How to Measure for Kitchen Cabinets (San Antonio Homeowner's Checklist)

Whether you're getting a quote, planning a DIY install, or just want to verify your contractor's order, knowing how to measure your kitchen accurately is gold.

Tools and three rules that prevent most mistakes

You need a 25-foot steel tape (skip the laser for short runs — it reads long into corners), a pencil, and a rough overhead sketch of the room on paper. Then:

• Work in inches only, to the nearest ⅛". No feet-and-inches mixing, no metric.
• Always round down. A cabinet run ¼" short disappears behind a filler; ¼" long simply doesn't go in.
• Measure to the bare wall, and note existing tile, backsplash, or base trim thickness separately — most of it is coming off.

The six measurements

1. Wall lengths, corner to corner. Every wall in order, going clockwise. They have to close the loop on your sketch.
2. Ceiling height at three points per wall. In 1970s–80s San Antonio ranches a ¾" difference across one wall is routine, and that number decides whether uppers can run to the ceiling.
3. Window and door openings. Width, height, and the distance from the nearest corner to the edge of the casing — plus sill height for any window over a sink.
4. Appliance openings. Refrigerator, range, dishwasher, microwave: the width, depth, and height of the space that must stay clear. If you're keeping an appliance, measure the unit too, including handle projection.
5. Plumbing and electrical. Center of the sink drain and supply lines, measured off the nearest corner and up from the floor, plus the gas line, outlets, and switches.
6. Obstructions. Soffits, bulkheads, HVAC returns, and pipe chases — height, depth, and exactly where each starts and stops.

Check for square before you trust any of it

Houses here sit on expansive clay that moves with every wet-dry season, so out-of-square corners are the norm rather than the exception. Two quick checks: measure each wall at floor height, at 36", and at 84" — differing numbers mean the wall leans. Then run a level along the floor across the base cabinet run; more than ⅜" of slope in 8 feet means the installer will be shimming and your countertop template changes. Write down both results; they matter as much as the lengths.

The mistakes we see most often

• Measuring to the existing cabinets or trim instead of the wall behind them.
• Forgetting a refrigerator needs 1"–2" of clearance beyond its listed width, plus room for the door to swing clear of an adjacent wall.
• Ignoring where an open dishwasher door lands relative to a corner cabinet.
• Not noting which direction the room's entry door opens.

Print the worksheet, then let us verify it

Our free measuring guide and printable PDF worksheet has a blank floor plan with a labeled space for each of the six measurements above — take it into the kitchen and fill it in. Then, before anything gets ordered, book a free in-home measurement. We re-check every number on site at no charge, because a ⅛" error caught in your kitchen costs nothing and the same error caught on install day costs a cabinet.