perpendicular to that side. Handles at the corners grow in all directions for non-proportional shapes.

Like with the wall above, you can also just type in the specific dimensions to resize the symbol more precisely. First, make sure the option to show dimensions is still checked. 

Next, select the object, then click one of the displayed dimensions, and type the desired dimension using your keyboard. Press Enter or click elsewhere in your workspace to save the typed dimension.

You can also do the same at the Height and Width numbers displayed at the bottom of the page. Just click to edit the values.

Add Style to Symbols Using Colors and Textures

You can change colors or add textures using the Fill tool on the Home tab.

To change colors, select your symbol and choose a new color under the Fill menu.

You can also apply realistic finishes to your walls or cabinets.

Select the area or shape you want to apply a texture to and click on Textures under Fill on the Home tab.

This brings up a menu of texture choices. 

Select the texture you want and click OK.

Step 5. Add and Customize Shape Data

Any shape can have data associated with it. This is a great way to store additional information about appliances and other parts of your elevation plan. You can add model numbers, asset numbers, cost, and other manufacturing information. 

To associate data with the selected shape, select the shape first, then click the Data tab in the left panel, to the left of the SmartPanel. You'll notice that if no data is yet associated with the shape, the values will be blank for each field in your schema. To add a value to any field, click on the blank box and type. If there is data associated with the shape, the values will not be blank, and you can change them using this tab.

If you just want to see the values associated with the shape, hover your mouse over the information icon on the shape to see a modal with information.

Learn more about adding shape data to your elevation plan or any other diagram in SmartDraw. 

You can use this data to generate a manifest of appliances for your elevation plan if needed for a project proposal. In the Data view, click on Actions and choose Generate Manifest.

You can then choose what to include in the manifest. 

Learn more about generating a manifest.

Step 6. Share Your Elevation Plan

You can share your elevation drawing with anyone using a link. They can even co-edit your design in real time or simply leave comments and feedback.

Click the Share button in the upper right to generate a link you can send to your team or other collaborators. 

You can also easily export your elevation drawing as a PDF or PNG using the Export options under the Home tab.