Base cabinet dimensions: height, depth, widths and toe kick

Published October 1, 2026 by Design Master Solutions LLC

Base cabinets carry the countertop, the sink and most of the drawers, so their size sets everything else in the kitchen: counter height, appliance openings and where the wall cabinets hang. The standard is simple. The box is 34½ inches tall and 24 inches deep, and it comes in widths from 9 to 36 inches in 3-inch steps.

Nominal sizes; always check the manufacturer's spec book before you order or cut a countertop.

Height: 34½ inches plus the top

A base cabinet box is 34½ inches tall, including the toe kick. A standard countertop is 1½ inches thick, which puts the work surface at 36 inches from the floor. That 36 is the number homeowners, appliance makers and countertop fabricators all assume: a standard dishwasher slides under it and a freestanding range is built to meet it.

A thicker top changes the math. A 2-inch slab or a built-up edge raises the counter, and a dishwasher opening that was tight at 34½ stays tight. If the countertop is not standard, write its thickness on the quote before the order goes out.

Depth: 24 inches

Standard base depth is 24 inches as a box. The door sits in front of that, and the countertop usually overhangs the doors by about an inch, so the finished counter ends up around 25 to 25½ inches deep. Tall cabinets (pantries, oven cabinets) share the 24-inch depth so their fronts line up with the bases.

Reduced-depth bases exist in many lines for tight spots, and vanity bases are shallower still; both are line-specific, so look them up rather than assume.

Widths and the SKUs that go with them

Narrow bases (9 to 15 inches) are usually a single door, often for trays or spices. Wider ones get two doors; in Cabinet Project's drawings a box gets one door up to 24 inches and a pair above that. Corners have their own rules, covered in corner cabinet sizes, and the sink base in sink base cabinet sizes.

Drawer bases

A drawer base (DB) has the same height and depth as any base but is all drawers, usually three or four stacked. Widths are narrower than door bases, commonly 12 to 24 inches; wider drawer bases exist in some lines. Drawer bases go next to the range for pots and next to the dishwasher for flatware, so the opening between them has to be exact.

The toe kick

The recess at the bottom of a base cabinet is the toe kick, so you can stand close to the counter without stubbing your feet. It is typically about 4 inches high and about 3 inches deep, but it varies by line, and some lines ship the base without a kick and a separate toe kick board. Check the spec book. Since the kick is part of the 34½ inches, it does not change the counter height.

Openings between base cabinets

Appliances that sit between bases need an opening, not a box. A standard dishwasher wants a 24-inch opening, and a range a 30- or 36-inch one. In a run, write the opening on the plan and leave it out of the linear-foot count: a 10-foot wall with a 24-inch dishwasher opening has 8 feet of base cabinets, not 10. The linear foot calculator handles that subtraction.

How Cabinet Project uses these sizes

New companies start with a "Starter sizes" line that already has B09 to B36, SB30 to SB36, DB12 to DB24, the corner bases and BEP24, at list price 0 until you import your manufacturer's price list. In the layout editor a base box sits at 34½ inches tall and 24 deep unless your catalog says otherwise. A dishwasher is placed as an appliance in the base band: it takes its 24 inches of wall, gets a countertop over it in the drawing, and is never priced.

The bases on each wall add up to base linear feet, which is what most crews price install labor by. See pricing install labor by linear foot or by box, and the full chart in kitchen cabinet sizes.