Will it drive my CNC?

If it is a 3-axis router on a standard ISO dialect, out of the box. Otherwise we build the machine profile with you at onboarding — or import the post file from your current software — and verify it against a program your machine already runs before you cut anything.

Do I have to buy modules?

No. Design, quoting, nesting and machining are the same product, priced month to month.

Can my clients see the design?

Yes. Publishing a design produces a versioned quote on a living link: the client walks the actual kitchen in 3D on their phone, priced by room, and revisions land on the same link with the changes and cost spelled out.

What does onboarding involve?

A call where we set up your machines, materials and standards with you. Bring a real job and leave with it designed, nested and ready to cut.

MANUFACTURE SIGN IN →

A KCD Software alternative
for shops that quote as they design.

KCD and Manufacture both serve the small custom shop that designs and cuts its own work. This page sets the two side by side for a shop deciding where to put the next few years — platform, how construction is defined, and what the client sees.

—WHAT IT IS

Where KCD sits.

KCD Software is a Windows cabinet and closet design package sold in modules, with CNC output as an add-on. It has been a practical first step into CNC for a lot of small American shops, and it is priced with that shop in mind.

The comparison below is about structure, not a feature scoreboard.

—THE DIFFERENCE

What Manufacture does differently.

NOT MODULAR

Design, quoting, nesting and machining are one product on one model. There is no module to add later to make the machining or the quoting work.

BROWSER, WINDOWS, MAC

The office Mac, the shop-floor PC and a laptop at the client's kitchen table all open the same job at the same version.

QUOTES CLIENTS OPEN IN 3D

A published design becomes a versioned quote with a living link — the real kitchen in 3D on their phone, priced by room, revisions on the same link.

OPEN CONSTRUCTION RULES

Reveals, dados, banding, drilling patterns and custom hardware are formulas and conditions you can read and change, down to the level your construction actually needs.

—BEFORE YOU SWITCH

What to actually compare.

Four questions worth asking any vendor you are shortlisting, and our answers to them.

WHAT DRIVES THE MACHINE

Standard 3-axis ISO dialects out of the box, post-processor and tool-library import from your current software, and a profile we build with you for anything unusual.

WHAT SHIPS INCLUDED

The standard cabinet set with its options, plus materials, tooling and hardware with parametric drilling — place a hinge and the cup bore, plate drilling and screws come with it.

WHAT THE CLIENT GETS

A 3D quote they can open on a phone, versioned, with a change-order trail — instead of a PDF you regenerate by hand every revision.

WHAT YOU KEEP

Libraries, jobs and quotes are yours; cut lists, labels and programs export as plain files you can take anywhere.

—STRAIGHT ABOUT IT

Where KCD is the stronger pick.

KCD is established, Windows shops know it, and its module pricing lets a shop buy only the piece it needs right now — if your requirement is design alone with no machining and no client portal, that is a smaller cheque than ours. It also has years of shop-floor mileage behind it, which a product in early preview simply does not.

If you are content with your current output and quoting happens comfortably outside your design tool, staying put is a reasonable answer. This is built for the shop that wants one system from the client's first sketch to the tool path.

—STRAIGHT ANSWERS

Questions this raises.

WILL IT DRIVE MY CNC?: If it is a 3-axis router on a standard ISO dialect, out of the box. Otherwise we build the machine profile with you at onboarding — or import the post file from your current software — and verify it against a program your machine already runs before you cut anything.
DO I HAVE TO BUY MODULES?: No. Design, quoting, nesting and machining are the same product, priced month to month.
CAN MY CLIENTS SEE THE DESIGN?: Yes. Publishing a design produces a versioned quote on a living link: the client walks the actual kitchen in 3D on their phone, priced by room, and revisions land on the same link with the changes and cost spelled out.
WHAT DOES ONBOARDING INVOLVE?: A call where we set up your machines, materials and standards with you. Bring a real job and leave with it designed, nested and ready to cut.

EARLY PREVIEW — A FEW SHOPS AT A TIME

Bring a job you already built.

The first session is your job on your machine: we set up your materials and your post processor with you, then build a cabinet you have already cut and compare the output to the program that made it.

—KEEP READING

A KCD Software alternativefor shops that quote as they design.