What is the optimal kitchen wall cabinet height?

Please take a closer look at this kitchen. The workable space above the countertop and below the wall cabinets have been so reduced that anyone working there would feel crowded and cramped. It’s poorly designed and it will be very uncomfortable to work there.

Pictured above is a common design mistake obviously not done by an expert – the wall cabinets have been designed too low. When choosing wall cabinet heights, it’s tempting to lower them for ease of accessibility or for more space for more cabinets above – doing so will cause your household tasks to be very uncomfortable.

Deep pots will be difficult to move around if there’s not enough space.  Additionally, small appliances are generally between 8″ and 15″ high.  Considering this, the minimum space between the counter and the wall cabinets should be of at least 16″ (18″ is recommended though). Just removing the lid from a blender, food processor or coffee pot becomes unnecessarily difficult.

Shown above is a kitchen with 4” more space above the countertop . . . this may not seem like much, but when you’re slicing and dicing you’ll appreciate the extra space. Also, under-cabinet lighting will illuminate much better with the extra space.

About IKD

IKD began several years ago designing IKEA kitchens for IKEA authorized installation contractors. We've successfully completed thousands of IKEA kitchen designs for every possible range of size, shape, budget and style. We still continue to design for these IKEA contractors, but also serve those IKEA consumers that just want a design or will install themselves. Most often customers want a better quality design than what they can do with IKEA's Home Planner.
This entry was posted in Common Mistakes, Kitchen design mistakes, Questions for a better kitchen design, Tips for a better kitchen design, Wall Cabinets and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to What is the optimal kitchen wall cabinet height?

  1. Hey very cool web site!! Man .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your site and take the feeds also…I am happy to find so many useful info here in the post, we need develop more strategies in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .

  2. Porter says:

    Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post. I will certainly return.

Leave a reply to Porter Cancel reply