Measuring to the trim instead of the wall
Cabinet molding meets the wall, not the window casing. If you measure to the trim, you are off by the width of the trim on both sides — and that adds up.
Cabinet Store · 3227 NY-22 · Patterson, New York
How to Measure Your Kitchen Before You Shop
A rough measurement before you walk in makes the first conversation far more useful. Here is what to measure, in what order, and the mistakes everyone makes.
Why bother, when we measure for free anyway.
Honest answer: our measurement is the one the cabinets get ordered from. Yours is not. So why do your own? Because yours is the one that makes the first conversation useful. It tells us roughly what size kitchen we are talking about, so we can talk about real numbers instead of generalities. You walk in already knowing the shape of the room, and we skip the part where we guess.
Think of it as the difference between asking “what do kitchens cost” and asking “what does a twelve-foot galley with one window cost.” The second question gets a real answer. The first one gets a brochure.
What you need.
A twenty-five-foot tape, a pencil, and paper. That is it. Not an app.
A laser or a phone app is fine for a straight wall — and useless for a soffit, an out-of-square corner, or anything you have to hold the tape against. A tape reaches where a laser does not, and it does not need a flat target to bounce off. Keep it simple. The sketch does not have to be pretty; it has to be labelled.
The order to do it in.
Follow it in this order and you will not miss anything that matters.
- 1
Draw the room from above
Sketch the room roughly from above, not to scale. Label which wall is which so you and we are talking about the same one later.
- 2
Measure each wall corner to corner
Measure each wall corner to corner, at about counter height — not the floor, where furniture and baseboards get in the way.
- 3
Measure floor to ceiling in a few places
Measure floor to ceiling in two or three places. They will differ. Write them all down, because the variation is the useful part.
- 4
Mark every window and door
Mark every window and door: the width, the height, and the distance from the nearest corner to the edge of each.
- 5
Mark the sink, range, fridge and dishwasher
Mark the sink, the range, the fridge and the dishwasher, and the distance from the corner to the centre of each.
- 6
Mark anything that sticks out or drops down
Mark anything that sticks out or drops down: soffits, bulkheads, radiators, vents, pipe chases, a chimney breast. These are where cabinets clash.
- 7
Photograph each wall
Photograph each wall straight on, plus one from each corner. The photos answer the questions the sketch cannot.
The three mistakes everyone makes.
Assuming the corners are square
In older houses around here, they are usually not. A corner that looks like ninety degrees and is actually ninety-two changes what fits into it. Measure both walls and let the layout handle the difference.
Forgetting what is above the cabinets
Almost every clash happens above the cabinets — a soffit, a bulkhead, a vent, a crown that has nowhere to go. Measure up as carefully as you measure across.
What your numbers will and will not do.
They will get you a real conversation and a realistic price range. They will not be used to order the cabinets — ours will. Be clear about that, because it protects everyone.
A homeowner’s measurement has never once been right enough to order from. Walls are not square, ceilings are not level, and the things behind the walls do not show up on a sketch. Your numbers are the opening of the conversation. Our measurement is the close of it.
Bring it in.
Walk into the Route 22 showroom with your sketch and your photos. No appointment, no pressure. We will go through it with you, point at real doors, and turn your rough numbers into a real conversation — and, when you are ready, into the measurement visit that the cabinets actually get ordered from.
Questions people ask.
(914) 474-1951
Walk in during business hours. No appointment needed.