If you think about it, cabinets are really furniture for the kitchen. And like most furniture, stock cabinets are built to standard dimensions that make them comfortable to work at.
The primary dimensions for cabinets are shown in the End View above.The surface of a countertop is typically 36" high, ideal for most kitchen tasks.
Standard depth for base cabinets (not including the countertop) is 24". If they’re deeper, it puts you farther away from the wall cabinets and limits how far up and out you can reach.
Base units also have a toe kick space that’s 3" deep and 4" high.The toe kick lets you stand up close to the cabinets without bumping your toes. Standard wall cabinet depth is usually 12" — just deep enough to hold most dinner plates. The height can range from 30" to 42", depending on whether the room has a soffit. There’s usually 18" of separation between the countertop surface and the bottom of the wall cabinets.This puts the middle shelf in the upper cabinets at roughly 72" — a height most people can still reach without getting a step stool. Width for most stock cabinets varies from 12" to 48", in 3" increments.
The drawback here is that not every wall space neatly fits this 3" scheme. My 12' 1½"-long wall, for example, would have required me to buy a filler strip and trim it to 1½"- wide to “extend” the stock cabinets.
|
Stores & Shopping