In short
- Five measurements are enough for a meaningful first estimate.
- Measure the ceiling height at both ends of a wall — they will differ.
- Photographs of the whole room beat close-ups every time.
- We always take our own measurements before anything is manufactured.
To be clear at the outset: you do not have to measure anything. We take a full dimensioned survey ourselves before a single panel is cut, and that survey is what the cabinetry is built from. But if you want a more useful first conversation — a realistic sense of scale before anyone visits — five measurements will get you a long way.
The five that matter
- Wall lengths. Corner to corner, along each wall involved. A tape measure and one other person is easier than doing it alone.
- Ceiling height, at both ends. This is the one people skip, and it is the one that matters. In an older Toronto house a 20-millimetre difference across a wall is entirely normal, and it determines whether uppers can run tight to the ceiling.
- Windows and doors. Width, height, and how far each is from the nearest corner. Also note which way a door swings.
- Existing counter height, if there is one, and whether you find it comfortable.
- Anything in the way. A radiator, a vent, a support post, an electrical panel, a bulkhead. A note and a photograph is fine — you do not need to measure them precisely.
Photographs are worth more than measurements
Genuinely. A measurement tells us a wall is 3,600 millimetres long. A photograph tells us there is a bulkhead we would otherwise have discovered on installation day.
The photographs that help most
- Stand in the doorway and photograph the whole room, not a detail
- One photograph of each wall the cabinetry will touch
- The corners, where two walls meet — these are where fit problems live
- Anything you already know is awkward: the bulkhead, the post, the odd step
- The ceiling, if there is anything unusual about it
- The route from the front door to the room, if the house is narrow
What we measure that you should not bother with
Deviation from plumb and level, the squareness of each corner, the exact rough-in positions for plumbing and electrical, and the delivery route dimensions. These need a level, a laser and some experience of what matters, and getting them slightly wrong is worse than not having them — a cabinet built to an incorrect measurement is a cabinet that has to be rebuilt.
Craft Mill Works
Design and project coordination
Written and reviewed by the Craft Mill Works design team, based on the cabinetry and millwork projects we coordinate across North York and the Greater Toronto Area. [Add a named author and a short professional biography before launch — see README § Adding articles.]
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