THE KITCHEN GUIDE BOOK

How To Do A Kitchen Cabinet Design Plan

Before any cabinets are ordered a very detailed kitchen cabinet layout plan drawing showing the size and type of every cabinet in needed. Every cabinet filler, every finished side or interior, every decorative panel/glass doors, a crown detail, every appliance opening, ECT! 

Cabinet design lingo is to put the width first, then the height, and then the depth. A 24" wide, by 42" tall, by 12" deep wall cabinet would be a W2442 12. It seems like every cabinet company has their own lingo like MWW would be a micro wave wall cabinet. The Place where you're buying the cabinets can help putting your plans into a cabinet companies lingo. Most companies use the same language that is used on the kitchen design software 2020.

Start your cabinet design Layout by drawing the dimensions of your kitchen with doorways and hallways. On the cabinet plan also note the floor to ceiling heights. Make sure your measurements are exact. Walls are never perfectly plumb so never squeeze cabinets between two walls without a filler,(something some designers I know seem to forget). Carefully note the location of window and door trim from each wall to know what cabinets will fit.

First draw in the corner cabinets, and the cabinets that have set widths. A typical sink base cabinet is 36", and a corner base cabinet lazy susan is also 36".  A regular wall corner cabinet is 24" wide. In cabinet appliances also determine the width of a cabinet like a 30" built in microwave needs a 33" wide by 18" deep cabinet at least. Having the appliances picked out and having the specs is needed for the final cabinet plan.

Next draw in the appliances and the exact openings needed. The dishwasher must have a 24" opening and usually can't move too much with out a lot of rough plumbing.

Ranges need an opening of 24, 30", 36", 40" 42" and 48". The typical everyday Free standing range opening is 30 inches. Most appliances need working area around both sides, like 3' if possible. 

Fridgerators normally are 36" wide, but range from 30" to 48". If there are fridge panels that surround the fridge then add 3" for the width of the wood to the space the fridge will take up.

After the critical cabinets and appliances are placed then just fill in the rest with what you can fit in. Cabinet widths come in increments of three- 9,12,15,18,21,24,27,30,33,36,39,42,45,48. decide on what type of storage goes where like drawers or shelves. If the widths don't come out perfect like they never do, then use fillers. Standard base cabinets are ether full door (BFD), or with one drawer at the top. Drawer bases (BD) are typically either 3, or 4 drawer. 

Think about heights and how they relate to your kitchen cabinet design layout. Do you want your upper cabinets to go all the way to the ceiling or do you want a gap. As a general idea in a regular 8' ceiling if you want the cabinets to go to the ceiling then 42" high wall cabinets are needed. If you want your crown molding to go to the ceiling then 39" or 36" wall cabinets would be needed. Two layer crown molding is most often needed when going all the way to the ceiling because no ceilings are perfectly level, and the top layer of crown can move up and down with the ceiling, (see picture below).

The height of your wall cabinets are also determined by the height if your tall cabinets and your fridge panels. The choice you made on the size of wall cabinet also determines the size of your tall cabinets. 42" wall cabinets means that your tall cabinets are 96", because countertop height is 36" + countertop to bottom of wall cabinet is 18"+ height of wall cabinet 42" all equals 96". If your wall cabinets are 39" then your tall cabinets are 93", and a 36" wall Cabinet would make the tall cabinets 90".

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