Kitchen cabinet cut list: base and wall cabinets

Standard kitchen cabinet sizes

Widths usually step in 3 in increments, and 24 in is a common width for both base and wall boxes. The 34 1/2 in base height suits a standard dishwasher opening under a 36 in counter. Toe kick height varies between makers, from about 3 to 4 1/2 in.

Frameless or face frame

This list is for frameless (European style) cabinets: the box edges are banded and the doors cover them almost entirely. Face-frame cabinets add a hardwood frame on the front, and the box parts are sized to the frame instead. Frameless is simpler to cut from sheet goods, because every box part is a plain rectangle.

Base cabinet cut list, 24 in wide

The box sits on a separate 4 in base that you level on the floor first, so the box itself is 30 1/2 in tall. It is 23 1/4 in deep so the 3/4 in doors bring the front to 24 in. The bottom fits between the sides, and two 4 in stretchers tie the top. All parts in 3/4 in plywood.

The doors split the 24 in width with a 1/16 in reveal at each outside edge and 1/8 in between them. If your plywood is 23/32 in, the bottom, stretchers and shelf grow by 1/16 in.

Wall cabinet cut list, 24 in wide

Backs are a separate material: 1/4 in plywood in a rabbet, or 1/2 in plywood if you hang wall cabinets through the back. Cut them in their own plan.

How many sheets of plywood

With a 1/8 in kerf and 1/4 in trimmed off each edge, one base cabinet with its doors fits on a single 4×8 sheet at about 72% yield. A wall cabinet uses about half a sheet. Three base and three wall cabinets of these sizes come out at five sheets, about 74% yield, because the optimizer fills gaps with the smaller wall parts.

Edge banding for that run is about 148 ft of edges, or about 161 ft once you add an inch of overhang at each end of every banded edge. That is more than three 50 ft rolls, so a 250 ft roll is the sensible buy.

Lock the grain on sides and doors and leave bottoms, stretchers and shelves free. If you want the grain to flow across a pair of doors, enter the pair as one blank, 30 1/4 × 23 7/8 in, and split it after cutting.

Plan the whole kitchen in Cortaplan

1. Set the Unit to in, then set Blade kerf and Edge trim under Cutting settings.
2. Under Sheets, pick 4 × 8 ft and type the Price if you want the Shopping list with costs.
3. Under Parts, enter every cabinet's parts, multiplying Qty by the number of identical boxes, or Paste them from a spreadsheet.
4. Use Copy for WhatsApp or Print / PDF to take the list to the lumber yard, and Cut to follow the cut sequence at the saw.