How to Measure for a Kitchen Remodel
A crucial part of every kitchen remodel is accurately measuring your existing space. It’s important to not only accurately measure, record and represent those measurements in a clear way. These measurements will be used to draw up your existing floor plan, draft your new design, and order new appliances, cabinets, etc. In this post we will walk you through how to measure and record your space in preparation for a kitchen remodel.
Gathering the Necessary Tools
To properly measure, record, and render the existing kitchen layout and create plans for new designs, it’s important to start off with the right tools. For measuring fixed items a measuring tape (in good condition) will be needed before anything else. For precise wall to wall measurements a quality Laser Measure cuts down on time and hassles.
Despite later digital steps, using graph paper is important to keeping things proportional in initial sketches of kitchen layouts & plans. To measure the incline of walls, the ceiling, and staircases, there are slope calculation (Inclineometer) apps available for any smartphone.
Setting and sticking to a standard or units of measurement is important; no mixing and matching so additional calculations need to be completed later. A construction calculator app will be help to convert measurements into whatever standard is set for the project.
Drawing the Kitchen Layout
If you follow us you’ll know that we recently published a post about the Top 6 Kitchen Layouts. You will need to sketch out your existing layout before moving onto your new design. Once you’ve drawn your layout you will want to include parts of surrounding areas if you’re expanding or altering entryways.
Step one will be to sketch out the existing kitchen’s layout to-scale. The preliminary sketch will be an overhead view of the current footprint. Then you will need to include the placement and measurements of all structural details and fixed items:
- Walls
- Windows
- Doors
- Ceiling
- Stairs
- Cabinets
- Appliances
- Fixtures
Render Footprints and Elevations
After drawing up your existing layout and the project kitchen plans, it’s time to get digital. Once the info is transferred to a digital format it will be easier to communicate plans & updates with subcontractors and permitting offices. There will need to be two different 2D representations of your design: Footprints & Elevations.
Digital versions of your project footprint provide a clear overhead representation of the space. Instead of handwritten notes and numbers these include well formatted text and measurements that make it easy for everyone to read.
Elevations are vertical 2D renderings showing the dimensions and placement of all fixed items on a given wall of a room. Depending on the size and complexity of your new kitchen design, some portions may require detailed views for clarity.
Kitchen Design and Planning Software
As detailed in our post How to Design Your Own IKEA Kitchen there are mobile and desktop programs available to render footprints and elevations. The Planner 5D app is an excellent tool for creating working floor plans, on mobile and desktop devices. From AutoCAD, Autodesk Civil 3D, to Draft It and more, there are a lot of options for creating the final renderings needed for Planning & Permitting.
3D Renderings – Kitchen Design
Quality 3D Renderings of a design can help homeowners, vendors, and other parties determine what is needed to make the design a reality. To be able to properly visualize your plans with depth, color, and texture, helps to finalize your design.
Initial designs and preliminary planning will factor in codes, standards, and guidelines that prioritize foot traffic and kitchen workspaces. 3D renderings can be immensely helpful as they will help to identify things that get overlooked. Once it’s presented in 3D, quirks in a design will stand out so they can be changed or modified.
Kitchen Cabinet Design
Once measurements have been taken and renderings have been made a quick and easy 3D Kitchen Planner a Designer or Homeowner can use would be the IKEA Kitchen Planner. Whether you are planning on installing a standard or custom IKEA Sektion Kitchen (or Metod Kitchen), the IKEA Planner tools are a great way to visualize new design ideas.
The IKEA 3D Planner tools aren’t a really a substitution for the more professional programs out there, like we listed above. If the design will include custom doors and finishes those won’t be able to be represented using the IKEA Planner tools. The advantage of using the IKEA planning tools are how easy it to put together a quick, preliminary kitchen cabinet layout once the initial measurements are made. Additionally, the 2023 version of the IKEA Kitchen Planner is really easy to use.
Written by Todd Zimmerman
Producer of the John Webbccast
