Measuring up for your kitchen
Next up is measuring your room in a way that will ensure easy transfer of your plans to paper.
Proceed as follows
• Measure ceiling heights - Cabinets come in a variety of heights and your floor to ceiling height will determine which height cabinet is best suited to your room.
• Measure up your windows and doors - in addition measure the distances from each side of the aperture to the adjacent walls, from the lower sill to the floor and from the ceiling to the upper reveal of the window. The rules here also apply for any protrusions such as boxing in or pillars.
• When measuring lengths between walls hold the tape measure 600mm from the each end to simulate how the cabinet fronts will sit. This, of course, is easier if you are measuring over existing cabinetry and a centre mark will provide more accuracy if you measure to it from both sides and add the measurements.
• Check for plumb (vertical level) - It is advisable to rectify any defective plastering prior to the installation of cupboards and where a right angled corner wall cupboard is being installed it is essential that the relevant plastering is square and plumb to ensure a satisfactory alignment of the installation. You risk affecting the correct alignment of extractor and hob if attention is not given to out of plumb walls.
• Check floor levels - use a long spirit level to determine the level of your floor and, using the "600mm rule"(measuring this distance from the wall to simulate the plinth), will determine if any rectification or floor-leveling compound is required prior to installation. The criteria for an acceptable finish is in your own hands but I would suggest that a difference in level of more than 15mm will require pre-leveling before installing cabinets.
• Services - determine the dimension of any services that are sited in your kitchen such as mains water pipes, soil pipes or mains electricity/gas supplies. Again, measure their relative distance from both elevations and detail these in your plan before commencing design. Transferring them to your plan will avoid any complications with appliance obstruction. Cabinetry can always be altered to accommodate services but appliances can't.
• Checking your corner for square - As the standard worktop size is 600mm, a square template approximately this size will give you the best indication of a whether your corner is square. A shelf or purpose made square placed against the corner will determine any rectification work required before installation. Of course worktops can be scribed to suit the contours of the wall but it is advisable to achieve as square as possible a finish for aesthetic purposes.
Visit www.kitchensfitted.co.uk for kitchen advice, design consultancy and other useful resources.
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