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Standard Kitchen Cabinet Dimensions: Heights, Depths and Widths That Every Shop Builds To
Kitchen Cabinets
Standard Kitchen Cabinet Dimensions, and Where the Standards Come From
Almost every kitchen cabinet sold in Ontario, from the flat-pack box to the $60,000 custom job, is built around the same handful of numbers. Those numbers exist because of dishwashers, ranges and the height of the average person’s elbow, and once you know them you can read a kitchen drawing without a shop explaining it to you.
The numbers that never change
34-1/2 in.base cabinet height (36 in. with a 1-1/2 in. counter)
24 in.base cabinet depth, box only
12 in.upper cabinet depth, box only
18 in.gap between counter and uppers
The base height is fixed by the dishwasher. A standard dishwasher needs a 34-1/2 in. opening under the counter, so the base boxes are 34-1/2 in. and a 1-1/2 in. countertop brings the work surface to 36 in. The 24 in. depth is fixed by the range, which is 24 to 25 in. deep so its front lines up with the doors. The 12 in. upper depth is a compromise between a dinner plate (10 to 11 in.) and your forehead. The 18 in. gap is the space a stand mixer or a coffee maker needs. Change any of these and you are also changing an appliance, which is why nobody does.
Base cabinets
| Dimension | Standard | Range you will see | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Height (box) | 34-1/2 in. | 34-1/2 to 35-1/2 in. | Dishwasher opening; counter brings it to 36 in. |
| Depth (box) | 24 in. | 23-1/2 to 24-1/2 in. | Range and dishwasher depth. Door adds 3/4 in. |
| Width | 3 in. steps, 9 to 48 in. | Custom: any | 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36 are the common ones |
| Toe kick height | 4 to 4-1/2 in. | 3-1/2 to 6 in. | Your foot, while you stand at the counter |
| Toe kick depth (recess) | 3 in. | 2-1/2 to 4 in. | Same |
| Sink base width | 30, 33 or 36 in. | 24 to 42 in. | Single bowl fits 30; double bowl wants 33 or 36 |
| Dishwasher opening | 24 in. wide | 18 in. for compact | The appliance, full stop |
| Range opening | 30 in. | 24, 36, 48 in. | The range, plus nothing: it slides in tight |
| Corner base (lazy susan) | 36 x 36 in. | 33 to 39 in. | Needs 36 in. of wall each way |
| Blind corner base | 42 or 45 in. | 36 to 48 in. | Half of it is dead space behind the next cabinet |
The 3 in. width increments are a stock and semi-custom thing. Custom shops build to the wall, which is the main practical reason to go custom in an old house: a 19-7/8 in. gap gets a 19-7/8 in. cabinet, not an 18 in. cabinet and a filler strip. More on that trade-off on the stock vs. semi-custom vs. custom page.
Upper cabinets
| Dimension | Standard | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Depth (box) | 12 in. | 15 in. over a fridge or for deep plates; 24 in. over a fridge to line up with the fridge panels |
| Height | 30, 36, 39 or 42 in. | 30 in. for an 8 ft ceiling with a soffit or crown; 36 in. for 8 ft to the ceiling; 42 in. for 9 ft; 39 in. is the IKEA-style compromise |
| Over-range height | 18 or 24 in. | Leaves 24 to 30 in. over the cooktop for the hood |
| Over-fridge height | 12, 15, 18 or 24 in. | Depends on fridge height (68 to 72 in.) and ceiling |
| Bottom of upper above counter | 18 in. | 54 in. off the floor. 15 in. on a short run is tolerable; 20 in. for a tall household |
| Width | 3 in. steps, 9 to 48 in. | Wider than 36 in. and the doors get awkward |
| Stacked uppers (second row) | 12 or 15 in. | On a 9 or 10 ft ceiling, above the main uppers, usually glass or display |
The upper height is the one you choose, and it is chosen by the ceiling. An 8 ft (96 in.) ceiling, a 36 in. counter, an 18 in. gap: that leaves 42 in. to the ceiling, which is a 36 in. cabinet plus crown, or a 42 in. cabinet dead to the ceiling with no crown. A 9 ft ceiling gives you 54 in., which is a 42 in. cabinet with a crown, or 42 in. plus a 12 in. stacked row. Ceiling-height uppers look better and cost more to install; that is on the installation cost page.
