Standard Kitchen Cabinet Dimensions

There’s a sort of “three inch” rule that many people are aware of.  Kitchen cabinet dimensions tend to be divisible by three inches.  The narrowest cabinets are 3 inches, and the widest cabinets you’ll probably run into with a semi custom line are in the 48 inch vicinity.

The three inch cabinet I mentioned earlier might not really count as a cabinet; the ones I’ve seen are filler strips mounted on a pull out spice rack sort of apparatus.  Rather than have sides itself, these “cabinets” must usually be sandwiched between two other cabinets.  Anyway, it goes up from there to six inches, and six inch cabinets are usually pull out rigs as well, but they tend to at least have sides.

 

Cabinet Widths

The real cabinets (door and drawer or full height door types) start at nine inches wide in most stock or semi custom lines.  This applies to both base and wall cabinets.  Base cabinets are generally 34 1/2″ high, with the bottom 4 1/2″ being toe kick.  In universal access base cabinets, the toe space is bigger.  About 8 1/2″ allows someone in a wheel chair to get their feet underneath the cabinets.

 

Cabinet Heights

Wall cabinet heights vary, but these too go in three inch increments.  Most wall cabinets are thirty or thirty six inches, but there are bigger and smaller ones available.  For instance, 18″ or 24″ high wall cabinets are pretty common over a stove or fridge.  The shortest wall cabinets I run into on any kind of regular basis are 12″, with 42″ being the tallest.  There are 48″ wall cabinets too, and even 54″ or 60″, but these generally sit on the countertop.  How “semi custom” a cabinet line is will determine what heights wall cabinets are available in; wall cabinet height variety is actually one of the biggest differences I see between manufacturers.

 

Cabinet Depths

The last cabinet dimension I’ll talk about is depth.  These are usually pretty limited.  Base cabinets are 24″ ususally, but sometimes there are 12″ versions.  Wall cabinets are generally 12″ deep, with 18″ models offered too.  Fridge cabinets (that go above the fridge) are 24″, but many cabinet manufacturers also make 27″ deep fridge cabinets.

 

In a stock cabinet line, you’re kind of stuck with whatever box dimensions are laid out in the spec book.  Many semi custom cabinet manufacturers will alter kitchen cabinet dimensions (for a fee, of course) but you’ll want to check before getting your hopes up. 

If you want to get as much figuring done as you can before going to actually meet a designer, remember that dimensions are usually in three inch increments.  Don’t forget though that things can be changed.  Poke around for complete spec books to find out which companies offer what, and what dimensional modifications they’re capable of doing.

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