Cabinet Heights, Fillers and Spacing to the Ceiling

A base cabinet is thirty-four and a half inches tall before the counter goes on, and everything else in the kitchen is measured from that. The running record kitchen cabinets austin safety in construction show holds shows that the spacing problems in Austin, TX houses come from the ceiling down, not the floor up, because ceilings vary more than counter height does.

Standard heights

Base boxes sit at thirty-four and a half inches, and with a counter that brings the work surface to thirty-six. Wall cabinets hang with the bottom eighteen inches above the counter. Heights of thirty, thirty-six and forty-two inches are common for the wall boxes, and the choice usually depends on how much ceiling is left.

What a filler strip does

A filler is a plain strip of the same wood or material as the doors, set between the cabinet and a wall, or between a cabinet and an appliance. It exists so doors and drawers have room to open without hitting a wall or each other. In a corner, a three-inch filler keeps a drawer from striking the handle of the door around the bend. On a face frame cabinet the filler is part of the frame, and on a frameless run it is a separate piece, scribed to the wall.

Eight foot ceilings

An eight foot ceiling leaves just over a foot above a thirty-six inch wall cabinet. Crown molding closes part of that, and the rest is either a flat strip painted to match or a deliberate open shelf for display. Leaving it bare collects dust and grease.

Nine foot ceilings

With nine foot ceilings, many kitchens in newer Mueller and downtown Austin condominiums take forty-two inch uppers, which close most of the gap. Stacked boxes with a smaller upper door above the main one also work, though they need a second hinge setup and a taller ladder at install.

Crown and the last inch

Crown molding hides the uneven gap where a straight cabinet meets a ceiling that dips. The molding is cut to the angle of the wall and the ceiling, and a small mismatch is closed with caulk. A cabinet set a quarter inch away from the ceiling gives the crown a place to land.

Every dimension above comes from the measure sheet, and the layout is drawn from the shortest reading, since fillers can make a run longer but nothing can make a box smaller.