August 18, 2026

You need a tape measure, a pencil and a sheet of paper. Draw the room as a rough plan from above, then measure each wall at three heights and write the smallest number down. That is the whole method, and it takes about ten minutes.

You do not need to do this before talking to us, because we survey every room ourselves. But having a rough set of numbers makes the first conversation far more useful, and it tells you quickly whether the kitchen you have in mind will actually fit.

Draw the room first

Sketch the outline from above. It does not need to be to scale or neat. Mark the door, the window, and anything that cannot move: the boiler, the meter cupboard, a chimney breast, a radiator, the soil pipe.

Measure each wall three times

Measure at skirting height, at worktop height, roughly 900mm, and near the ceiling. Old walls are rarely parallel and almost never square. Write down all three numbers, and use the smallest when you are working out what fits.

If the three numbers differ by more than about 20mm, note that. It matters, and a good maker will want to know.

The four things people forget

• Ceiling height, measured in at least two corners. It decides whether tall units and a bulkhead work.
• Door and window reveals. How deep the window sits in the wall, and which way the door swings. A door that opens into the run changes the whole layout.
• Services. Where the waste pipe leaves the room, where the gas meter is, where the consumer unit sits. Moving a waste pipe is the most expensive metre in any kitchen.
• The route in. Measure the narrowest point between the front door and the kitchen. A 900mm island that cannot get down a 760mm hallway is a real and surprisingly common problem.

Work out your floor area

Multiply the two main dimensions in metres. A room 3.6m by 2.5m is 9m². That single number tells you a great deal.

• 8 to 12m² is a small kitchen. Two runs facing each other, eight to eleven units. An island will not fit and you should not force one.
• 12 to 18m² is a medium kitchen. Room for a table at one end, or a small peninsula.
• 18 to 26m² is a large kitchen. An island earns its place here, with 3.6m of clear floor on either side.

One rule worth remembering

If you cannot leave a metre of clear floor between an island and the run behind it, the island is making the room worse rather than better. We talk about half our clients out of one, and none of them has regretted it.