How to measure a kitchen for new cabinets

What you need

• A tape measure of at least 5 m, or a laser measure.
• A spirit level, to see how far the floor slopes.
• Paper and a pencil, or your phone: a rough sketch of the room, with every wall given a letter.

Write everything in centimetres, or millimetres for small things, and always measure from a fixed point: a corner of the room.

The walls

Measure each wall from corner to corner three times: just above the floor, at worktop height (about 90 cm), and near the ceiling. Walls are rarely straight, and the three numbers often differ by a centimetre or more; plan with the smallest.

To see whether two walls meet square, measure 60 cm along one and 80 cm along the other from the corner, and then the line between the two marks: 100 cm means a right angle. Anything else, note it: corner units and worktops feel it most.

The height

Measure from the floor to the ceiling in a few places along each wall, and note anything lower: a beam, a boxed-in pipe, a lowered ceiling. Tall cabinets and wall cabinets that run to the ceiling need the lowest number.

Put the level on the floor along each wall. If the floor slopes, note by how much: the cabinets' legs take it up, but only within their range.

Doors and windows

• From the corner to the outer edge of the frame, including the trim.
• The opening's width and height, outside the trim.
• For a window, the height of its sill from the floor: a worktop that runs under it needs room.
• Which way each door swings, and whether it opens into the kitchen.

Water, drain, gas and power

For every point, write two numbers: the distance along the wall from the corner, and the height from the floor.

• Cold and hot water, and the drain: the sink goes where they are, or the plumber moves them first.
• Gas, if the cooktop will use it.
• Sockets, and the dedicated points for the oven, the cooktop and the dishwasher.
• Light switches and ceiling lights, which wall cabinets shouldn't cover.

Everything else in the way

Radiators, pipes running along a wall, a column, the electricity board, a window handle that swings into the room: each one, with its position and size. They are what turns a plan that fits on paper into one that doesn't fit the room.

The checklist

1. 1A sketch with each wall lettered.
2. 2Each wall, three times; the smallest written down.
3. 3The corners: square or not.
4. 4The ceiling, and anything lower than it.
5. 5The floor's slope.
6. 6Doors and windows, from the corner, with their sizes and the window's sill.
7. 7Water, drain, gas and power, along the wall and up from the floor.
8. 8Every obstacle.

TruePlinth's room wizard asks in the same order: the walls, then the doors, windows and points. A carpenter measures again before cutting; these numbers make the plan right before that visit.