Measuring Guides

The process of renewing your kitchen doors and accessories is an easy and straightforward exercise. A few simple measurements and some attention to detail is all that’s needed to ensure that your replacement process is easy and trouble free.

If you have any issues or questions about any of the items that you are measuring or buying, please give us a call or request a call back and we’ll get right back in touch with you to help. We’ll do everything we can to make sure each item you order, is the correct size and easy to install.

Planning your New Kitchen

The most common mistake people encounter is forgetting to order all the items they might need. By making a simple plan of your kitchen, then double-checking that plan to make sure all your items are on it, you will go a long way to avoid this. Your drawing doesn’t need to be technical, just clear and simple and include all the doors, drawers and any accessories that you’ll need to refresh your kitchen, like plinths, cornices etc.

Draw a layout plan of your kitchen doors, like the one above. This will help you to keep track of the number of items you’ll need. By making sure you’ve included everything, you’ll make sure you order everything and you only order once.

Count your doors and drawers

Double-check the number of doors once you have drawn your plan, take a moment to double-check the number of doors you have in your kitchen and make sure you have the same number on your plan! Check twice, order once!

How to measure your kitchen Doors and Drawer fronts

A common mistake people make is only measuring their doors once, or trying to measure too quickly. As the old tradesman' saying goes: “Measure Twice, Cut Once”, so measure your doors twice to ensure you’ve got it right. We like to say, “Measure twice, Order Once”

When measuring your doors, always measure in millimetres (mm). Our Website only accepts measurements in millimetres to make your ordering process easy for you and accurate for us.

Make sure you measure the actual doors and not the cabinet they are attached to. Doors tend to be slightly smaller than the cabinets so measure the doors themselves, rather than the cabinets. For example: if a cabinet is 500mm wide, the door on it will be approximately 4mm narrower, making it 496mm. Make sure you measure twice!

If you order doors the same size as your cabinet, you’ll have trouble opening and closing the doors as they won’t sit comfortably side by side. The 4mm difference is there for a reason.

Measuring your Doors

Measure every door and drawer individually
Make sure you measure the back of the door rather than the front. The front may have a profiled or rounded edge, which makes it harder to get an accurate measurement. The door will also open and close to the widest point. Measure the height first, then measure the width and then make a note of the sizes on your notepad or door ordering list, alongside the corresponding door number.

Measuring your Drawers

Measure your drawer fronts the same way as you would measure your doors. That is, measure the back of the drawer across the height and the width, (measure twice) and make a note of those sizes and add them to your plan drawing on the corresponding drawer number.

Any drawer fronts that are 283mm high or larger (big pan drawers, for example) will be styled as a door rather than a drawer front. This is quite normal and is shown in the images above. Doors and drawer fronts that are especially shallow may not have room for a central pattern.

The minimum size for inclusion of a central pattern varies between door styles, but generally, doors below 296mm wide will be manufactured with plain centres, rather than patterned centres. The product specification of your chosen style will tell you the minimum width to include a central design.

Standard Sizes vs Custom Sizes (Made to Measure)

Do you have standard sized doors?

Standard sized doors tend to be slightly cheaper and have a shorter delivery lead-time than custom size doors. (Made to measure) We offer both standard doors and custom size doors. Some kitchen manufacturers have ‘Odd’ size doors to encourage that you buy your replacement doors from them at a premium price. For Example: IKEA, Magnet and Wren doors, are not standard size doors. But our replacement doors are better quality and cheaper. If your doors are only 1-2mm different to that of a standard size, it may be more cost effective to opt for standard doors, rather than buying custom size doors. If you have any questions about standard doors that are very nearly the size you currently have, just give us a call. We’re here to help.

 

Are your doors Left or Right hand hinged?

Check which way your doors will need to open, as this will help you work out where the hinge holes will need to be drilled. Your doors are hinged as you look at your doors. For instance, if you handle is on the right hand side of your door your hinges will more than likely be on he left. You will need this information when you come to order your new doors if you are having your hinge holes pre-drilled.

If you’d like to have the hinge holes in your new doors pre-drilled for you, you’ll need to specify their measurement and positions. We recommend measuring and checking the hinge hole positions on every door individually, to ensure you get them drilled correctly. That is, make sure you measure the hinge hole positions on every single door. Don’t just measure them on one door and assume they’ll all be the same. They won’t be.


Measuring hinge hole positions

The standard diameter of a hinge hole is 35mm. Measure from the top of the door to the centre of the top hinge and then from the bottom of the door to the centre of the bottom hinge. Don’t worry about the distance from the edge of the door to the hole or the depth of the hinge hole.
*It’s easier and usually more accurate to measure to the middle of the hinge arm than the hole.

