Kitchen makeover brand Granite Transformations has achieved what it's calling the 'holy grail' of home improvement marketing, by developing an iPad app that enables customers to preview exactly how new worktops, doors, drawer fronts and other elements will appear in their own homes.

Rather than just employ stock images of standard kitchen roomsets for visualising a makeover, its innovative iGranite app allows users to photograph their very own kitchen, then manipulate the image to try out different colour and material combinations.

Using one of the in-built cameras in the latest iPad2 tablet computer, or a digital compact in conjunction with the original iPad version, the customer or Granite Transformations stockist can photograph an actual kitchen, then upload the stills into the application's image database and overlay new worktops, doors, drawers and splashbacks onto the existing surfaces. So instead of just imagining how a change in décor might look, the customer sees the actual finished result - and it works for bathroom makeovers too.

"One of the greatest challenges facing the home improvements industry has always been getting customers to visualise the end product. Well now they can," said Granite Transformations' chief operating officer, Danny Hanlon.

"In one of our recent focus groups, people were saying 'had I known it was going to look that good, I would have been prepared to pay even more'. So I am highly confident that our exclusive iGranite app will enable our showrooms to increase their level of in-home appointments and improve their sales closing ratios. It's that effective as a marketing tool."