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Designing your dream dining room is easier than ever with the Canadel UDesign Tool, an interactive online platform that lets you customize dining furniture to suit your space, style, and lifestyle.
With more than 9 million customization options, this tool lets youvisualize your dining furniture before ordering, helping you make confident decisions without guesswork.
Still, knowing how to use the tool properly makes a big difference. As Michelle MacLellan, interior designer at La-Z-Boy Hunt Club, explains, “UDesign is great when you know how to use it. Understanding the options helps you design something that truly fits your home.”
This guide walks you through using the Canadel UDesign Tool step by step, with expert insights to help you get the most value from the experience.
In This Article...
To begin, visit the Canadel UDesign Tool. This tool is available online and does not require any downloads or installations.
Upon arriving at the site, you’ll land on Canadel’s homepage, where you can:
While all of these features can be helpful, the main focus here is on furniture customization. To access the UDesign Tool, locate the "Customize" button in the top navigation menu and click on it. This will take you directly to the interactive interface where the customization magic begins.
If you access the tool through a La-Z-Boy Ottawa, Gatineau, or Kingston location, you may be redirected to a version associated with that store. This helps streamline the process if you plan to order locally.
This connection ensures your final design aligns with available options, local pricing, and realistic delivery timelines. It also makes it easier for a sales consultant to pull up your saved design and review it with you in-store.
Once inside the Canadel UDesign Tool, you are welcomed by a clean, intuitive interface designed to feel approachable even for first-time users. The layout focuses on guiding you forward rather than overwhelming you with too many options at once.
At this stage, you can choose how hands-on you want your experience to be:
Several helpful features are available early on to make the process smoother:
These style categories are meant purely as inspiration. If you already know the type of dining furniture you want, you can skip this step entirely and go straight to browsing by collection. This flexibility is especially helpful for shoppers who already have measurements, finishes, or layouts in mind.
Canadel offers a variety of dining furniture collections, each designed with a distinct look and feel. Choosing a collection early helps narrow your customization options and keeps your final design cohesive rather than mismatched.
Each collection reflects a different design personality:
Once you select a collection, the tool allows you to choose the type of dining furniture you want to design, including:
Selecting a collection first helps ensure that every piece you design feels intentional and visually connected.
This is where the Canadel UDesign Tool truly delivers its value. Customization is not just about aesthetics, but about designing dining furniture that works with your space, lifestyle, and how you entertain.
The ability to customize the shape and size of your dining furniture helps ensure it fits your room comfortably without compromising flow or seating capacity.
This is especially important in open concept homes, smaller dining areas, or multipurpose spaces that need flexibility. The tool allows you to experiment with proportions so your table feels balanced within the room rather than overwhelming or undersized.
Choosing between rectangular, round, oval, or square tables can also influence how people interact in the space. For example, round tables encourage conversation, while rectangular tables are ideal for longer rooms or larger gatherings. Seeing these options visually makes it easier to choose what truly suits your layout.
The UDesign Tool lets you explore wood finishes and colours in real time, removing much of the guesswork from the decision-making process. You can compare light versus dark stains, assess undertones, and see how different finishes complement existing flooring, cabinetry, or nearby furniture.
This step is particularly helpful for homeowners who want their dining furniture to coordinate with adjacent rooms. Instead of relying on small samples or imagination alone, you can preview how finishes interact under different lighting conditions, making your final choice more confident and intentional.
Seating, upholstery, and material selection play a major role in comfort, durability, and long-term satisfaction. The tool allows you to explore fabric options, solid wood seating, or a combination of both, depending on the collection and chair design.
Some customization options may be unavailable based on structural or design limitations, which helps prevent choices that would not function well over time. This built-in guidance ensures your final piece is not only stylish but also practical and long-lasting.
You can rotate the furniture to see all sides, zoom in to examine wood grain or fabric texture, and make final adjustments to finishes or materials. Small changes often have a big visual impact, and this step helps ensure nothing feels overlooked.
Saving your design to a Wish List allows you to revisit it later, compare multiple options, or review it with a sales consultant or interior designer. This is particularly useful if you are designing more than one piece or want time to consider how everything fits into your home as a whole.
After finalizing your design, the UDesign Tool helps you locate a Canadel retailer near you to complete your purchase. Because Canadel furniture is made to order, pricing and lead times are confirmed through the retailer rather than online.
At your local La-Z-Boy Ottawa, Gatineau, or Kingston showroom, a consultant will review your design, answer any final questions, and ensure all specifications are correct before placing the order. This step provides peace of mind and ensures nothing is missed before production begins.
Once submitted, your furniture is crafted to your exact selections and delivered to your home. This process ensures the final product reflects the choices you made from start to finish, resulting in a truly personalized dining space.
Before opening the Canadel UDesign Tool, a bit of preparation can make the experience smoother and more effective. Measuring your dining space accurately helps ensure your furniture fits comfortably and allows for proper chair movement and walkways.
To learn more about Measuring Your Space, take a look at this article.
It is also helpful to think about how your dining room is used day to day versus when entertaining. Consider how many people you typically seat, whether durability or comfort is more important, and how your dining furniture connects visually to the rest of your home.
As Michelle often reminds clients, the goal is not just to design something beautiful. It is to design something that supports how you actually live, gather, and entertain in your space.
Now that you have all of the information you need to properly use Canadel’s UDesign tool, why not test it out for yourself?
Canadel has endless possibilities to choose from online and in person. You can discover more options by going to their Kanata location, right next to La-Z-Boy’s Kanata showroom. Or visit us at any La-Z-Boy location in Ottawa, Gatineau, or Kingston.
La-Z-Boy also knows a thing or two about customizing and personalizing furniture to your specific needs.
If you would like to know more about Canadel’s endless options, or if you are interested in La-Z-Boy furniture, come to any of our Ottawa, Gatineau and Kingston store locations, or you can book an appointment online to talk to any of our Interior Design Experts. They are happy to answer any questions involving La-Z-Boy or Canadel furniture.
To learn more about La-Z-Boy dining furniture, take a look at our Dining Buyer’s Guide
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