How to measure for multiple hinge hole positions

 

If you have doors with three hinge hole positions, measure from the top of the door to the middle of the centre hinge. If you have doors with four hinge holes, measure the top two holes from the top of the door and group them together, then measure the bottom two holes from the bottom of the door and group them together.



If you’re replacing your hinges, make sure you buy the correct hinges to allow your door to open as you would wish. There are two hinge options, depending on how far you need the door to open:
110 degrees when open or 165 degrees when open

If you’re replacing your hinges, make sure you buy the correct hinges for your cabinets. Cabinets are usually one of two thicknesses: 15mm or 18mm

Handles

If you’d like to replace your handles as part of your Kitchen refresh, have a look at our range of handles. You can of course use your existing handles of on your new doors and drawers.

We’re unable to deliver your doors with handle holes pre drilled. We do however have a handle hole drilling jig available for purchase which makes the job a lot easier and ensures your handle positions are the same on every door.

Handle Holes

When drilling handle holes on doors or drawer fronts, always drill on a flat scrap wood surface or place a small piece of wood behind the door or drawer front to ensure a clean hole is drilled.

When drilling your handle holes, drill from the front of the door through to the back. If you’re using your existing handles you can use your old doors and drawers for drilling positions. Once again, we recommend that you carefully measure twice and drill once.

Measuring for Corner Posts

Corner posts are used to separate door on an L Shaped Unit. The Doors are usually spaced apart with a corner post that can be attached to one of the doors if required. Corner posts are supplied in 2 sizes. Either 30mm widths or 40mm widths. They are supplied in a standard height of 720mm and cut to the height you require for installation.

We supply corner posts in two sizes:
• 720 x 30mm x 30mm
• 720 x 40mm x 40mm

If your existing corner post is one of those sizes and the height is 720mm then you can just replace it with a corner post from our range of accessories

Measuring for End Panels

To replace your end panel with a new plain panel or an end panel to match your new doors, simply measure the height and width of your existing end panel and replace it with your new panel. We supply square edged, profiled and tongue and groove end panels for most collections.

Measuring for Filler Panels

Filler panels are small strips that fit between wall units, or between a base unit and a wall if there’s a gap. You have three options for finishing infill panels to match your doors:
1. Apply some colour matched self-adhesive vinyl to the existing infill panel.
2. Order a made to measure panel to fit the space you need to fill. Bear in mind that there is a limit on how small panels can be made, so we may not be able to produce a panel small enough. You can always order a panel that’s bigger than you require, scribe and cut to size at installation.
3. Create your own infill panel using plinth cut to size. Plinth is the skirting board that runs around your base units. If you’re replacing the plinth, then just order a bit extra, cut it to size and slot it into place.

Measure for Oven Panels

Appliance panels and used to fill the spaces left usually between appliances and doors on a standard cabinet. You will typically see a filler panel above and or below an oven appliance. To measure for an appliance panel, simply measure the height and width of your existing panel.

Measuring for a Cornice, Plinth or Pelmet

Measure each length of cornice, plinth and/or pelmet in turn. Remember to measure in millimetres and it’s probably best to measure twice too. Next you need to total up how much you currently have, then add an allowance of 20% for cuts and wastage at installation.

To do this add up your individual lengths and multiply by 1.2 Then divide this number by the actual length of the cornice, pelmet or plinth is supplied in.

Example: Cornice
1) Example total measured length is 6804mm

2) Multiply by 1.2
6804mm x 1.2 = 8164.8mm

3) Divide by supplied length(3000mm)
8164.8mm / 3000mm = 2.7216

4)After rounding up lengths actually needed = 3

* It’s also worth ordering an extra length, just in case of mistakes.

To calculate how many lengths you will need, look at the price list for the door range you’re considering, firstly to see which cornice, pelmet and plinths are available but more importantly to see what the standard lengths for each are. The size of these can vary between one door range and another. It’s also worth considering whether you would be happy with joins in your Cornice, Pelmet or Plinth. If not, make sure you order enough of each to accommodate full lengths without joins.

Example: Bella
Bella Cornice: Is supplied in 3050mm Standard Length
Bella Pelmet: Is supplied in 2540mm Standard Length
Bella Plinth: Is supplied in 2540mm Standard Length

A special note about measuring plinth for ordering

You’ll need to specify the height. This can be between 100-200mm high and will be cut to your specific height. The height of your plinth may vary throughout your kitchen, as it’s possible your floor isn’t totally even and level. We suggest measuring the plinth all the way around the kitchen, and then ordering your plinth at the maximum height you’re going to need. Some customers prefer to order it taller than they need and cut it down on site, and some customers prefer order it at just the height that they need. It’s entirely down to personal preference.