Kitchen design is a process that if done right, can lead to you owning your own dream kitchen. Before you start going all out with the ideas, decorations and paints, it's important for you to know exactly what you're going to be working with. Measuring your kitchen and understanding the space you have is the foundation of the perfect kitchen design. This article serves as a guide to how you can effectively measure your kitchen without cutting corners. So, grab a paper, pen and measuring tape and let's get started!
Step 1: Sketch out a rough layout
Understanding your kitchen space is the first step in measuring your kitchen, as it helps you to gauge exactly what you're going to be working with. Sketch out the layout of your kitchen and make sure to account for any windows, doors, and pre-installed cabinets.
Step 2: Prepare a general guide
Measuring your kitchen blindly can result in missing some areas or not accounting for certain obstructions. Before starting your measuring process, plan out how you're going to go about doing it. Make sure that the measurements itself are standardized to one unit (inch/cm/m) and that you plan the process to go section by section.
Step 3: Measure your floors
Begin by measuring your floor space. Measure the floors area by area and account for any wall dividers or cabinetry that is placed on the floor. Measuring your floors can give you a good idea about how much walking space you actually have in your kitchen.
Step 4: Measure your walls
Unlike the floor, measuring your walls tells you how much storage or decoration you can add. In case you plan to remodel your kitchen from scratch, measuring the length and width of your walls helps in understanding how much cabinet and isle space you can have.
Step 5: Account for unavoidable objects
Kitchens are areas that are usually filled with bulky appliances, sockets, switches and other products. You'll need to account for these while measuring your kitchen, since these objects will inevitably take up space. Noting dimensions in advance and reducing the available space you have accordingly can give you a more accurate measurement of your kitchen.
Step 6: Measure your ceiling and door space
Measure how much ceiling space you have and note down any additional beams or supports that hang from the ceiling. Measuring the overall length of the ceiling as well as the total height of the kitchen (floor to ceiling) will help if you plan on investing in hanging lights or other products that will hang from the ceiling. In addition to this, measure the door and the amount of space it will require to open and close freely. This includes the main doors, window doors, and cabinet doors as well. This is important since any objects placed in the trajectory of the doors will block movement, which is something you'd want to avoid as much as possible.
Step 7: Lighting layouts
Kitchens, like any other room, require adequate lighting. To have an accurate measurement, make sure to include any windows (including window trimmings) that are already there or will be constructed and count any ceiling space that may be taken up for lighting and note the type of lighting fixtures that will be used as well. In case you’d like to add any additional accent or task based lighting to your kitchen design, add those additions into your measurements so that the kitchen plan is accurate.
With this, you are almost done with the kitchen measuring process! In order to make it as precise as possible, here are a few additional pointers you can use while measuring your kitchen:
1. If you want extra accuracy, measure in cm or mm.
2. Use grid paper for your base sketch in order to get a better perspective of your space.
3. When writing down your measurements, make sure you use arrow marks to indicate the section that was measured. This will show where the measurement for the section starts and where it ends.
4. Measure each wall from wall-end to wall-end, including trimmings if any.
5. Make sure you double-check your measurements. It’s better to be safe than sorry!
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