How to measure your kitchen
A friendly, illustrated guide for cabinet and countertop projects. Five steps, six common mistakes to avoid, and a printable checklist to take with you.
Measuring your kitchen, the right way
Most measurement headaches come from missing one or two small details. This guide walks you through it the way a professional installer would, with photos, diagrams, and a printable checklist. Plan to spend 20 to 30 minutes.
Watch how to measure your kitchen
A 5 minute walkthrough showing exactly how to measure walls, openings, and obstacles for a new kitchen.
What you'll need
Tape measure
25 ft minimum, ideally a wide-blade Stanley or Milwaukee.
Pencil + paper
Print our worksheet (link below) or use a clipboard.
Calculator
Phone calculator works. Convert fractions to decimals if helpful.
Phone for photos
Photograph every wall, corner, and obstacle. Wide shots.
A second set of hands
Optional, but holding the tape steady is much easier.
Good lighting
Open all blinds. Dark corners hide outlets, vents, and trim.
Sketch your kitchen, top-down
Before you measure a single inch, draw your kitchen from above on a sheet of paper. Don't worry about scale, just get the shape right and label each wall with a letter (A, B, C, D).
Mark anything attached to the walls or floor: windows, doors, radiators, outlets, vents, soffits. This sketch becomes the master reference for every measurement you take next.
- Label each wall with a letter
- Mark windows with their swing or fixed orientation
- Mark doors and the direction they open
- Note where appliances sit (especially fridge, stove, dishwasher)
Measure each wall, three times
Walls aren't plumb. Drywall sags, framing twists, and ceilings drop. For every wall, measure its length at three heights: near the floor, mid-wall, and near the ceiling.
Use the smallest of the three. Cabinets and countertops have to fit, so we plan against the tightest dimension, not the most generous.
- Measure floor-level, mid-height, and ceiling-level for each wall
- Record to the nearest 1/8 inch
- Measure ceiling height in at least 3 spots, corners drift
- Note the smallest reading clearly on your sketch
Mark every obstacle and utility
For each window, door, outlet, vent, and plumbing rough-in, record its position (distance from the nearest corner) and size (height from the floor + width). These determine where cabinets break, where the dishwasher fits, and how the backsplash lays out.
- Windows: width, height from floor, distance from each side wall
- Doors: width, swing direction, distance from corner
- Outlets & switches: center height from floor, distance from corner
- Plumbing rough-ins (sink, dishwasher): center height + position
- HVAC vents and returns: location and size
- Soffit / dropped ceiling: depth from wall, height from floor
Snap a wide photo of each wall after marking everything. Photos catch what sketches miss.
Cabinet-specific measurements
If you're replacing existing cabinets, capture their current dimensions too, this gives us a baseline and helps spot opportunities for upgrades (deeper drawers, taller uppers, etc.).
- Existing base cabinet height (typically 34 1/2" without countertop)
- Existing wall (upper) cabinet height + depth
- Toe kick height under base cabinets
- Distance from countertop to bottom of upper cabinets (18" standard)
- Distance from upper cabinets to ceiling (note any soffit)
- Width of every cabinet door and drawer (for a like-for-like swap)
Pro tip: Take a photo of the inside of each cabinet, especially under the sink. Plumbing locations affect cabinet selection.
Countertop-specific measurements
Countertops have their own dimensions: depth, overhang, backsplash height, sink and cooktop cutouts, and edge profile. Get these right and your slab fabricator can produce a clean template.
- Depth: 25 1/2" is standard (24" cabinet + 1 1/2" overhang)
- Front overhang: 1 to 1 1/2" standard, more on islands
- Backsplash: 4" standard or full-height (note your preference)
- Sink cutout: width, depth, and brand/model if known
- Cooktop cutout: width, depth, and model if applicable
- Faucet hole: 1, 2, 3, or 4-hole? Soap dispenser? Air gap?
- Edge profile preference: eased, beveled, ogee, bullnose
Not sure on edge profile? Use our Edge Profile Visualizer to compare side by side.
Six mistakes to avoid
We see these every week. Catching any one of them saves a bad install, an awkward cut, or an expensive remake.
- 01
Trusting a 90 corner
Walls are rarely perfectly square. Measure each wall independently and sketch the actual angles. Note any obviously bowed walls.
- 02
One height only
Drywall, framing, and ceilings drift. Measure every wall length at THREE heights (top, middle, bottom) and use the smallest value.
- 03
Forgetting trim and baseboards
Cabinets sit against framing, not trim. Measure to the bare wall behind any baseboards, casing, or quarter-round.
- 04
Skipping the soffit / bulkhead
If you have a dropped ceiling above the cabinets, measure its width AND depth. It changes upper-cabinet sizing.
- 05
Missing utilities
Outlets, switches, vents, plumbing rough-ins, and HVAC registers all matter. Mark each one's center on your sketch.
- 06
Window and door swings
Measure window height from the floor, AND mark which way doors open. A door swinging into the kitchen affects appliance placement.
Six things we need from you
You can fill these in below as you measure, or print this page and bring the notes back later. No measurement is too rough, just be complete.
- A top-down sketch of your kitchen with each wall labeled (A, B, C...)
- Length of each wall (top, middle, bottom heights)
- Ceiling height in at least 3 spots
- Position and size of every window, door, outlet, vent, and plumbing rough-in
- Photos of every wall, every corner, and any soffit / bulkhead
- Notes on what stays vs. what is being replaced (appliances, sink, etc.)
Fill it in as you measure
Save yourself a phone call. Add a card for each wall, type your measurements, attach photos, and we'll receive an organized summary ready for our design team.
Your progress saves automatically. Come back anytime, your draft stays in your browser.
Don't want to measure yourself?
We get it, measuring a kitchen is intimidating. Book a free in-home measure and we'll do all of this for you. We'll bring the laser, the checklist, and the experience.