Installing Kitchen Cabinets: Step 2 - Planning

ARRANGING YOUR APPLIANCES

When making your initial layout, plan for your primary workspace, which is a triangle with your stove, refrigerator and sink at its points. Try to make this triangle no less than 12 total feet, but no more than 26 total feet (the three sides of the triangle should add up to between 144" and 252").

COUNTER SPACE SUGGESTIONS

  • Refrigerator - 15" on the handle side.
  • Stove - 12" on each side of a stovetop, 15" on at least one side of an oven.
  • Sink - 24" on one side, 18" on the other.
  • Place a preparation center of 36" of uninterrupted counter space, preferably between the sink and refrigerator.
  • Place a serving center of 36" of uninterrupted counter space, preferably between the sink and stovetop.
  • Right-handed people work best from left to right (refrigerator to preparation center to cooktop to serving center).

PLANNING FOR CORNER CABINETS

Base Square Corner Cabinet: also called a blind corner, because the end of this cabinet is concealed by the adjacent cabinet. The corner is hidden but still accessible,
preventing wasted space.

The center stile (upright) in the face frame is wider (6") than in other base cabinets. This wide stile allows up to 3" of adjustment in the amount of wall space used by this cabinet.

In order to complete the turn at the corner, an adjoining base cabinet butts into the wide center stile of the corner cabinet and a filler of at least 1" in width is required to
provide adequate clearance for opening the doors & drawers. The door is mounted at the factory as shown. This is for a blind left installation. To turn a corner the opposite way (blind right), simply remove the door by removing the screws holding the hinges to the face frame, turn it over, and re-attach to the opposite side of the
wide center stile.

Note: Center stile is pre-punched for easy alignment of door &
hinges. Install drawer above the door.

 

Wall Corner Cabinet:
Requires 24" of wall space in each direction from the corner. Start your layout from the corner and work outward in both directions. Place this cabinet in the corner and continue on each side with the other wall cabinets.

Base Corner Cabinet With Lazy Susan: offers storage in corners that would otherwise be lost. In order to allow plenty of room for this cabinet in your design, always begin your layout in the corner.

Measuring from the corner, this cabinet requires 36" of wall space along each wall. The cabinet depth is 21". This creates a 3" void
behind the cabinet. Simply install so the face frames align with those
of the adjoining cabinets.

 

NEXT: Step Three: Finishing

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