How to Measure Kitchen Countertops for a Quote: Square Feet, Overhangs, and Why the Shop Rounds Up

The three things to know first

1. Counter depth is 25-1/2 in., not 24. Base cabinets are 24 in. deep, the doors add 3/4 in., and the counter overhangs the doors by about 3/4 in. so drips miss the doors. Most shops use 25-1/2 in. or 26 in. as the standard depth for a run against a wall. Use 25-1/2.
2. An inside corner is counted once. On an L, measure the long wall full length, and the short wall from the inside corner to its end, not from the wall. Otherwise you count the corner square twice.
3. The shop charges for the slab, not your counter. Quartz comes in slabs of roughly 55 x 120 in. (about 46 sq ft) or jumbo 63 x 130 in. (about 57 sq ft). An L-shaped kitchen of 52 sq ft may need two slabs, and you pay for what is cut, plus waste. A good quote prices the measured square feet with a yield factor; a cheaper-looking quote prices only the measured feet and finds the second slab later. Ask which.

Step by step

1. Draw the counter from above. Every run, the island, the peninsula. Mark the sink, the range (a slide-in range is a gap in the counter; a drop-in cooktop is a cut-out in it), the dishwasher (under, no gap), and the fridge (a gap).

2. Measure each straight run. Wall to wall, or wall to the edge of the range opening, along the back. Write the length. For the depth, use 25-1/2 in. unless the counter is deeper by design (a 30 in. deep run behind a cooktop, or a run over 30 in. deep base cabinets). Length x depth = area of that run, in square inches.

3. Subtract nothing for the sink or cooktop. The slab was cut around them; you pay for the hole. (The cut-out is a separate charge on top, on the quartz cost page.)

4. The range gap. A 30 in. slide-in range sitting between two runs: measure each run to the edge of the range opening, not across it. You do not pay for the 30 in. the range fills.

5. The island. Length x full depth, including any overhang. A 36 in. deep island cabinet with a 12 in. seating overhang on one side and a 1-1/2 in. overhang on the other is 36 + 12 + 1.5 = 49.5 in. deep. An island counter is nearly always one piece, so if it is longer than about 118 in. in one direction it needs a jumbo slab or a seam; say so on the quote request.

6. The peninsula. Same as the island, but one end attaches to a run; measure it from the inside corner of the run so the corner is not counted twice.

7. Backsplash. A 4 in. quartz backsplash is priced per linear foot, so just add up the length of the runs along the wall. A full-height slab backsplash is length x height in square feet, priced like counter.

8. Add it up and divide by 144. That is your square feet. Round up to the next whole foot. Then, if you want the number the shop will actually bill, add 10% for an L or U kitchen in a solid-colour quartz, and 15 to 20% in a veined pattern that has to be matched, and call that the slab yield.

Worked example one: an L kitchen with an island

Worked example two: a galley, no island

The difference between the two examples is why one kitchen pays for 38 feet and another for 85, and why a 74-foot kitchen in a veined pattern is not a 74-foot bill. The calculator takes your measured feet and applies the yield itself.

Things that change the measurement

• Overhang at the ends. A run that ends in the open (not at a wall) overhangs the cabinet end by 3/4 to 1-1/2 in. Add it.
• Waterfall ends. A waterfall panel is the counter depth x the height to the floor (about 36 in.), counted as counter square feet, plus a mitre charge. The waterfall page prices it.
• Deeper runs. Behind a cooktop, or where the designer pushed the base cabinets out for a deeper counter, use the real depth.
• Out-of-square walls. If the room is out of square, the counter is cut to the wall on one edge and the depth varies along the run. Measure at both ends and use the larger.
• Seams. You do not pay for a seam in square feet, but where it falls can change which slabs are needed. The seams page explains where the fabricator will put it and why.
• Bar tops and ledges. A raised bar behind a peninsula is a separate piece: length x its depth (usually 12 to 15 in.).

What to send the fabricator

The sketch, the square feet, a note of which pattern or material, the sink model (undermount sinks are cut to the sink’s template), the cooktop model if drop-in, and which edges are exposed. Say whether the old counter needs removing and whether the plumbing disconnect is yours or theirs. With that, a fabricator can quote in a day, and the quotes will be for the same thing, which is the whole point. The same list is on the quote comparison page.