How to Measure Up to Ensure Your Kitchen Appliances Will Fit

The kitchen is often described as being the hub of the house and having a nice kitchen not only looks good, but may also add value to the house too. If you’re aiming to have a kitchen with smooth lines, then you need to ensure that all the appliances fit into the available space well, without sticking out or looking too big for a space.

Whether you’re updating or remodelling your existing kitchen, or are buying appliances for a new home, here are some useful tips on measuring up your kitchen to ensure you know the exact space available for kitchen appliances to fit well.

Before you reach for your tape measure and start measuring, here are some useful tips to keep in mind:

• If possible, use a metal or steel tape, instead of a fabric tape measure. These are generally better and can provide a much more accurate measurement.
• If you’re not sure if you’ve measured correctly, do it again to double-check.
• Don’t try and round-up measurements. Instead, aim to be accurate, even down to the nearest millimetre, as it could make a vital difference as to what appliance you can go for.
• Clearly write down each of the measurements as you take it – it’s easy to forget the details if you don’t!
• It may help to roughly sketch out a diagram of the room and where the appliances will go, and then write in the measurements at the appropriate points.

Measuring Up in an Existing Kitchen

If you’re measuring up the available space for appliances in an existing kitchen, it’s often useful when you’ve got the current appliances to go by. Although they may be filling up the space and making it awkward for you to measure, measuring the appliance itself will still give an accurate guide as what fits in the space. However, if you’re able to move them out, then it’s always handy to measure the space behind, where a new appliance will go.

Use a metal tape measure to measure the width, height and depth of space available, making sure you take accurate measurements. Don’t forget to get all these measurements, as considering how far out you’d like the appliance to come is just as important to the look of the kitchen as making sure it fits in width-wise.

It may be useful to note down the manufacturer and model number of existing appliances. Even if you want to install completely different appliances this time around, it’s still useful to be able to mention what currently fits well to any retailers when you’re shopping around for new products.

If you’re redesigning or remodelling your kitchen, then make sure you’re certain of where the appliances will go and how much space will be available for them before you purchase the products.

Measuring Up the Kitchen in a New House

If you’re buying a new house, then you may well have a few advantages to make the most of. You should have been provided with a good layout of the floorplan of the house, including details of where the appliances are located in the kitchen.

If you’re buying a brand new, newly built house then it may have appliances already fitted. If it doesn’t, you may find you’re lucky enough to be provided with details of the exact measurements and space available for all the key appliances, which is very useful.

When buying other homes, sometimes the sellers leave behind the appliances. Or if there is limited space available for appliances they may be up front about it and tell you in advance, so you at least know that you’ll need an extra narrow fridge or small oven to fit into the space available.

If you have none of these advantages and have no idea of the space available, then it’s a case of getting a tape measure and taking the measurements yourself.