VR Kitchen Design at KaTom

A well-designed commercial kitchen can improve staff performance, speed up operations, maximize space, provide ample storage, and even enhance food quality. Designing an optimized kitchen can present its share of challenges, however, making three-dimensional VR kitchen design services all the more valuable to the KaTom Design + Build team and their clients.

VR kitchen design services give operators an opportunity to interact with a highly detailed, three-dimensional model of their kitchen's layout, helping designers and clients make informed decisions about the final product. While most 2D models offer a fair estimate of how kitchens will appear after completion, VR kitchen design firms put clients inside the model with 3D goggles, letting them explore every aspect of a future commercial kitchen as if they were actually there.

KaTom Design + Build Adds VR to Capabilities

KaTom Design + Build assists clients through the entire design process and began seeking design capabilities beyond 2D animation in 2021, as two-dimensional models lacked the depth, clarity, and extensive design options of superior 3D technology. KaTom's search ultimately led to Revit, an advanced software system for 3D modeling and rendering commonly used by architects and engineers which has found its footing in the foodservice industry over the last few years.

KaTom's head project designer, Michael Holbert, gained extensive experience using Revit during his time in architecture. According to Holbert, the program is a solid match with KaTom's requirements and expectations and is already propelling the design team into new and exciting territories.

"As technology continues to take off and advancements are made, people want to see what their kitchens will actually look like," Holbert says. "3D views can make a lot more sense. It can show you the elevations of equipment and identify items that will fit underneath tables. It can prevent a lot of issues out in the field."

As a trial run of the software, Revit was used in several ongoing KaTom projects in 2021 and early 2022, either assisting with or fully designing commercial kitchen layouts for bars, breweries, restaurants, hotels, and churches in Tennessee, Louisiana, and California.

Mike Rudd, director of design build, believes KaTom is one of the first in the business to use VR technologies for commercial kitchen design. "Few [in the foodservice industry] are doing much with VR right now," says Rudd. "KaTom is becoming one of the first to offer this as a design option in the industry."

Benefits of Revit for KaTom Clients

In addition to offering a detailed virtual environment for contractors and clients to explore through its expansive modeling and rendering capabilities, Revit software can enhance client experience, improve product accuracy, promote design efficiency, and minimize project timelines.

"When designing in 2D, we spend a lot of time creating separate views to see an object from all angles that are fixed and rigid," Holbert says. "While in the 3D world these views are created for us and are more fluid and easier to alter perspective."

Over the course of KaTom's first run of Revit projects, the design team learned firsthand how 3D modeling could serve not only its designers, but clients and contractors, replacing 2D paper layouts and bird's-eye view presentations with something far more realistic and representative of the product.

"One of the big benefits for a client [is] the ease of visualizing an interior space in three dimensions rather than viewing a two-dimensional drawing where depth is hard to understand," Holbert says. "This allows a client to view space in a more real-world way and how the product will actually be seen, which allows us to catch clearance and flow issues before they make their way into the field."

KaTom's Future with VR Kitchen Design

KaTom Design + Build aims to use this technology in most, if not all, design projects no later than 2023, with VR goggles provided either by mail or on the premises for in-house or remote product walkthroughs. The hope is that the 3D layouts will continue to open new doors for designers, clients, and contractors.

"We are all really excited about this," says Holbert on behalf of the design team. "We're just starting to dip our feet into the world of 3D now, but eventually, we are hoping to get to a point where we're not so much working with architects but being the architects ourselves."

Are you interested in working with KaTom Design + Build on your next project? Visit our large projects page to request a quote or contact the team via phone or email. You can also learn more about our work through our case studies.