Here are the basic sizes of a standard kitchen; working from the floor up, with a 96" tall ceiling. (see picture below)

 

BASE CABINETS; are 34-1/2" tall, above the finished floor, unless you are using base cabinets which are wheelchair accessible then they are slightly shorter.

COUNTERTOPS; are generally 1-1/2" thick. Some stone tops are 1-1/4" or 3/4" thick.

 

-You'll notice that the countertop height is 36" above the finished floor.

-There is an 18" space from the top of the countertop, to the bottom of the wall cabinets. This space should be no smaller than 15".

WALL CABINETS; The bottom of the wall cabinets start at 54" above the finished floor.

-Using a standard 30" tall wall cabinet will bring the top of the wall cabinet to 84" above the finished floor. This will give you 12" of space from the top of the wall cabinet, to the ceiling.

 

 

​WORDS OF WISDOM; No matter what layout your kitchen currently has, the new kitchen design always starts with placing the sink base cabinet. Almost all kitchens have a window, viewing to the outside. The design starts with the sink base cabinet being placed directly below the window, because usually that's where the plumbing is. Then, once that sink base is centered directly below the window, the other cabinets can be placed into the design. If there is no window in the kitchen, then the sink base is still placed first, before any other cabinets. The sink base cabinet just gets centered over the plumbing, then the other cabinets follow.