How to measure a kitchen for cabinets: the field checklist dealers and installers use

Published October 1, 2026 by Design Master Solutions LLC

A cabinet order is only as good as the measure behind it. A box that is half an inch too wide does not go back to the warehouse cheaply, and the crew finds out on install day. This is the procedure that keeps the box list right, in the order to do it on site.

1. Sketch the room first

Before the tape comes out, draw the room from above: every wall, door, window, the sink, the range, the refrigerator and anything that will not move (a radiator, a beam, a chase). Number the walls clockwise from the entry. Every measurement you take goes on this sketch, next to the thing it measures.

2. Measure each wall at three heights

Measure every wall corner to corner at three heights: just above the floor (where the toe kick will be), at countertop height, about 36 inches, and at the height of the upper cabinets, about 84 inches. Record all three. If they differ, the wall bows or the corner is not square, and you design to the smallest number. Measure in inches to the nearest 1/16.

Then measure the ceiling height in two or three places. It decides whether uppers are 30, 36 or 42 inches tall and whether crown molding fits. The wall cabinet dimensions guide shows how ceiling height turns into an upper size.

3. Locate every opening

For each window and door, measure from the same corner you used for the wall:

• Offset: from the corner to the outside edge of the casing (trim), not the glass.
• Width and height of the opening including casing.
• Sill height of each window, floor to the top of the sill or the bottom of the apron. A sill under about 36 inches will hit the countertop and backsplash; a window in the upper zone limits the wall boxes next to it.

4. Mark the utilities

Record the center of each drain, water supply, gas line, outlet, switch, vent and duct, measured from the corner and from the floor. The sink base goes where the drain is (or the plumber moves the drain); the range needs its gas or 240-volt outlet; the hood needs its duct. These centers decide where the sink base and the range opening land on the wall.

5. Measure the appliances

Get the model numbers or the spec sheets of the appliances that will be installed, not the old ones. Note width, height and depth, door swing for the refrigerator, and whether the range is freestanding or slide-in. Common openings are 30 or 36 inches for the range, 24 inches for the dishwasher, and 30 to 36 inches for the refrigerator, but the spec sheet is what you design to.

6. Check plumb, level and square

• Floor level: find the high point of the floor along each run. Bases are set from the high point and shimmed up elsewhere.
• Walls plumb: a 4-foot level on each wall tells you where a filler will need scribing.
• Corners square: measure 3 feet along one wall and 4 feet along the other; the diagonal should be 5 feet. A corner that is out changes how corner boxes and fillers fit. See corner cabinet sizes and filler strips.

7. Photograph everything

Take a photo of each wall straight on, each corner, each utility and the electrical panel. Photos answer the questions the sketch does not, and they are what the installer looks at before the job.

How Cabinet Project records a measure

The measure goes straight into the project's layout instead of onto paper. Each wall gets its length; windows and doors are added to the wall with offset, width, height and, for a window, the sill height. A door blocks the wall at every height; a window blocks the upper zone only where it reaches. Appliances (range, refrigerator, dishwasher, hood) are placed with their widths and take space like a box, without a price. Corners between walls are on by default and can be turned off for an open end.

On an iPhone or iPad with ARKit, the wall length dialog has a "Measure with camera" button: aim at one end, set the start, aim at the other, and the length comes back in inches rounded to 1/16. On LiDAR devices it is more precise. Other phones and the web use the tape.

From that drawing you place the boxes, the editor adds fillers where gaps are too small for a box, and the box list goes to the quote. See the layout editor, then use the linear-foot calculator to turn wall lengths into a first estimate.