Tall cabinets: pantry and oven
Tall cabinets are built to the same top line as the uppers so the crown runs straight across. So an 84 in. tall matches 30 in. uppers on an 8 ft ceiling with a soffit; 90 in. matches 36 in. uppers; 96 in. matches 42 in. uppers on a 9 ft ceiling. Depths are 12 in. (pantry you can see into), 24 in. (pantry with roll-outs, or any oven cabinet), and widths run 18 to 36 in. A wall-oven cabinet is 30 or 33 in. wide for a 30 in. oven, and the oven opening is cut to the oven’s spec sheet, not to a standard, so the oven is chosen before the cabinets are ordered. That is one of the order-of-work items that stalls a kitchen when it is missed.
The clearances around the cabinets
The cabinet sizes are the easy part. What trips a drawing up is the space between them. These are the ones a layout gets checked against, and they come from the NKBA kitchen planning guidelines, which every shop designer in the country learned from.
- Walkway, one cook: 42 in. between counter faces. Two cooks: 48 in. Under 36 in. and a dishwasher door blocks the room.
- Island to counter: same 42 in. minimum. That number sets whether an island fits at all; the island size page works through it.
- Landing space beside the range: 12 in. one side, 15 in. the other. Beside the fridge handle side: 15 in. Beside the sink: 18 in. one side, 24 in. the other.
- Dishwasher to sink: within 36 in. of the sink edge, and 21 in. of standing room in front of it.
- Hood above cooktop: 24 in. minimum for an electric cooktop under a hood, 30 in. for gas, and whatever the hood’s manual says, which wins.
- Door swings: the fridge door, the oven door, the dishwasher door and the room’s entry door must not hit anything when open. Draw them open.
- Corner: a cabinet door beside an inside corner needs a 3 in. filler or the handle hits the perpendicular door.
The exceptions worth knowing
IKEA is metric. Base boxes are 30 in. (76 cm) tall on adjustable legs, so the counter height is set by the legs, and uppers are 15, 20, 30 and 40 in. tall and 15 in. deep. Widths are 12, 15, 18, 24, 30 and 36 in. It is close enough to standard that appliances fit, but you cannot mix an IKEA box into a run of imperial boxes and expect the tops to line up. Details on the IKEA vs. custom page.
Frameless (European) vs. face frame. A frameless box has the same outside dimensions but about 1-1/2 in. more usable opening per cabinet, because there is no frame around the door. Most Ontario shops now build frameless. It changes nothing on the drawing and quite a lot on what fits in the drawer.
Accessible kitchens. A 34 in. counter height, a 27 in. high knee space under the sink and cooktop, uppers brought down to 15 in. above the counter, and a 60 in. turning circle. The cabinets are mostly standard parts at non-standard heights; the base boxes get cut down or built to 32-1/2 in.
Counter height, taller or shorter. A 36 in. counter suits someone 5 ft 3 in. to 5 ft 10 in. Taller households sometimes go to 37 or 38 in. on a run that does not have a dishwasher or a range in it, by building a taller toe kick. A dishwasher will not go under a 34 in. counter, so a lowered run has to be a run without one.
Questions people ask
What is the standard height of kitchen cabinets?
Base cabinets are 34-1/2 in. tall, giving a 36 in. counter. Upper cabinets are 30, 36 or 42 in. tall depending on the ceiling, with the bottom edge 54 in. off the floor. Tall cabinets are 84, 90 or 96 in.
How deep are kitchen cabinets?
Base cabinets are 24 in. deep (box) and about 25 in. with the door. Upper cabinets are 12 in. deep, 15 in. in some lines. Tall pantry cabinets are 12 or 24 in.
How much space should be between the counter and the upper cabinets?
18 in. is standard. 15 in. is the practical minimum; 20 in. for a tall household. Under a range hood, 24 to 30 in. depending on the cooktop and the hood’s manual.
What widths do kitchen cabinets come in?
Stock and semi-custom: 9 to 48 in. in 3 in. steps. A 30 in. range needs a 30 in. opening; a dishwasher needs 24 in.; a sink base is usually 33 or 36 in. Custom shops build any width.
Are IKEA cabinet dimensions the same as standard?
Close but not identical. Boxes are metric, bases sit on adjustable legs, uppers are 15 in. deep instead of 12. Appliances fit; mixing IKEA boxes with imperial boxes in one run does not work.
Use the numbers
Measure the room against these and you can draw your own kitchen well enough to price it. The measuring page walks through that, and the calculator prices what you draw.
